Dusty Sunshine

Listening to Dusty Sunshine online, one can imagine they light up all the venues on their upcoming tour, like they were in their hometown of Las Vegas. Bandmates Summer, Heidi, Chani, Megan, Courtney and Aly, all bring something unique to the group's Americana sound. With their 2012 EP release "Deer Paw" in hand (six sets of hands), Dusty Sunshine will feature at Toronto's NXNE festival in June.

All six members of Dusty Sunshine managed to squeeze in an interview with Examiner.com.

Ryan:
Let's start right with NXNE. as individuals, had any of you been up here to Toronto/ NXNE ? What are your individual impressions of the festival?

Megan Marie Wingerter:
I have never been to Toronto, but have heard wonderful things about the city. Concerning my knowledge of NXNE, I know it's a very well established festival that has been going on for years and some of my favorite artists have played there in the past.

Chani Riiell Leavitt:
I wasn't personally familiar with it, but I've always been a fan of SXSW. When I heard we got accepted to NXNE, I immediately researched it and promptly fell out of my chair with excitement. it's definitely an incredible opportunity in one of the most beautiful and diverse cities I've ever seen (a picture of).

Courtney Carroll:
I've never been, but my other band played SXSW. My understanding is that it's Canada's version of SXSW.

Summer Soll:
I don't believe any of us have been to Toronto. But we've all been on our computers researching the festival like crazy.

Courtney Carroll:
I've never been to Toronto, but like Megan said, I've heard nothing but awesome things about the city. I'm pretty excited to check out the festival

Alethia Prudence:
Heard if he festival, this will be my first time in Canada other than a brief airport layover back in the day... Excited!

Heidi Guinn:
I've never been to Canada but from all those I've talked to who live in the area or have been to the NXNE, they all say it is amazing and an impressive Music Fest. I could not be more excited to attend and play as well.

Ryan:
Next question: With all the other bands playing, Canadian and international, how are you going to reach out to fans to listen to check you out?

Megan Marie Wingerter:
We are going to try to promote as much as possible with outlets such as this, lots of internet promotion too, and we have had promotional companies contact us and we are considering that route too.

Heidi Guinn:
Basically every way we can promote ourselves on a shoestring budget, we're planning on doing.

Courtney Carroll:
We may reach out to some bands around Toronto and see about playing more shows while we're there, also.

Megan Marie Wingerter:
It seems like we got a good slot too and a great venue so hopefully we can bank on that. We don't know the lineup yet, but I'm sure it'll be great.

Chani Riiell Leavitt:
We've also had posters and business cards made to hand out while networking, etc. We figure we might as well get as much info out while we're there to take advantage of being in a different country and also being in that country's biggest music festival.

Oh, also, I'm a redditor and have used that website to sort of familiarize myself with Toronto redditors. It's turning our to be a fantastic outlet while on tour!

Ryan:
For your NXNE show, what can a person checking out bands, who just happens to pass by Dusty Sunshine playing, expect? Will every song be a "gotta listen to this band/song" scenario?

Summer Soll:
I think we are an unique band in the fact that we have 4 part female vocal harmonies and 4 song writers which keeps our songs interesting and adds a lots of different sounds and styles.

Courtney Carroll:
I like to think so. Haha. I may be bias, but I think all our songs are pretty great. I'm not a singer in the band, so I'm allowed to say that all 4 vocalists are the most amazing singers! They sound like angels!

Chani Riiell Leavitt:
We've definitely got a few bangers and a few more soulful, slow jams. It all depends on what vibe the audience is into in that moment. Adding to what Summer said, none of our songs are too similar because we take turns singing lead and writing, so listeners get a good variety.

Megan Marie Wingerter:
They can expect a lot of variety. We have 4 lead vocalist and we all equally contribute to songwriting. With that, there are a lot of different musical styles and instrumentation. You definitely won't be bored!

Alethia Prudence:
As a none vocalist in the ban I agree with Courtney... These ladies harmonies can take your breath away.

Courtney Carroll:
Plus everyone kills their instruments, as well. 6 members and 9 instruments is pretty unique.

Alethia Prudence:
The music is honest and organic

Chani Riiell Leavitt:
Aw, look at our rhythm section being all sweet and stuff. Thanks, cuties

Ryan:
Do you find in Vegas, what you do really fits in, as compared to other places you've played?
(I think folks in Vegas appreciate a good voice, if I'm not mistaken)

Chani Riiell Leavitt:
It fits in that we've built a fairly steady fan base. Outside of that, and outside of the immediate local music "scene", we are kind of out of place, musically.

Alethia Prudence:
The Scene here is small but supportive, and growing. Dusty sunshine has always been well received.

Megan Marie Wingerter:
Our style of music is definitely different from the majority of current local bands in Vegas, but I think that is why we have had such a great response locally and our community is so supportive. Last year on our Southwest tour we also had a great response and made a lot of new fans, but I wouldn't say that we felt like we "fit better" somewhere else.

Summer Soll:
The music we play is not really too common for the area, but it doesn't mean people don't like it, I think a lot of people are refreshed by our sound here, since there aren't a lot of bands playing this genre. We appeal to a larger group of people I think, all different ages, all different walks of life.

Chani Riiell Leavitt:
Out of place but surprisingly very well received in our community. Our style isn't typically conceived in Vegas. Think Appalachian towns/northwest America with a little southwest grit.

Courtney Carroll:
I can't say there are many bands like us, in general. Yes, we fit in, because people seem to like us, and the local music scene in Vegas is pretty tight and supportive.. As far as similar bands go, there aren't many.

Haha. We all said the same thing.

Heidi Guinn
Our Sound has a very soulful and organic feel . Not hard for people with a variety of tastes to like us.

Ryan:
Now, having all said the same thing: even though you all have the different backgrounds, and bring a different mix to the songs, does that "saying the same thing" spill out into non-music conversation?

Courtney Carroll:
Are you asking if we all always agree on everything?

Heidi Guinn:
We are in Harmony on many different levels. But...we can also fight like sisters.

Megan Marie Wingerter:
We all have very different personalities and they definitely show. Haha. But, we all have the same goal and passion for this band and the music we play, so we always make it work and we love each other Sister relationship like Heidi said.

Heidi Guinn:
I think we can really talk to each other about anything and are good friends outside of the band so its easy to be agreeable with most things.

We definitely are on the same level and are committed to Dusty Sunshine the same that is for sure.

Ryan:
Where did your individual loves for music come from?

Heidi Guinn:
Alas! The angst of being a teenager! I was so happy to have my guitar to get me thru it!

Courtney Carroll:
Doesn't everyone in the world love music? I guess it all comes form the same human instinct.

Megan Marie Wingerter:
Music was always an important thing in my family. I started violin when I was 5, went to school for it and I am a elementary music teacher.

Chani Riiell Leavitt:
My dad was a folk musician and I grew up singing with him and was chorally trained in choirs my whole life, so I have a certain affinity for vocal harmonies.

Summer Soll:
My love for music started at a young age, My father played banjo and harmonica and guitar and it was normal to have him playing little tunes around the house, and he'd have me sing along, then came the 90's and I was a teenager in love with the grungy angst and honesty. I started playing guitar then, and I dove into that world, and fell in love.

Courtney Carroll:
I'm not really sure. I just can't not do. I always had support from my dad He played in a bluegrass band when I was little and always came to all my shows even when I was in horrible bands, just starting out, 18 years ago.

Alethia Prudence:
I'm the odd one on the family that got the music gene. I believe the only musical relative was my great grandmother in Spain. Though my parents are huge lovers of music. My mom claims I had my own belly headphones while in the womb and my middle name is Prudence after the Beatles song.

Ryan:
Getting back to the commitment of NXNE. Are you all scheduling time out of other bands to come up here for a week? What is the regular commitment (time) to Dusty Sunshine?

Courtney Carroll:
I have to take time out from my other 2 bands, since we practice every week, but I'm not missing out on anything major.

Megan Marie Wingerter:
My other band, A Crowd of Small Adventures, just finishing up recording and has a record coming out, so I am definitely taking time out of that, however, all my other bandmates and projects are so supportive of what we are doing and want us to succeed. So, we planned accordingly with us leaving and we're making it all work

Courtney Carroll:
Dusty practices 1-2 times a week and plays a lot of shows lately. We've been having meetings about tour, so our commitment is a lot more the last coupes months.

Heidi Guinn:
Dusty is so good about being flexible whenever any adjustments are needed to accommodate the other bands here in Vegas. They have graciously been as flexible with us. its all about being supportive here to help the Music scene thrive.

Megan Marie Wingerter:
Dusty Sunshine is a a project that we definitely spend a lot of time individually daily taking care of. Especially with tour and the festival coming up. Emails etc. However, we usually get together 1 or 2 times a week for practice and band meetings

Ryan:
And finishing up, since there's several of you, and let's see if you all answer the same (again): Buying drinks for the band: What drinks should people buy Dusty Sunshine at NXNE?

Megan Marie Wingerter:
Jameson on the rocks!

Alethia Prudence:
Bourbon ... Lots of it!

Courtney Carroll:
Good beer and Jameson. Not mixed together, though.

Summer Soll:
Jameson is the only whiskey I can drink, otherwise Im a red wine girl, myself.

Heidi Guinn:
Jameson!!!

Chani Riiell Leavitt:
If people buy me Jameson I will drink it and I will be party time, and then I will have my own little party later on in the trash can or nearest toilet. Give me vodka! Any way, any mixer. Party time!

A bar owner kept bringing us shots of Jameson on stage during tour last year. Funniest night we had. Worst morning I've ever had IN MY LIFE.

Megan Marie Wingerter:
As a general rule, I don't think we are picky about our drinks. Summer and I have a NO RUM rule though. ICKY!

Heidi Guinn:
I would love to explore the awesomeness of Canadian Beer while I'm up there. That is on my check list. - The Toronto Examiner

Dusty Sunshine, Deer Paw

(self-released)

This felt like a given over here. We were impressed in October and it hasn’t worn off, despite listening to “Devil’s Choir” somewhere around a million times. It conveys grit and femininity, from the pound of the bass drum to the harmonic builds. Deer Paw is all legs and teeth. MAX PLENKE - Citylife

If you were to hear a Dusty Sunshine song playing on the radio, chances are, unless you knew better, Las Vegas is probably the last city you would associate with this ethereal six-piece indie folk act. With distinct and beautifully crafted songs evoking spiritual soundscapes of the American south and beyond, this Las Vegas-based band is having no problems distinguishing itself as a formidable force to be reckoned with on any stage it graces. Having finished a tour in mid-July that included venues in Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona, it’s a safe bet that Dusty Sunshine has made fans in these cities too. What would be surprising is if Dusty Sunshine were not to become Las Vegas’ next big musical export to the national scene. But their future didn’t seem as assured at the beginning. Says Megan Wingerter, “It wasn’t effortless. It was a bit of a struggle atfirst, putting individual ideas aside of what it should sound like. But now we are much more cohesive.” Wingerter contributes vocals to the band’s signature four-part harmonies. She also brings classical training on violin, viola, mandolin, autoharp and keys to the multifaceted group.

DUSTY SUNSHINE
Commenting on Dusty Sunshine’s genre-blending sound, Heidi Guinn (vocals, guitar) offers, “We were never trying to do anything specific. What we have now is very natural. It’s not a forced thing at all.”

Each of the band’s members has been in, or is still actively playing in, other groups with disparate styles. Among other side projects, bassist Jason Aragon also plays in the alt. country band The Clydesdale. Percussionist Courtney Carroll is part of the electro-pop duo Kid Meets Cougar.

Speaking to how their different backgrounds have meshed, Guinn says, “For our first album we experimented with a lot of different genres and now we have found our niche in Americana, roots, gospel and folk. It’s a nice place to sit, musically speaking.”

Aragon says, “It’s a new take on folk and Americana, a modern version if you will. People have done similar things but this is more contemporary.”

Addressing the resurgent interest in folk that allows this band tobe well received while flexing their musical muscles, Guinn says “Who wouldn’t want to be part of something unique and on the cusp of what is happening everywhere now?”

Another unmistakable influence most of the members of Dusty Sunshine share is religion. Wingerter and band-mate Chani Leavit (vocal, keys, autoharp) were both raised Mormon. Heidi Guinn and Summer Soll (vocals, guitar, banjo) were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses. “The hymns are beautiful and have really had an influence on my music,” says Wingerter. “Before We Rise,” a song from their first album, demonstrates the band’s capacity for deeply contemplative lyrics and tones. “Devil’s Choir” explorescoming to terms with a faith and worldview presented during one’s youth that needs revision when faced with the challenges of adult life.
On the lighter side is the song “Hustler,” which lays sassy, flirtatious lyrics over gypsy-like rhythms. “The Perfect Man” is anupbeat and danceable song about a longsuffering woman who is failing at falling in love.

Where there is some disagreement within the band is whether Dusty Sunshine is best heard live or as the product of a skillfull produced recording. With many instruments and many voices it can be quite the challenge creating a live version of the sonic experience intended when the songs were written. All of its members say they relish interaction with the audience but that the sound quality can vary wildly depending on the venue and who is manning the soundboard. For their upcoming five-song EP, everyone in the band agrees that what fans will hear are instruments and vocal harmonies captured precisely as they were intended. - BLVD Magazine

Whatever act you think Dusty Sunshine is, it isn't
by MAX PLENKE
Published: Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 12:08 am
Dusty Sunshine is getting drunk in their bassist's dining room. They're sitting around a table, cradling tumblers of wine, their album playing softly under seven conversations held between six people. Mathematically, that doesn't seem probable. But they're doing it.

One conversation is about the new, self-titled album, which they're releasing this Saturday, which they're playing with Deer Tick, which they're totally stoked about. Another is about their new, grittier sound, the O Brother, Where Art Thou? bluegrass revival take on their previously adorable musings. Another is about how, despite being six very talented artists, they're automatically labeled a girl band, and are thusly lesbians, man-haters or shitty musicians.

"We've all been in bands a long time," says Heidi Guinn, The Petals-turned-Dusty Sunshine guitarist and smokey lead voice on the song "Hustler." "We love to play music and want to be taken seriously for that."

September of last year, the group played its first show as a glorified coffee-shop quintet. Besides the steady backing lines of Clydesdale bassist Jason Aragon, it bounced between a hodgepodge of sounds from a hodgepodge of singers. It could go lounge to barn with bullet-train speed, from A Crowd of Small Adventures' Megan Wingerter's classical and gospel influence to the Southern roots sound of singer and The Petals other half, Summer Soll.
It's because of that hodgepodge that it took the band more than a year to put out this album, and throughout the evening, they'll make it more apparent how glad they are to have it signed, sealed and out the door. "I think it takes us longer than some bands to finish a thought musically because there are so many different layers," says former Rubix Hotel singer Chani Leavitt. "This album is a bunch of different genres."

Whether they'd admit it or not, this album is actually Dusty Sunshine's closure to the initial experimenting. With the addition of (The Clydesdale/Kid Meets Cougar) drummer Courtney Carroll, they've established a direction. The folk-wop sound is diminishing. Now it's Woody Guthrie. It's dirty blues. It's salt to the older material's sweet, and more like a truck rumbling down a dirt road than a pony trotting atop a grassy knoll. The record's cover is a picture of Wingerter's puppy. The next, for all we know, could be a shotgun and a pack of smokes.

But what they're avoiding is that this is the band's spaghetti album, the necessary nine-track trial-and-error that they're pitching against the walls of downtown watering holes, waiting to see which strands stick and which fall down in piles of soggy harmonies. "Everyone is a songwriter," Carroll says. "So it's hard because it will be two of Chani's songs, then two of Heidi's. It's a mix."

But even though the styles are different, it has one unifying theme that most bands can only dream about: the singing. Leavitt's choral training and having four naturally strong singers to utilize results in some of the most complicated and intertwined vocal lines you'll find outside of an actual chorus. "Chani hears, like, seven harmonies in a song," Guinn says. "I don't know how, but that's why it sounds that way." Like the conversation they had at the beginning of the evening, with each part layered on top of one another, it creates stacking relationships between all the moving parts, a Swiss watch of twanging chords and whimsical glissandos.

Toward the end of the night, as cheeks get rosier, they've started to talk about what Dusty Sunshine would be like at a bar. They agree she'd be schizophrenic. She'd have country roots. She'd come from a small town but love the city. She'd drive a truck, smoke cigarettes and always be drunk instead of go to church. "But she's classy," interjects Wingerter, with a sideways look as the group's idea of their personalities combined comes to a head as a character in a Sons of Anarchy episode. But the consensus is a natural separation from their own pasts, rebelling against how they were brought up and how they're supposed to appear. "A lot of us come from conservative houses, and some of the lyrics push that," Leavitt says. "There are a lot of religious undertones and struggling."

"If your parents knew your lyrics, they'd be really mad," Carroll replies.

And maybe that's the point. For a group fighting to shed the cutesy girl-band Dusty Sunshine, the first album was only making them seem sweeter. This evening, they're having an Olivia Newton John-level transformation. With only a guitar and the natural amplification of Aragon's dining room, they break into what sounds like estrogenated Ralph Stanley, a tough-as-nails, rambling-dirt-road guitar progression beneath Leavitt's painfully beautiful soloing. Carroll and Aragon just watch as their melody section harmonizes over one of the most goosebump-shooting songs ever sung - Las Vegas City Life

Whatever act you think Dusty Sunshine is, it isn't
by MAX PLENKE
Published: Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 12:08 am
Dusty Sunshine is getting drunk in their bassist's dining room. They're sitting around a table, cradling tumblers of wine, their album playing softly under seven conversations held between six people. Mathematically, that doesn't seem probable. But they're doing it.

One conversation is about the new, self-titled album, which they're releasing this Saturday, which they're playing with Deer Tick, which they're totally stoked about. Another is about their new, grittier sound, the O Brother, Where Art Thou? bluegrass revival take on their previously adorable musings. Another is about how, despite being six very talented artists, they're automatically labeled a girl band, and are thusly lesbians, man-haters or shitty musicians.

"We've all been in bands a long time," says Heidi Guinn, The Petals-turned-Dusty Sunshine guitarist and smokey lead voice on the song "Hustler." "We love to play music and want to be taken seriously for that."

September of last year, the group played its first show as a glorified coffee-shop quintet. Besides the steady backing lines of Clydesdale bassist Jason Aragon, it bounced between a hodgepodge of sounds from a hodgepodge of singers. It could go lounge to barn with bullet-train speed, from A Crowd of Small Adventures' Megan Wingerter's classical and gospel influence to the Southern roots sound of singer and The Petals other half, Summer Soll.
It's because of that hodgepodge that it took the band more than a year to put out this album, and throughout the evening, they'll make it more apparent how glad they are to have it signed, sealed and out the door. "I think it takes us longer than some bands to finish a thought musically because there are so many different layers," says former Rubix Hotel singer Chani Leavitt. "This album is a bunch of different genres."

Whether they'd admit it or not, this album is actually Dusty Sunshine's closure to the initial experimenting. With the addition of (The Clydesdale/Kid Meets Cougar) drummer Courtney Carroll, they've established a direction. The folk-wop sound is diminishing. Now it's Woody Guthrie. It's dirty blues. It's salt to the older material's sweet, and more like a truck rumbling down a dirt road than a pony trotting atop a grassy knoll. The record's cover is a picture of Wingerter's puppy. The next, for all we know, could be a shotgun and a pack of smokes.

But what they're avoiding is that this is the band's spaghetti album, the necessary nine-track trial-and-error that they're pitching against the walls of downtown watering holes, waiting to see which strands stick and which fall down in piles of soggy harmonies. "Everyone is a songwriter," Carroll says. "So it's hard because it will be two of Chani's songs, then two of Heidi's. It's a mix."

But even though the styles are different, it has one unifying theme that most bands can only dream about: the singing. Leavitt's choral training and having four naturally strong singers to utilize results in some of the most complicated and intertwined vocal lines you'll find outside of an actual chorus. "Chani hears, like, seven harmonies in a song," Guinn says. "I don't know how, but that's why it sounds that way." Like the conversation they had at the beginning of the evening, with each part layered on top of one another, it creates stacking relationships between all the moving parts, a Swiss watch of twanging chords and whimsical glissandos.

Toward the end of the night, as cheeks get rosier, they've started to talk about what Dusty Sunshine would be like at a bar. They agree she'd be schizophrenic. She'd have country roots. She'd come from a small town but love the city. She'd drive a truck, smoke cigarettes and always be drunk instead of go to church. "But she's classy," interjects Wingerter, with a sideways look as the group's idea of their personalities combined comes to a head as a character in a Sons of Anarchy episode. But the consensus is a natural separation from their own pasts, rebelling against how they were brought up and how they're supposed to appear. "A lot of us come from conservative houses, and some of the lyrics push that," Leavitt says. "There are a lot of religious undertones and struggling."

"If your parents knew your lyrics, they'd be really mad," Carroll replies.

And maybe that's the point. For a group fighting to shed the cutesy girl-band Dusty Sunshine, the first album was only making them seem sweeter. This evening, they're having an Olivia Newton John-level transformation. With only a guitar and the natural amplification of Aragon's dining room, they break into what sounds like estrogenated Ralph Stanley, a tough-as-nails, rambling-dirt-road guitar progression beneath Leavitt's painfully beautiful soloing. Carroll and Aragon just watch as their melody section harmonizes over one of the most goosebump-shooting songs ever sung - Las Vegas City Life

Supergroup side-projects usually aren’t built to last. That’s how Dusty Sunshine was typically described when the local folk outfit coalesced in the summer of 2010, bringing together members of The Petals, A Crowd of Small Adventures, The Clydesdale and Rubiks Hotel.
Yet on October 29, more than a year after its first live appearance, the six-piece band will play its biggest show to date, opening for fast-rising East Coast folk-rock act Deer Tick and celebrating the release of debut album Dusty Sunshine. Clearly, this “supergroup side-project” has staying power.
“When Megan [Wingerter] and I first started writing songs together, and then asked Heidi [Guinn] and Summer [Soll] to join up with us, we really didn’t know what it would be, but we hoped it would turn into something that would last,” says Chani Leavitt, one of Dusty’s four female vocalists. “I think timing has been a big reason it has." That timing has helped Dusty Sunshine become the primary musical focus for most of its members. Leavitt’s Rubiks Hotel is a thing of the past. Guinn and Soll’s Petals perform only occasionally these days. And drummer Courtney Carroll’s Kid Meets Cougar hasn’t played a live show in more than a year. That means Dusty mostly just has to contend with Wingerter’s A Crowd of Small Adventures and Carroll and bassist Jason Aragon’s Clydesdale when it comes to avoiding conflicts. “It still takes a lot of planning,” Leavitt says. “All our phones are synced to a Google calendar.”
Not that the six musicians needed to carve out much time for recording. Under the production supervision of Brett Bolton and Mike Weller, Dusty laid down its nine songs in two days—one day each for instrumentation and vocals—at Carroll and Bolton’s home studio ... with occasional trips to the bathroom. “They have a really big bathroom, and we liked the acoustics in there, so that’s where we recorded lead vocals,” Leavitt explains.
Though songs were contributed by all four singers, Dusty Sunshine plays like a cohesive whole—an unfussy, wistful glimpse back at an age when honeyed harmonies and honest lyrics ruled the radio dial. “This is one of the best projects I’ve been part of,” Aragon says. “The way it came together was very organic, and I think we’ve still got a lot we can do with it.” - Las Vegas Weekly