Search - The Honeycutters :: When Bitter Met Sweet

In a world that is becoming increasingly digitalized and impersonal, The Honeycutters are building a reputation based on live performance and songs that tend to stick with you. Fitting into Americana realm, Mountain Xpress's Alli Marshall calls The Honeycutters sound, 'old school country in the truest sense... free of twang and ten-gallon hats but full of real emotion, family history, quick wit and strong liquor.' In an interview with the Folk to Folk Blog, Amanda says that part of The Honeycutters appeal is that their sound harkens back to simpler, more honest times. In times like these, people want something real, she said. They're just really craving something that's just going to connect them to that basic human pool of emotion. The Honeycutters introduced their second full length studio release, When Bitter Met Sweet, on May 1st, 2012. Like their first release, Irene, When Bitter Met Sweet features singer/songwriter Amanda Anne Platt, who has been hailed as 'one of the best songwriters coming out of WNC these days,' by WNCW programming director Martin Anderson. Peter James accompanies her on lead and rhythm guitar as well as harmony vocals. They are backed up by Tal Taylor's signature mandolin playing, Ian Harrod on bass, and Jon Ashley on drums creating an original brand of Americana that has proved equally appealing to both the musician and the music lover, the country and the city, and the old and the young. Platt's songs are shaped by a raw honesty that comes straight from the heart and emits a sort of melancholy happiness. The album features 11 tracks that touch upon childhood and loss of innocence, finding a sense of belonging and one's voice, truth, love and patience, traveling and embarking on new life-journeys (and the fears that go along with these), and the understanding that comes about when life's circumstances come full circle. When Bitter Met Sweet was co-produced by Amanda and Peter with the assistance of Aaron Price, and was recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC after securing funding through a successful Kickstarter campaign. Along with the full band, many special guests make appearances on the album including Matt Smith (pedal steel and dobro), Nicky Sanders (fiddle), Mark Platt (harmonica), Je Widenhouse (coronet), and on drums Mike Rhodes and Richard Foulk and for various songs. The album was engineered (and partially mixed) by Jon Ashley with the assistance of Julian Dreyer, mixed by John Keane and mastered by Dave Harris at Studio B Mastering in Charlotte, NC.