Hey boss! Remember that time when I was your roadie? How I protected your garment bags and the Gretsch with my life? How I dutifully slept in the van in bad neighborhoods when needed to? The car chases? The porn stars and the drugs? All for the love of the experience and for no pay? I was wondering if all that was enough to try to call in a favor from you. One of my favorite bands of the last 6 or 7 years are from Doylestown. They’re called Honeychurch, and they’re criminally unknown. They have a huge following, the respect of a lot of other musicians and praise from critics…just not around here. They play modestly attended local shows but they never get any support from local press or radio. They should have been in rotation for years now at XPN, for example. I think a large part of the problem is that frontman Shilough Hopwood is extremely shy. He and his wife, bassist Larissa Hopwood are deeply spiritual and (my guess) maybe see the self-promotion as prideful. They’re both super hip and incredibly talented. He’s a manager at the Doylestown Bookshop and she’s a manager at Siren Records, so they just exude indie cool but it’s tempered with a gentle kindness. Their music speaks for itself though. Intimately melancholy, holy and golden and longing. They get all the usual alt-country comparisons, Beach Boys, Byrds, Neil Young, Red House Painters, etc, you know the stuff. They should be famous right now after releasing another beautiful self-released album last year but it just went under the radar. I’ve been trying to help them however I can, because they’re good friends and good people and I believe in their music. I maintain their YouTube page for them and try promoting them with Facebook but I would like to do better. I’m gonna include a few links to their YouTube page so that you can get a taste of them, if you have time. If you would like to hear more, I can arrange to get some to you in whatever format you prefer. I don’t know if you have time or interest to spare, but I wanted to give it a shot. I’m basically asking if there’s anything you can do to give them a boost. Knowing something about your taste in music, I think you would like them. Their harmonies run a chill up my spine and the music makes me think of loss. Their music totally makes me cry, Jon. I’m not ashamed to admit that, I think that’s one of the best things about them. — DAVE BROWN
HONEYCHURCH PLAYS JB’S Feb. 6th w/ CHEERS ELEPHANT & EXPLORERS CLUB