Sarah and Austin McCombie chat with PBS North Carolina’s Heather Burgiss about their new show On the Road with Chatham Rabbits and answer questions from PBS NC viewers. Read highlights of their conversation below or watch a video of the complete interview and a special performance on our website.
“The inspiration was that I always loved to sing, and still voice is my preferred instrument. But I was really into old-time music when I started college and I went to my favorite band’s concert—they were called the South Carolina Broadcasters—and at the time they were looking for a banjo player. They saw I was singing the words to their songsand knew every word and everything, and so they said, ‘We’d love to audition you, but you need to learn to play the banjo.’ And so that was my inspiration. I want to be in this band. And I will say, clawhammer is hard, but I think it’s an accessible form of playing and if I can learn, anyone can.” — Sarah
“Our family members inspire us for different reasons. Some have crazy, kooky stories. Some have sentimental, heartbreaking stories. I think various members from both of our families have creativity or work ethics that we really admire.” — Sarah
“We’re at 54 counties. We really need to hit a bunch of counties in northeast NC. Bertie County, I’m looking at you. Greene County. Anybody up in the Elizabeth City area—holler at your girl. We need to play those counties.” — Sarah
“We’ve performed in Canada. Toronto. That’s about the extent. That’s the farthest, our most international concert. But we’d love to go overseas. We have quite a few fans, specifically in the UK, and we’ve had a lot of interest too in the UK. A lot of people don’t know this, but actually Japan has a really, really strong bluegrass culture because bluegrass actually started around the time of World War II, and while there were US soldiers in Japan they brought bluegrass music with them. We’ve had a lot of interest in Japan. I hope we get to go!” — Sarah & Austin
“The list is really long. I think we have such a rich music scene in the Triangle that we’re inspired by a lot of our peers. That’s a really cool thing to be able to say. We have sort of a pocket here, almost like Nashville does, with Watchhouse, Mipso, Sylvan Esso. We have so many bands here that are just killing it, just doing so well.” — Austin
“I think honestly looking back at the show after it was edited I was like, wow—we finally got used to having the crew around. When you’re looking at one person with a relatively small camera, you don’t really know what they’re capturing. You’re just doing your thing. I knew this team was so capable, but to see what they captured was really special.” — Austin
“There were moments captured that I had no idea anyone was there filming. We were just really fortunate. We had a team that was incredible at sneaking in there and getting these very sweet moments. I also learned how it was possible to be even more exhausted after shows. Not only do we perform on stage, but then we also have a camera in the car with us.” —Sarah
“I think what I admire most in musicians and people I love and follow is authenticity and honesty and transparency, and I hope that people feel like we emulate that. Because I know how much it’s meant to me to see people—I always use Brandi Carlile as an example, as my favorite artist—she is just so real. And I’ve always loved that, and I hope that we bring that to the table.” — Sarah
“The title of our next record is If You See Me Riding By, so I think there’s something in that metaphor, that tune. Horses have like this spiritual connectedness to humans. It’s something that’s hard to explain unless you experience it. I think our animals definitely inspire our songwriting.” — Austin
“Specifically in regard to the horses and riding, for me when I’m riding—you have to be so aware of your surroundings and the animal. You have to be very safe, and you can’t be focused on other things. So it’s the one place—maybe some people get there by knitting or yoga or swimming or whatever—it’s the one place where I can go and zone out. Otherwise, my brain is like ‘zing!’ I run on 100 all the time, and it’s the only time when I can chill. I think that helps my songwriting a lot.” — Sarah
“Most of our couple friends have a trouble in their marriage where they don’t get to see each other enough because they’re working 9 to 5s. Our problem is the opposite. We spend so much time together that, thank goodness that we like doing things extracurricular outside of music that are different. We really try to give each other space to separate while we’re home. We do write music a lot separately and come back together with ideas and finalize them.” — Austin
“Our fans are such an important part of the community that we’re building. I think when we were filming this and I saw the episode for the first time, the thing I got most excited about was thinking about our fans that have been with us from the beginning, when we did the first My Home, NC piece. It would be really nostalgic for me, as someone who loves music, to follow a grassroots, really small band and then see them on TV with a show. I think that would be incredible.” — Austin
“We feel so incredibly thankful for our fans. Austin and I were talking the other day—our life has changed so much in four years, but our friend group has just expanded and now we have these little pockets of friends and tour parents all over the country. It’s interesting and really special that we do take our fans up on like, staying in their houses and sending their kid a video for their birthday. We know that we’re nothing without our fans.” —Sarah
Follow the duo as they quit their corporate jobs to pursue music full time.
Original Lyrics and Music by Austin and Sarah McCombie