​Folk duo The Lowest Pair set to release two new albums in Fargo

By Payton Berger

At first listen, the music of The Lowest Pair can be summed up as simple, dramatic and expressive. As one becomes more acquainted with the music’s depth, the idea of using only three adjectives is an understatement. The interplay between the two voices at work moves between beautiful and harrowing, tense and light, while always being poetic. The Lowest Pair’s movement of song is liken to the movement of life. Like the distinction of folk roots and separate stories, everything comes together in time and in life. That is what The Lowest Pair distills into song. Don’t let these words be a substitution. Let the songs connect by their own will and power. The Lowest Pair is comprised of Palmer T. Lee and Kendl Winter. HPR had a chance to chat with Kendl before their upcoming show in Fargo.

High Plains Reader: How long has The Lowest Pair been playing together?

Kendl Winter: Three years this July.

HPR: What first drew you to the banjo and banjo music personally? What inspired you to play in the sort of group you are in now?

KW: I had a friend in Olympia who played when I first moved there after high school and that kind of made it seem accessible to me for the first time. I grew up in Arkansas so I had banjo music around, but I was pretty into indie styles of music and punk ethics.

It hadn't really occurred to me that the banjo had such a cool and unique voice of its own. I find that the music that Palmer and I make is less deliberate or trying to make a certain type of music than it is just the way we sound when we're together. I'm more of a flow with what's happening kind of creator in my artistic endeavors. I try to use the natural curves, strengths and limitations of what we have to work with.

HPR: What sort of musical ideas and stories did you first want to explore with The Lowest Pair, and what do you see as the future?

KW: At first we were just getting to know each other. We had only met a handful of times so our music had that kind of fresh and fragile innocence to it. I think that was a really sweet and distinct place in our collaboration.

Since then, we're nearing on three years with a lot of road time being next to and learning each other. We've really been able to begin exploring the different textures that we can expand on as a duo, both on banjo and guitars (we just got a resonator.) Palmer's an excellent harp player and we're trying to include more of that in our tunes as well as some percussive elements. Our songs are current and evolving alongside us as our stories keep rolling out. We try to observe and capture them as beautifully as one can, trying to make sense of this wild ‘whirled’ we're in.

HPR: How do you think folk music fits in modern times? How does your music fit in with modern times as well as the folk tradition?

KW: Folk music is people's music. It doesn't really matter whether it's popular or hip. It's gonna be done, because it’s gotta be done. Our music is folk because of its instrumentation and because we both draw from the traditional old-time repertoire.

It's kind of a beautiful place to be, in between these rich, old, traditional sounds and modern. That's where we come from, and that's how we sound interpreting that music.

HPR: This is an album release tour, correct? I’ve seen a couple of different covers for your new album. Is there a difference? Is it a single or a double album?

KW:It's actually a double release tour. There are two albums. One is called "Uncertain as it is Uneven.” The other is called "Fern Girl and Ice Man.” We recorded them over a year, and we're really excited to share these new songs.

HPR:How long and extensive is your current tour?

KW: This tour kind of bleeds into the next, so it's gonna be going for a while. We have a double release tour that kinda just becomes the festival season, and I think we're trying to take a short break at the end of August.

HPR: What are you listening to and reading on the road right now?

KW: I'm listening to a lot of John Hartford, like usual. I've been getting into Karen Dalton, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, The Blow, Shovels & Rope, Gillian Welch, Iris DeMent, and Mason Jennings. I'm always on the search for the great SONG. I'm reading a book called “The Good Omens” that is making me laugh and laugh.

HPR:What ways do you keep yourself and the music fun and engaging from night to night?

KW: I have certain rituals I like to do, but they're top secret. If I told you, well, you know...

Their debut album titled “36¢” was produced by Dave Simonett of Trampled By Turtles in 2014, which says a lot for a group that had only been playing together for one year. Their sound and scope are only getting wider.

IF YOU GO:

The Lowest Pair

May 5th at 8pm.

HoDo Lounge,

The show is 21+ and the cover is $3.