by Lyons Bluesologist, David McIntyre
Musicians are notorious for being a bit unusual. But a couple who travels in a 16-foot 1961 Bambi Airstream with their 4- year-old daughter and an aging black lab named Pokey, well, that’s a whole new level of wackiness. Meet Lucy and Wayne Waxing, otherwise known as Hymn for Her, a Philadelphia-based duo who plays what they term “stomp-grass punk folk.”
They not only live in the Airstream, but roam the country in the silver beast, negotiating parking in impossible-to-maneuver cities such as San Francisco, and performing their blazing, fist-pumping tunes (created with a broom handle cigar box banjo, dobro, bass drum, Hi-hat, and harmonica) at holes in the wall from the east coast to Lyons, Colorado, where they will pull in Friday, November 4, at Oskar Blues. Their debut show at Oskars in June was a big success, especially with the staff at the club who loved them. The duo not only brought their CD but also hung up, behind the bar a large postcard picture of the Airstream with the whole family in it including Pokey.
The couple, longtime musicians who previously played for a decade in the equally idiosyncratic MPE Band, decided once their daughter (whose name they prefer not to publicize) was born, that it was time to return to duo-hood. “ She turned 2 ½, and we were in our terrible two’s, not her,” Lucy Waxing said. “We wanted to get back to our essence again. When a kid comes along you get the feeling that you need to plant some roots. So ours were on two moving wheels, and that became our home.”
The Waxings went solo, and last year released their second album, “Hymn for Her Presents…The American Airstream,” filled with a dozen foot-stompers with names such as “Fiddlestix” and “Montana.” The CD, like everything in their lives, came to life in the Airstream. “The idea was, we always go to other places to record and this seemed ideal,” Waxing said. “Everything was compact and [the trailer] has a great, punchy sound to it. Wherever we parked, we would start recording.” Both multi-instrumentalists, (sometimes playing two or three instruments each, at the same time), their sound is dynamic and unique. One of the instruments, the Lowbow cigar-box stick guitar, was invented by former bandmate Johnny Lowe.
When asked recently about how the name, Hymn for Her, came about, Lucy answered; “Wayne wrote this song called ‘Hymn for Her’ and it was about going to your loved one’s house and the route back. We just liked the title; we thought it was really cool. So when this band was formed, we said, “that would be a great band name.”
Their live show is a must see; it is amazing how much sound they get from only two people. “The music is really kick-ass and we have a lot of high-energy when we’re on stage,” said Tight, who has been playing with Waxing since the pair met a dozen years ago. “People are excited to hear the music and we are excited to play the music.” The staff at Oskars are really excited to hear the band again, as you will be if you come on over Fri., Nov. 4.
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