IN PROGRESS: JANA HUNTER/DEER TICK DUETS

What highlight to pick from an evening with Jana Hunter and Deer Tick sharing a few tracks from their in-progress duets album: Was it instances of affected Texas accents? Was it the Black Velvets, a mix of champagne and Guinness that Mr. Tick (whose driver’s license gives him the nickname “John McCauley”) introduced us to as the favored drink of Roaring ‘20s NYC Mayor Jimmy Walker? Was it an open-doored pickup truck piloted by Will Adams roaring down the street with John Hunter on the roof of the cab? Was it the pizza? Or was it the on-tape dialogue between Jana and Deer that contains the retort “Duet albums are Corny”

We’ll save the context on that last one for another day (i.e. MP3 coming soon).

But yes, its true, like Nat & Natalie, Sinatra & Bono and Huey & Gweneth before them, Jana Hunter and Deer Tick are in the middle of recording not just one, but an entire album’s worth of duets. The track list includes ‘Stranded in Your Love’, ‘Islands in the Stream’ plus a healthy assortment of country and soul miscellania that shall remain cloaked in mystery for the moment.

Wherever did from such mischief spring? Sayeth Jana: “One impetus was definitely john's wicked crooner style. And I was [messed] up on a tour that was way monotonous, oppressively so. The idea could have easily been something more ridiculous and even worse than a duets record.” Well, it may be ridiculous, but it sure sounded aces.

Even the unfinished, unmixed arrangements that we got a taste of showed that Deer Tick is, in fact, a wicked crooner, and that the fever between her cat and his scratch will be worth the wait. And wait you shall, as Hunter doesn’t expect the album to be out until late this year at the earliest as she and recent local beard-club president Will Adams work on the arrangements (John has returned to his native Providence – come back soon).

Fear not, Jana’s second full length, There’s No Home, comes out on Gnomonsong April 2nd. And you don’t even have to wait that long – the album’s release party is hosted by Wicked Poseur’s Arthur Bates at the Proletariat March 31st . That evening, Jracula, Jana’s band with Aaron Bartz, Jay Crossley (woozyhelmet) and Toto Miranda (woozyhelmet/The Octopus Project) will ascend from their coffin crypt to suck out our blood alongside stage-sharers Balaclavas. Corny.

Oh yeah, SXSW INFO HERE.

Stream: Jana Hunter - various
Stream: Deer Tick - various