NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, July 1.
PORT ANGELES — Homegrown musical duo, Witherow, this evening will kick off their first national tour with an intimate performance in downtown Port Angeles.
The acoustic duo consists of lovers Abby Latson, 27, and Dillan Witherow, 23, both of Port Angeles.
The two will perform from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Easy Street Coffee and Tea, 128 W. First St.
Entry to the all ages show is by donation.
The whole tour simply will be “acoustic guitar and our voices singing lots of harmonies,” Abby said.
“The show at Easy Street will be our first showing of our acoustic set, with some new songs. We’re very, very excited to kick off this whole adventure here, in our hometown.”
“We’re a duet, so we share the melodies pretty evenly and heavily emphasize the harmonies,” Abby said.
“I think the single most exciting thing about our songs is how we write harmonies and sing together. Sometimes both of us are singing harmonies but either could be the melody. It’s really great.”
The two “take a lot of influences from our favorite singer-songwriters and add our own take on the harmonies,” Abby continued.
“I would classify us acoustic folk pop.”
Dillan specializes in finger tapping, and sings along with Abby during performances.
Dillan is a “prolific guitar player,” Abby said, “although every once in a while I’ll pick up a guitar or I’ll play a tom drum.”
Love inspired
Being partners both on and off stage has a direct correlation with the music the duo writes, Abby said.
“Being in a relationship, and doing music together, our music often is a great place to write about our hopes, dreams and love,” she said.
“We write songs about the challenges we face in our lives as well, and hope that people can relate to that.”
Recently “we’ve been writing a few songs about how important it is to pursue what you’re good at, and to work really, really hard at that,” Abby continued.
“It’s not exclusive to music, and we really hope that people can gain motivation and inspiration from those songs, as well as feel the warm fuzzy feelings we do when we sing about love.”
National Tour
The national tour will span from July 1 until Aug. 31, Abby said.
“We are going to bring our little corner of the world all over the country. We have a lot of new music to showcase.”
So far, “we have a little more than 20 dates booked,” Abby said, “spanning from Washington to New York, south a bit to South Carolina, and back across to California and north to home. Every day leading up to it, we get a little bit more excited.”
The two will be “taking videos and photos along the way to go in a music video with the release of new music when we get back,” she said.
The two have gone on a few shorter state tours, “but nothing this big,” Abby said.
“We’re super excited about it, and also pretty nervous. We’ve never gone this far, but we’re excited to see how it goes. We have a lot of friends and places that we’ll see over the tour, and that is something great to look forward to.”
Local flavors
Both Abby and Dillan were raised in Port Angeles, Abby said, adding their musical style is steeped in the local culture.
“I would say Port Angeles has shaped our sound a lot,” she said.
“You gain inspiration from where you are, lyrically and melodically. From the cloud formations off the Olympics, to birds singing in the trees, to the sunsets over the Strait — the stunning views here have a transcendental effect on our music.”
Their various mentors and educators also have had a hand in guiding their formation, Abby said.
“The music program in Port Angeles is incredible,” she said.
“We’ve had lots of mentors and influences. Dillan was heavily involved in the [Port Angeles High School] choir program with Jolene Gailey, and I was in orchestra from the time I was 8. There are a lot of fantastic musicians and educators here, and a lot of them have helped us to do what we do.”
Abby has been performing music professionally for eight years, while Dillan has been playing guitar for 12 years.
The two formed Witherow about four years ago, Abby said.
“Our band formed in the spring of 2012, when I was in a bluegrass band called Abby Mae and the Homeschool Boys, and Dillan was in a folk band called Witherow and Gibson,” she said.
“We started writing songs together and found we loved it so much we’d create our own project.”
Since then, the two have released one album together, 2012’s “Standing on Shoulders.”
In 2015, they released a Christmas themed EP and are working on a new EP to be released later this year.
The newest EP is being recorded in a private studio the two unsigned musicians built themselves.
“We are totally independent artists,” Abby said.
“We built our own studio and have been recording a lot there this year. We’ve been really proud of the sounds we can get there. This fall or winter, when we release our first original music in four years, I’ll be proud to say that we recorded everything completely on our own at our own studio and wrote all the songs.”
The do-it-yourself nature of the project has been “a really gratifying experience,” Abby said, “but it takes a lot of work.”
Spreading their wings
“It’s been a really fantastic adventure being a band based in the small town of Port Angeles” that is “always trying to find ways to connect with the outside world,” Abby said.
“Our first step to growing elsewhere was to plug into the amazing network of musicians in the area. This last year we realized how many connections we have made over the years, and decided to pull the trigger and start booking our tour.”
The two “booked every single show while we were also doing school full time at Peninsula College this last quarter,” Abby said.
This “huge step wouldn’t be possible without the ceaseless support of our community,” she continued.
For more information about the band, visit www.witherowmusic.com.
For more information about this evening’s performance, call 360-775-5041.
