We recently connected with Stick & Bindle and have shared our conversation below.

Stick & Bindle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

We are Stick & Bindle, a folk duo out of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky made up of Steve Covington and Anne Bangert. We bring rootsy, multi-instrumental tunes and traditional tributes to our local alt-country/Americana scene.

In 2023, we began working on our debut album, Lore and Laments. These songs, equal parts tales of heritage and stories of heartbreak, come together as a compilation of our individual songwriting styles and have helped us forge our distinct voice as a musical duo.

We decided to release our album on vinyl because the medium harkens back to a time when albums and their art were appreciated as artifacts and listened to with intention.

We are very proud that our friend, Abe Partridge, a folk artist and musician from Mobile, Alabama, provided the artwork for Lore & Laments. Abe used a photo taken by local photographer, Kenny Dunn, to create a unique watercolor portrait that captures both the starkness and whimsy of our music.

We’ve had some fantastic local musicians contribute to our songs, including pedal steel by Travis Talbert of Frontier Folk Nebraska, violin cameos by Lauren Schloemer Wilson, and a song with our full band, Steve Covington & the Humble Strays.

Lore and Laments started as a way to document our work. New acts need to have something to release as they seek to gain traction. Something that tells listeners what they do, their message, the overall sound. In the beginning that’s what we set out to do. By the end of it, the album had taken on a life of its own. It was a beacon light to a long sought after finish line. The purpose was simple, but as our music continues to evolve, we look back on Lore and Laments with pride and motivation to push ourselves towards new, ever-challenging and authentic work.

Stick & Bindle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We are an offshoot project of our full band, Steve Covington & the Humble Strays and began as an unlikely pair. Steve has played in a variety of projects from jug to jam and punk bands and approaches songwriting with a feast or famine, all or nothing mentality. I have primarily performed in ensemble choirs and have a background in literature. My songwriting is lyric and message focused while Steve begins with the music. We like to think that our differences complement each other and the music we create and share as we are challenged to seek new inspirations.

Here are a couple of tracks, along with details about what inspired them, that we feel represent our body of work:

“Cover with the Moon” has been one of our favorites to perform. While trying to pin down the title of the album and kicking around ideas, we found ourselves looking through pages of hobo slang. Our duo is called Stick & Bindle, which is the cartoony item you see slung over a hobo’s back in a lot of cases, a stick with a handkerchief tied on the end to secure his worldly possessions. Steve came across the saying, “cover with the moon,” which means to sleep outside under the stars. He quickly jumped on it and instead of an album title, we had a new song:

Kick off your boots and cover with the moon
Know tomorrow’s coming, babe it’s much too soon

So let your restless thoughts just scatter in the wind
You know you’re faith is waning babe but that’s no sin

“Drowning” is a departure in both approach and tone. It presents the point-of-view of someone watching a loved one fight and lose to demons. It shows the unique perspective of the collateral damage that often suffers in the wake of each other’s pain and suffering. Our friend Lauren Schloemer Wilson added a haunting and beautiful violin part that captures the overall heartbreak of the message:

Did you ever watch somebody drown?
Behind glass so clear it looks like they’re floating midair
And people around them are moving along without care
But you’re both stuck there

And you know cause you can’t hear a sound
You just watch as they reach out and stare through their tangled up hair
Standing there locked to each other, aren’t you quite the pair?
Goin’ nowhere

Our first album has turned into a true representation of our individual and collective songwriting and composition styles. The tracks run the gamut from old-time inspired traditionals to ballads to cowboy tunes. These songs, tales of heritage and stories of heartbreak, have helped us forge our distinct voice as a duet.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For us, generally speaking, it’s the ability to share our vision or message with others. From a musician’s standpoint, knowing that one of our songs may have possibly reached the right person at the right time to maybe help them deal with whatever may be plaguing them in that moment, is uplifting. We’ve all connected with certain songs at some time in our lives. Music is powerful. It can tear you down or lift you up, as well as be very therapeutic. There’s something really powerful about having a complete stranger say that one of our songs moved them or helped them through a hard time. We’re all more alike than different and it’s a nice thought to know that we’re able to connect on that human level through something we created.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

It seems lots of folks see artists or musicians and other creatives as hobbyists. That’s not always true in every case but we’ve had our share of people ask why we are doing this and what’s the end goal. With musicians especially, people can’t always make the connection to the fact that you’re creating something. You’re putting a piece of yourself out into the world. Completely letting your guard down and exposing some of your inner being. They tend to think of bands they may see playing cover songs every weekend at the sports bar when they hear you are a songwriter. Why would you want to do that? Spend your time playing music for little in return? The answer really isn’t cut and dry. It’s something inside you that needs out, needs a voice, a vehicle to be heard. There’s also a lot of joy from doing something you dig.
Nowadays being a musician isn’t enough. You also have to be a web designer, a social media guru, a booking agent, a roadie, etc. There’s a lot that goes into staying relevant in today’s world. The fun easy part is standing on that stage and doing the part that you love. It’s not always about money, though that’s always a welcome outcome. To create is to live as if that’s how you’re wired. You have to do it. We believe folks outside that circle could benefit from taking a deeper look at what goes into actually being a creative. It’s not a hobby, it’s an extension of us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stickandbindlemusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stick_bindle/profilecard/?igsh=MXJ4YnN1MnBsNGZvOQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stickbindle?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@stick_bindle?si=CgWVaJ3SqIrR_lgo
• Other: https://stickbindle.hearnow.com/lore-and-laments

Image Credits

Kenny Dunn, Scott Preston, Abe Partridge, Amplify Nashville