The Bittersweets
Goodnight, San Francisco
Compass - 4486
visit the band's website
also available on CD Amazon
Hannah Prater has a voice that can pull tears from dry eyes, cause joy to well up, and draw all kinds of emotions from folks that don’t normally succumb to those feelings. Chris Meyers, guitar, keyboards, vocals, and main songwriter (he wrote 9 of the 10 songs, one co- written with Hannah Prater who also wrote the other song; shows a feel and touch on each of these facets that enhances the cumulative sound. That leaves the third member of this trio, Steve Bowman, the drummer; he has this uncanny way of using his drums in support of the vocals, putting in accents to highlight a shift in mood, meaning, or tone, or fills that keep the rhythm and flow of the song smooth.
They are now a trio, down from a 5 piece, due not to disagreements but rather vagaries of living life and its responsibilities interfered, so the sound is augmented with a solid stable of Nashville’s
finest some of who are Dave Jacques on bass, Russ Pohl on pedal steel, and David Henry on cello. These 3 form a formidable lineup that has intelligent songwriting that can make you think about what life has and its way of giving and taking. That there are balances that exist between the pleasures and the bittersweet moments and how they often intersect, at the seemingly unlikeliest of moments. This move to Nashville seems like a way the group can expand it base of influences, remove restrictions, and open new vistas to explore.