Facing the music (and each other)

Feb. 17—details

—Ordinary Elephant

—Presented by Southwest Roots Music

—7:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18

—Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery, 2797 Agua Fria St.

—Suggested donation $25; 505-393-5135, holdmyticket.com

When husband-and-wife folk duo Ordinary Elephant performs at Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery, it will be a visit for the southern Louisiana band but a homecoming for some of the songs they'll perform.

Crystal and Pete Damore recorded the second of their three albums, Before I Go, at the Kitchen Sink Recording Studios in Santa Fe. It was released in 2017, and its cover featured mountains and a deep blue sky meant to evoke the landscapes of New Mexico and West Texas.

When performing, the Damores harmonize vocally, their acoustic interplay creating its own rhythm within the rapid stops and starts of the plucked strings. Sometimes both play guitar; other times, Pete plays banjo. The couple, who married in 2012, gaze entranced at each other as they sing sometimes-melancholy lyrics such as, "How can I nail a man up, for the color of his skin, knock him down, make him pay, for my father's sin?"

"We've gotten comments quite a bit on it," Crystal, who grew up about 30 minutes from the band's Louisiana home, says of their face-to-face singing style. "Audiences like being invited into our relationship and our love for each other. That's how it feels comfortable for us to perform."

That said, the pair had to leave their comfort zone to get the band off the ground. Crystal had been a veterinary cardiologist and Pete a computer programmer when they decided to pursue their musical passion — beginning an uncertain journey that doesn't include guaranteed health insurance, a retirement plan, or paid days off. They met at an open mic night in Texas, where Pete grew up, in 2009.

The night before its Santa Fe performance, the band will appear at Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales, another fairly intimate venue. While venue size plays a role in their enjoyment of a show, it's not the most important element.

"I think it's more just how warm the room feels," Crystal says. "It really enhances the experience. And the audience, they're ready to experience what you're bringing, and you feel them giving back. The best shows are when you can really feel that exchange of energy."

The couple are driving themselves on their 11-state, four-month tour, with occasional breaks for journeys home. They have a sense of humor about the DIY aesthetic of what they're doing, joking that they're paid drivers who happen to play songs along their journey.

Ordinary Elephant has toured abroad three or four times, Crystal says, adding that seeing different ways of doing things is humbling and inspiring. Pete says the exposure has bolstered their empathy and reminded them that there are no absolutes in life.

Crystal says it's refreshing to meet people who don't conform to expectations or stereotypes.

"With so much social media and because everyone was home the last few years, your reality was on your screen. And to move past that and see what's out there, it just makes [the world] less distorted."

The couple say they're careful about not letting ego intrude on their creative process.

"I think we're both pretty selfless in terms of, what the song wants is really the guiding force," Crystal says. "It's not necessarily like, 'Oh, I want to hear that,' or 'I love this riff.' Or 'I came up with this thing; I want this to be there.' We have the common goal of being about what the song wants."

Crystal says they generally don't start on a song together — that she is more effective when no one can hear her works in progress. When creating albums, they generally assemble their material and edit it into musical cohesion.

Pull Quote

Most of the band's songs focus on the human condition. Some begin with a short acoustic intro before both Crystal and Pete begin singing in unison. On other tracks, one or the other gets a turn in the vocal spotlight. For example, "The War," from the 2019 album Honest, begins with Crystal soulfully singing, "I don't smell your bourbon today, just car exhaust and a drizzle on the dirt; waiting on the city bus at Constitution and 21st." Later lines such as "shot 'em down in '73" and "poor man's rehab is a cheap motel" reveal that the song is about an ailing Vietnam War veteran's struggle to find a place in society.

In "Lady in the Elevator" from Before I Go, Crystal sings the verses over a country-tinged melody, and Peter joins her on harmony vocals for the chorus.

I've been waiting for you to change

that's something I never thought I'd want

I don't want you to leave me, darlin',

but don't let me hold you back

I'll see you some bright morning.

The pair takes part in an online songwriting group and learned what's called the transliteration process while on a retreat for songwriters. It starts with choosing a pretty-sounding piece of poetry in a foreign language, free-associating what one thinks the words sound like, and writing lines based on one's conclusions.

"You keep doing that over and over, until things start just kind of falling into place," Crystal says. "And you know, lines start going together and making sense, and it sounds weird, but it was a really, really cool process. We've written several songs that have come from that process."

Among those songs are "Let Me Tell You What I Think," a single; "Harriet," from Honest; and songs planned for the band's next album, the details of which have not been hammered out.

Crystal took piano lessons and played flute as a child, but she considered herself a writer first when the band formed in 2011.

"Right after I graduated high school, I got a guitar, and that was to be a vehicle for songwriting," she says. "[Pete is] way more musically minded, and I've come to appreciate that and try to express myself through the music part more so than I have previously."

In 1997, folk singer-songwriter Jewel's debut album, Pieces of You, hit No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Jewel's confessional style and simplicity appealed to a young Crystal.

"When Jewel came around, it was like, 'Oh, you can actually say things on songs and albums.' My parents love music, but a lot of what they listen to is Cajun and country music. Growing up, I wasn't exposed to a lot of folk, and then to have someone [like Jewel], where it was stripped down and she was saying very poetic things, it kind of flips things on their head. Like, 'Oh, maybe what I'm writing wants to be songs and not just writing.'"

Pete says he began playing guitar in sixth grade, and The Beatles were his first musical love.

"And then I picked up a banjo maybe 11 years ago, after hearing Gillian Welch's latest record. I've kind of come at it the other way, being super drawn to melody and rhythm, but not even listening to lyrics. In the past 10 to 20 years, I'm starting to get [lyrics] more and more. So it's been a really fulfilling journey."

Kitchen Sink Recording Studios co-owner Jono Manson produced Before I Go and was impressed enough by the music that he recently released a cover version of "Best of You," the album's leadoff track.

He says he and the Damores had mutual acquaintances, and he was familiar with Ordinary Elephant when the pair contacted him about producing.

"For this record, they wanted to incorporate some musical elements other than just the two of them — because the two of them together, just their two instruments and voices, are a very complete thing," Manson says.

The record was mostly recorded live in studio, with few overdubs, he says.

"We added upright bass, some violin, and, in a couple of songs, very minimal piano," Manson says. "And Sharon Gilchrist, a former Santa Fe resident, came back to play mandolin on the record. I was very struck by their songwriting and by the chemistry that they have."

Perhaps as a result of that chemistry, the Damores don't see their musical journey ending anytime soon.

"I think we'll always write songs," Crystal says. "I don't see that dying out. I've seen music careers crash and burn that have gone higher than ours and then lower. So it's hard to say, 'Oh, we're going to have this really long and prolific career as musicians,' but as artists, I think we're sustainable. And it's something that will never stop, no matter if we're making money from it or not."

The pair had an affinity for New Mexico before recording an album here. The state was one of the first they visited when they began touring full time, Crystal says.

"It's probably our favorite state to visit," she says. "Something about it really feels like home the moment you arrive. It feels very sacred, and it makes me feel closer to all the things I want to be closer to."