Handsome gig ahead in Leeds

The Handsome Family kick-off the first leg of their Through The Trees 20th Anniversary Tour this week and will be heading for Leeds.
The Handsome family, gig in Leeds.The Handsome family, gig in Leeds.
The Handsome family, gig in Leeds.

A 20th anniversary vinyl edition of their classic album is due for release on March 9 and ahead of it the band have shared their new video for ‘Weightless Again’

The Handsome Family’s Rennie Sparks explains: “For the 20th anniversary of Through the Trees I made a video of the first song on the record ‘Weightless Again’. Maybe our most American song, it’s about suicide, drug addiction, deforestation and Moby Dick as well as the great angst that only comes from the lack of real cream for coffee.

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“This video features all of the great musicians now playing with us live as well as some soft-shoe dance moves that Brett has been working on for 20 years. He’s either ready for the big top or the padded cell.”

Watch/share the Weightless Again video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5apJERgbYQcThe Handsome Family’s classic album, Through The Trees, will be re-issued on Friday, March 9 on heavyweight blue vinyl, accompanied by an exclusive ‘Invisible Trees’ bonus CD, comprising of 15 tracks of “out-takes, live performances and bickering”. The band will be incorporating the entirety of Through The Trees into their forthcoming tour, in which Brett Sparks (guitar/vocals) and Rennie Sparks (banjo/bass/vocals) are joined by drummer Jason Toth and multi-instrumentalist Alex MacMahon, all of which appear in the new video. Tickets for the tour are on now on sale via loosemusic.com/live.

The Handsome Family will be taking to the stage at the Howard Assembly Room, in Leeds, on Saturday, March 17 and The Plug, in Sheffield, the following night.

The band became famous for providing the theme tune to Season 1 of HBO’s hit TV drama series True Detective in 2015, introducing them to a whole new audience and a whole load of new fans.

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The featured song, ‘Far From Any Road’, has been streamed over 50 million times and counting. The Handsome Family suddenly became a little less of a secret. However, even before this worldwide success, the band were not short of admirers, counting Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr among their fans, and with the likes of Jeff Tweedy, Amanda Palmer, Cerys Matthews, Christy Moore and Andrew Bird all having covered their songs.

In 2016, the band released ‘Unseen’ to greeted rave reviews.

However, it was way back in 1998 when Brett and Rennie Sparks got their first big break, with the release of the The Handsome Family’s third album, ‘Through The Trees’ and this is being fondly remembered on the new tour.