Recently I heard an interview with I’m With Her – the folk collaborative consisting of Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Watkins, and Sara Jarosz. When asked about the well-earned title, “supergroup,” they graciously accepted the honor, but said that the goal was not to be a supergroup, but a great band. They went on to say that often, a supergroup tends to be just another version of what its members did before joining the collaborative.
As supergroups go, it’s hard to find a trio with more raw talent.
I learned about this right before their recent performance at The Holly Theatre in Medford, Or. The concept of being a band, not a supergroup changed the way I listened to their music that night, and about the word supergroup. The criteria for supergroups are pretty flexible, but generally, it’s a band made up of successful solo musicians and members of successful bands. A brief Google search includes: The Highwaymen – Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson; The Highwomen (their 21st century female counterparts) – Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and The Traveling Wilburys – Tom Petty, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne.
I’m a huge fan of The Traveling Wilburys, but after hearing the members of I’m With Her talk about it, I realized their songs tended to be vehicles for each of the members to display their singing/songwriting prowess with a tight band accompanying them. They were definitely great. Jeff Lynne of ELO fame produced their albums, and around the time of their first release, contributed his studio genius to albums by Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Tom Petty, each of which included other members of the Wilburys, and sounded like they may as well have been Traveling Wilburys albums. Supergroup and great band, yes, but they weren’t pushing the boundaries, just making great music. That can be said of The Highwaymen, and The Highwomen. They did great things together, but didn’t break any new ground. Their music was more of an extension of what each individual had done previously.
Another of my favorite collaborative bands is Oysterhead – Les Claypool (Primus), Stewart Copeland (The Police), and Trey Anastasio (Phish). They got together in the late ‘90s for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to play a one-off show. They wound up recording an album together and touring. I would call them a great band, before a supergroup. Three players from three different backgrounds and styles, joining forces for something that highlighted their individual talents while stretching the boundaries of heavy progressive rock.
A more recent dream team of a band is The New Basement Tapes. In 1975, Bob Dylan and The Band released The Basement Tapes. In 2014, he assembled a group of musicians to complete songs he’d written that didn’t wind up on the 1975 release. The New Basement Tapes – Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), and Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) released Lost on the River. It’s a collection of well-made songs under the watch of producer T-Bone Burnett. Each member takes a turn at lead vocals on songs that range from folk to rock. The dynamics of the album give it the New Basement Tapes a great band feel. It’s more of a supergroup however as the individual styles of the members stand out as opposed to a unique collaborative sound.
When I went to see I’m With Her at the Holly, I listened with the hopes of understanding the difference between supergroup and great band. With 2 studio albums, multiple Grammy Awards, and a new live album, they are now an established trio however we decide to define them.
Each of their past projects has leaned toward the progressive side of folk and bluegrass. Sarah Watkins and her brother Sean remain part of the trio Nickel Creek along with Chris Thile. They play highly technical folk and bluegrass with extended jams and gorgeous harmonies. Aoife O’Donovan got her start in Crooked Still. In 2020, along with producer Jeremy Kittel and Teddy Abrams, the former conductor of the Britt Festival Orchestra, O’Donovan released the song cycle Bullfrogs Croon, based on the poetry of Peter Sears, the former Poet Laureate of Oregon. It was first performed at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. Sara Jarosz, was nominated for her first Grammy Award in 2009 at the age of 18. She graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2013, earning a degree in contemporary improvisation. She’s considered a master of several stringed instruments and a creative songwriter.
As supergroups go, it’s hard to find a trio with more raw talent. Their songs don’t follow and specific format – other than being almost exclusively acoustic and folky. Instead, they use their talents as a group to write and compose dynamic songs with unique individual parts and changes. When singers sing and harmonize together for long enough, their combined voices start to become one. Think Simon and Garfunkel, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Lennon and McCartney. With 10 years of performing together, I’m With Her has a definite, unique vocal style, and like their playing, they use complex arrangements to give their tunes the “I’m With Her” sound. That makes them their own great band.
Maybe the difference between supergroup and great band is a matter of semantics, but questions like that keep me up at night.
