Local music duo and offstage couple Mark and Aimee Bumgarner — known, on stage, as Calico Moon — recently recorded the tender Americana collection When Love Comes Around.
The 11-song album is sweet from start to finish, with tasteful guitar licks, easy melodies and a perfect blend of the couples’ voices. Aimee’s vocal nudges close to the angelic purity of Alison Krauss while Mark’s comfortable tenor provides warm harmonies. Each songs seems ready-made for a romantic movie soundtrack or a long ride down a dusty country road on the bench seat of a vintage pickup truck.
“You are my morning cup of coffee, you’re my favorite old sweater, you’re a sweet walk in the rain,” the Bumgarners sing on “These You Ever Will Remain.” The entire record is full of these heartwarming notions and deceptively familiar moments.
When Love Comes Around will likely find an audience among fans of Keith Urban, Gram Parsons and Emmy Lou Harris, Kate Wolf and the duets featured on A Prairie Home Companion. The album has already charted on the Roots Music Report‘s Roots Country top 50. (At press time it was in the number 42 spot.) “We were stunned when we saw that we had made the chart,” Mark tells Xpress. “Our goal was to just get our name out there and hopefully get some Americana radio and Internet radio airplay, but we certainly weren’t expecting to make the chart or to receive such positive feedback from folks not only here in the states but in Europe as well.”
Really, it’s not that surprising. When Love Comes Around is accessible, romantic, rootsy-yet-polished and packed with cross-over appeal. Expect to hear more from the Bumgarners and their music.
Upcoming local dates include: On Thursday, Jan. 12, Mark plays a solo show at French Broad Brewery. Mark and Aimee play at The Lobster Trap on Fridays, Jan. 13 and 20. They’ll be at Blue Mountain Pizza on Saturday, Jan. 14; Thursday, Jan. 19 and Tuesday, Jan. 24. On Saturday, Jan. 21, they play The Iron Horse Station.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.