Located in Clarke County and surrounded by the Shenandoah Valley and River, Berryville, Virginia is a relatively small rural town of 4,500 that is rich in history, tradition, and mystique. George Washington originally surveyed the area in 1750 and Daniel Morgan, who made a name for himself in the American Revolution, frequented the town in its early days. It has a long history of being the center of commercial, residential, institutional and industrial activity for Clarke County. It’s also a short distance from the Shenandoah River, which played a significant role in the development of that area of the country.
Residents of the town may travel abroad but the majority come to the conclusion that nothing can top the beauty of their hometown. That includes Low Water Bridge Band, whose latest album Back to the Valley (released November 17) spotlights the uniqueness of the area and uncovers new stories.
“Back to the Valley just seemed like a good way to encompass just how much we love this area,” says Riley Kerns, who plays drums and provides backing vocals. “We sing about it all the time. As much as we want to get out into the world and tour the world, we love knowing that we can always come back to the [Shenandoah] Valley.”
The band plays a riveting mix of country, bluegrass, and Americana and features an eclectic mix of players from the area. Riley is joined by his brother Alex (bass, vocals) as well as Logan Moore (guitar, vocals), James Montgomery (lead guitar), Justin Carver (pedal steel, banjo), and Rudy Bzdyk (fiddle, trumpet, keyboards).
The follow-up to the band’s 2021 debut Midnight in Virginia, Back to the Valley was produced by Riley Kerns and Logan Moore and recorded and mixed by Kerns at his home studio BerryTone Sound Recorders. Micah Howard contributed vocals on “She Don’t Answer”; “Dear Lord” and “Small Town Affair” feature background vocalists Laura Steinmetz and Jessica Mitchell; and Jake Smith plays baritone saxophone on “Hope It’s You.”
The group’s growing popularity has taken them from bars, breweries, and clubs in the Shenandoah Valley to playing festival stages on the East Coast.
Scummy Water Tower caught up with Riley Kerns to find out about the band’s journey to record the album, their growing chemistry and why living in the Shenandoah Valley can’t be topped.
Why did the band pick the album title and how is it reflective of the album’s themes?
Throughout the majority of the process of making the album, we actually had a different album name in mind and a different track list. It was still going to be the same songs, but a different track list. And then as we were going through the process of getting all the promo material videos and album artwork and all that stuff, nothing just was coming together very well. And then we just kind of had that aha moment where it was just like, “maybe we just flip the thing upside down and totally come at it at a different angle.” And I actually came up with the name Back to the Valley because it’s part of the line in a song called “600 Reasons.” It goes “get me the hell out of Nashville/get me back to the valley I know.”
Back to the Valley just seemed like a good way to encompass just how much we love this area. We sing about it all the time. As much as we want to get out into the world and tour the world, we love knowing that we can always come back to the [Shenandoah] Valley. And there’s certainly little nuggets throughout the album that I feel like really represent this area a lot while also displaying our drive and motivation to see more than just the valley.
Why is the Shenandoah River important to you and the rest of the band?
The Shenandoah River is only maybe four miles from me right now. I’m not going to have enough good words for it. They might have better words for it, but it’s just been like a backbone for this area for a long time. And all of us have done lots of stuff on the river from when we were kids, just camping or floating rope swings and all sorts of different stuff like that, or fishing for sure. So, it’s always been a constant theme for us. For some reason, my brother actually lives on the river. It must be something about it that’s really inspirational, especially for Logan and Alex because they’re the ones that are writing about it the most. And I’d say there’s some mystic-ness to it, myths and stuff that people might folklore from back in the day.
What’s the story behind the band’s name?
It definitely came about before I was actually in the band, but my brother Alex, who’s the bass player, the other lead vocalist, he and Logan, the other lead singer, they started off by just playing together and going to each other’s houses, and there was a low water bridge that they had to cross each time to get to one another’s house. I think one of our friends suggested it, maybe as kind of a tongue in cheek kind of funny thing, and it stuck.
How did you join the band?
Like I said, my brother was already in the band. They’ve been playing for maybe about a year or so, in between he and Logan. They had a good amount of original songs. And they were kind of trying to recruit me to play drums for the band for a while. This is coming out of COVID and stuff like that. I was just coming out of a different band that was in, but I played with them a few times, but then I agreed to produce their first album, or I should say our first album, and I had a lot of fun doing that.
I think we all grew as musicians doing that, and once we released it, it got great reviews considering that it was just a new band and just putting out material for the first time, it got a good reception. And so just kind of a combination of everything, more significant shows, and stuff like that. And it just became a no-brainer to really sink my teeth into the band and become more than just a drummer, and I’ve enjoyed it so far, for sure.
How would you describe the band’s sound and what makes it stand out from others?
Sometimes when people ask me that question, it’s a little bit easier for me to answer. I feel like I can still kind of think about it or still listen to the band from an outsider’s perspective sometimes. But it’s definitely country with some rock elements, definitely Appalachian style songwriting. There’s six of us and we all have many different influences. I would say we really love the old stuff, the old country stuff, but we like to beef it up because it makes it perhaps more enjoyable and impactful when it comes to playing live. So, alt country I suppose is the easiest way to describe it in a broad sense, but country rock Americana I suppose is the best, one of the easier ways to summarize it.
And as far as what sets us apart, I can only speak from my own perspective. I think we have a lot of harmonies. I don’t think you necessarily see that in a ton of country bands everywhere, or at least to the extent that we do them with a certain kind of groove in our rhythm section between me and my brother that I feel like definitely sets us apart. And the back-and-forth lead vocals between Logan’s relatively higher register and then Alex’s somewhat lower register. It just gives us a good contrast for the listener.
The press release describes the sound as forged by firelight picking.
Yeah, I mean that definitely goes back to the origins of the group. Bluegrass is very prominent here, especially in this part of Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. We’ve all kind of grew up not just listening to it but playing bluegrass. So, I know a lot of the nucleus of the band kind of started around a campfire playing bluegrass. I believe it was out at a bluegrass festival, and so that’s probably what that refers to.
What were the band’s goals for the new album? What got the ball rolling?
I think we realized pretty quickly that we were just sitting on so many songs that Alex had written, Logan had written, there’s even a song that I wrote that’s on this album. When we started, we really got the ball rolling quickly, and then we had a really busy summer that year, and so the recording process kind of slowed down, but that gave us more time and perhaps more focus on really taking our time with it and making sure the parts are really good and making sure that we feel strongly about what it is that we’re recording.
So, we realized while we were recording that it was really developing into quite a big production, and there was a very wide range of our styles within the track list. At one point we had about 14 to 16 songs that we could have done, and we decided to trim it down to 10. And once we decided to do that…everything came together just so nice.
Was there a song or two that had the biggest impact on the direction of the album?
I’d say the song “Whiskey Dark” was one of the first ones that we started recording, and we felt really strongly about that song. That really kind of checks off a good amount of our boxes, if you will, as far as what we do. There’s the more waltzy kind of groove that’s more reminiscent of Appalachian stuff, but there’s distorted guitars and pedal steel and harmonies, and then there’s kind of like a breakdown that’s a little bit more kind of classic rock.
I’m excited for people to hear some of the other deeper cuts, if you will, that no one’s heard yet, because about half the album was developed playing live, and then the other half was developed in studio for no one else to hear. So, there’s some maybe more eclectic ones I’m excited for people to hear.
What’s it been like getting to play with your brother?
We’ve been playing music together since we both started playing music. At this point, our communication on stage is almost never verbal. It’s kind of just eye contact and telepathy perhaps. But it’s always been since we were kids. Our first band that we were in, we were in together, and then we were in another band together, and then we were not in another band together. And here we are in, I guess, our fourth band together. So, it’s just kind of, whether we realize it or not, like a package deal I guess. If you get one of us, you get the other.
You co-produced the album with Logan. What was that experience like and what did you learn about yourself and the band?
The good thing about the way Logan and I worked together is he is the band leader, especially on the business side of things. And I have experience from previous bands in the same role, so I definitely know what he goes through. I know how bad he wants it. He came to every single recording session whether he was recording or not. So, it was someone else’s day. He just liked being there for not just moral support, but musical ideas and stuff like that.
As far as what we learned, I think we’re always learning so much about our own playing abilities and musical sensibilities and what we like about music and being able to eliminate the stuff that we don’t like about it perhaps. So [I] definitely learned a lot sound production-wise. We certainly stepped it up a notch just because the music kind of stepped it up a notch as far as just the amount of sound. And there’s just more electric instruments. There’s lots of organ and all sorts of different stuff on here. So, it was kind of constantly a learning process.
The band recorded at BerryTone Sound Recorders in Berryville, Virginia. What was that studio like?
So actually, that studio is my studio. I converted my basement to a studio, and I suppose 98% of everything on this album was done down there. So doing that, we try to do as much stuff in-house from business to music and everything in between. So, it was kind of a no-brainer for me to do it again this time. And it just gives us more time and flexibility, and obviously we’re not spending a ton of money at someone else’s studio, and it was certainly an advantage for sure.
The album features several outside contributions. What was one of your favorite memories working with them?
Well, at the time of doing the album, our keyboard player, Rudy, he wasn’t totally able to, he wasn’t a full-time member yet, so when we did his sessions, we went to a local venue here in Berryville called the Barns of Rose Hill, and it’s a really big open wood and old barn that they have concerts and stuff at. And there was a grand piano there that had just been tuned for a performance the night before. And then we recorded his organ in there as well.
And that was really cool because just taking all your gear somewhere else and setting up and it felt very cool and kind of old school to me. We take an old school approach to our production I’d say at least compared to some of the big dogs and how they go about making records. Also, two of my friends’ wives, and they’re also my friends, but Laura [Steinmetz] and Jessica [Mitchell], they’re going to be the two female singers that you hear on two of the songs on the album. That was nice to do.
How do you think the band’s sound and lyrics have evolved most compared to the previous album?
Sound-wise, instrumentation wise, it’s definitely changed. We do have a relatively different lineup now than we did back in 2020, and so that naturally has really given us a somewhat different flavor. But also, we’ve just been playing so many shows together. We like to challenge ourselves and try different things out and so that by the time we make the record, we have a lot of the parts figured out or we’re just playing them really well.
We definitely push each other and we’re certainly hard on ourselves. We work really hard, and we want to make sure we are getting better. So, I think anyone that listens to the first one and then go straight to this new one, you’ll be able to tell it’s the same band, but you will notice a difference, but definitely nothing to be afraid of.
With a band having multiple songwriters and people that are able to play multiple instruments, I imagine that adds to the dynamic nature of the sound.
Yeah, absolutely. And we definitely do our best to take the ego out of it. We all just want what’s best for the song. Usually if Alex has a song he wrote, he’ll bring it to the table and that’s usually one that he’ll sing. But sometimes he writes parts for Logan to sing, and there’s parts that Logan has written that he wants Alex to sing. So, it’s really just what’s going to suit the song best. And what’s great about this group of guys is that we all have the same goal. We all understand that. We know it when we hear when it’s the right thing. So as many dynamics as there are with so many contributors, it certainly hasn’t been a problem and definitely fortunate for that.
What were some of the biggest surprises writing and recording the album?
Well, originally we thought we really were going to knock this thing out in a shorter amount of time, so that was probably one of the main surprises at first was just like, “oh, maybe this will take us a little bit longer.” But aside from something as simple as just scheduling people to come in, which really isn’t an issue, there weren’t too many surprises I’d say. I mean, maybe good surprises musically that we just explore on the spot where it’s like, “oh wait, let’s try this out real quick.” And then we try it out and most of the time we really dig it. But if we don’t like it very much, then we move on and no feelings are hurt, and we usually stumble upon another good idea.
Logan wrote “Siren of the Shenandoah” after a canoe trip. What was it like hearing his inspiration for the song? What was it like working on the song?
I remember him coming to us really excited about that song and we were like “this really cool.” And so, we jammed on it for a little while at band practices and stuff, and then we started recording it. Actually, that’s one that we didn’t play live out until essentially when we just released it. But that one was really cool in the way that developed in that it wasn’t necessarily our favorite song. We were listening to what we had already done to it, but something happened. It was just like, “we just really hit a sweet spot on that song” and then it became one of our favorites on the album. And when we decided to switch everything up. “Siren of the Shenandoah” was a big reason for that. We liked it so much that we wanted to open the album. So, I feel like that definitely speaks volumes. But the contrast between the very bluegrassy chorus and the almost like a hip hop-ish groove in the verses, it pleases our ears, and so far it’s pleasing other people’s ears, so we’re really jazzed about that song.
“Clarke County Clay” was written by Alex about, as the press release describes, the struggle of an old soul in a new world. What was it like working on that one and what does the song theme mean to you?
That was a song I know Alex had for a really long time, and he finally brought it to the table. That was another one that right away we knew was going to be a really cool song. I don’t think he knew right away exactly how we were going to fill it all out, but we obviously figured that out. And it’s just a heavy song, not just musically, but obviously lyrically. It’s one that certainly moves me. I think sometimes when we play live, when it ends, people are almost like they really enjoyed it, but they almost don’t know how to respond to it. So artistically, I love everything about it.
I think it’s structure-wise with the song, it’s not super standard. There’s a long rock breakdown. We just really laid it on thick on that one. But as far as the content of the actual song, Alex is just really good at painting the picture and really getting you to feel not just how he feels, but the point of view of whom he’s writing. He does that really well, and like I said, it was just a no-brainer when he brought it to the table, and I’m glad people like that one a lot.
What do you think Logan does best as a songwriter?
He’s definitely not afraid to [help] when you’re trying to figure out a line. Sometimes it’s easy for a songwriter, especially when you’re collaborating, to kind of hold back because you might feel a little bit embarrassed that the line that you spit out isn’t the perfect line right away. So, I really admire his bravery, if you will, with that. But also lyrically, on “Sirens of the Shenandoah,” he got a lot of really cool words in there and put them in a way that worked phonetically. Those are definitely some of his strengths that I’m thinking of off the top of my head. And obviously he’s got an awesome voice, so you could give him the phone book, and I’m sure people will enjoy it.
I really liked “She Don’t Answer.” I thought that was a great way to end the album. What was that like working on that one?
Yeah, so that one actually features our good buddy Micah Howard. He’s a singer-songwriter out of Tennessee. We met him a couple years ago and the first night that I wasn’t actually with everyone when they all met, but when Micah met the rest of the band, they were partying and then they played music together. And that’s actually when they wrote that song, they wrote that song the first time they met each other.
So that was another one we were sitting on. We didn’t know what we were going to do with it necessarily at first, but when I heard it, I definitely heard what the production was going to be like as far as the heavy drums and the heavy distortion. That was a cool one too, because Justin [Carver], our pedal steel player, played that resonator guitar that you hear in the intro and that just totally set the tone for it and made it sound just as dark as what they’re singing about.
So as far as the recording process, that was a really fun one that I worked really hard on just because it deserved to just really be rocking. I’m really excited for people to hear that one.
The band’s been playing bigger and bigger venues of late. What’s that journey been like and what are you most looking forward to in the year ahead?
Yeah, I think especially the past two years, it’s been pretty crazy just as far as how quickly things changed. And of course, I speak all this from a much smaller scale. It’s not like we’ve blown up or viral or anything crazy like that. But for us, just going from playing some bars and breweries to playing with some of these bigger bands and realizing that people are coming to see us in cities and towns that are four to eight hours away from our home. So that has been pretty eye-opening, and I think it’s things like that that keep us going. It’s just like, man, there’s just a couple people down in Macon, Georgia. Imagine if we come back here again, because that’s the whole point of touring, hitting up some of those cities again and making sure there’s a bigger crowd.
But as far as moving forward, we just want more of the same and then more of the same but bigger. We like this growth process, and we are working really hard at it. We enjoy pleasing the audience. We love playing live. We are ready for whatever’s thrown at us. 2024 should be a blast.
Joshua is co-founder of Scummy Water Tower. He’s freelanced for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including: Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Guitar World, MTV News, Grammy.com, Chicago Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, MKE Lifestyle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, A.V. Club, SPIN, Alternative Press, Under the Radar, Paste, PopMatters, American Songwriter, and Relix. You can email him at josh@scummywatertower.com.
