Grace in the Woods | Bands We Love

The band is brand spanking new, having just come onto the scene in November 2012. But Grace in the Woods is hitting Sonoma County hardcore with their soulful melodies against a raging keyboard, offering the complimentary harmonies of Neem Wood, 32, and Grace Evans, 21.

The talented duo are hardly new to the music scene as a whole, however.  Both belonged to a band called Garden of Lions for several years, an indie band of four that hinged on the harmonizing vocals of Wood and Evans.  It wasn’t till recently that Wood and Evans branched off to form their own band as a group of two.  Thanks to how familiar they are working together as well as their seasoned chops, the two have come out full force – even in the infant stages of making music together. With only several months under their belt, they have harnessed a more developed sound not usually heard from bands still warming up the mic.

Influenced by bands like the White Stripes and the Civil Wars, the music of Grace in the Woods projects harmony with an edge.  They’ve managed to harness an earthy, mournful sound that’s near addictive within the notes of the piano.

“We’ve found that the thing we have that really gets people is sweet melodies with a lot of heart, and intricate harmonization,” Woods says about the duo.  “We have a lot of fun as songwriters, so our sound covers a range of styles.”

I caught up with Grace in the Woods and asked them a few questions to get to know them better.  Here is what they had to say:

What inspired you to start playing music in the first place?
Grace:  I was inspired to start playing music because my dad plays the guitar, and would get me and my mom to sing with him when I was younger, and through the years music became a normal part of life.
Neem: When I was about 10 my parents had me take piano lessons. That lasted for a few years and then I dropped it. I took up the guitar when I was 16 or so because I had always loved music and a number of my friends had started playing music together and I thought it would be fun. I found a love for singing about 4 or 5 years ago.