The Twangtown Paramours play Sky Stage

BY COLIN MCGUIRE Special to The News-Post

The Twangtown Paramours are a husband-andwife duo from Nashville who not only found music in common but also fell in love.

Mike Lewis and MaryBeth Zamer came across each other one night at a recording studio and, as they say, the rest is history.

They’ll bring their blend of blues and folk to Frederick on June 17 when they perform at Sky Stage.

We recently caught up with them to talk about how they got together, what it’s like living in Nashville, why they don’t play there all that often and, of course, what people can expect from their Frederick performance.

I was listening to a couple songs earlier, and they were very heavily influenced by the blues. How did you get into playing, and how did you get into the blues?

Mike Lewis: There are a lot of kinds of music that we were influenced by. We started very differently. I started as a classical guitar player at 8 years old. My mom was a piano teacher, and she wanted me to be a pianist. I went from classical guitar to jazz guitar as a teenager to more contemporary, harder-edge stuff as an adult. It’s the reverse of what most kids do. Most kids start out in a garage band and then they find more sophisticated music, and that’s not what I did.

MaryBeth Zamer: I have been singing since I was 3. When I was 12, my parents decided I needed voice lessons, so I started studying with a music teacher at school privately. My mom wanted me to be an opera singer, and thank God everyone I met with to teach me told me I didn’t have the pipes for it, which made me very happy because I didn’t want to [laughs]. I studied all my life. I always loved Motown, and I always loved Bonnie Raitt. And Little Feat. I’m originally from the D.C. area, and whenever they were in town, I’d go see them. So, blues-based music has always been a huge influ- ence in my life. How did you guys meet?

Zamer: Typical Nashville story. We’re based in Nashville, and I was working on a demo at a studio. I did some demo work for the studio owner and in exchange, I got studio time for it. I was in there working on some jazz stuff. I left, and Mike was coming in with another songwriter. We passed and I thought he was cute. When I went back to the studio to record, the owner was like, “Hey that guy Mike was interested in meeting you.” And I was like, “Hmm. You can give him my email.” So, he emailed me and we set up a date and then I canceled [laughs]. I was sick. Mike at first didn’t believe it, but I was. I had a terrible cold, and I didn’t want to meet someone for the first time as sick as I was. So we rescheduled and met at a coffee stop. We started talking, and we talked all night. We still try to go back to the coffee shop on that day every year to reenact our first date.

I’ve known a lot of people in romantic relationships who have worked together musically. Does that cause any problems between you guys? Because I know sometimes that can be tricky.

Lewis: Actually, it’s a connecting force for us, I think.

Zamer: I do, too. I think even if we’ve been arguing, we go play music and everything seems to fall away and it’s fine.

How long have you been together?

Zamer: As a couple, 16 years, and we started playing together musically in 2009.

That’s a long time. Have you guys only done this project through all that, or have you done other projects away from each other?

Lewis: Mostly this project, but there’s been a few side things. We got three full albums out and three or four singles. The latest project you probably heard is very seriously blues-based, but when we go perform as an acoustic duo, which we’ll be doing in Frederick, we won’t have a full band behind us, so the music is more soulful Americana. There will be some blues tunes we do, but because we don’t have bass and drums behind us, we go more to a singer-songwriter Americana sound, which is more like our first couple albums. Is the show up here part of a larger set of dates?

Lewis: We’re also playing Manassas.

Zamer: The first week of July, we’re back in Annandale, and then we head up to the Northeast for five or six weeks. Vermont, New York, New Hampshire.

And that’s just the duo, too?

Lewis: Yes, this summer is going to be all duo stuff. It’s just a lot easier to organize. Also, the economics all have to fall in place, and this year, it just wasn’t working out like that.

I can imagine. But also, it must be nice to have your life partner out there with you. It’s like an extended summer vacation.

Lewis: It is nice like that. I’m not sure I’d want to go on the road by myself, for instance. That wouldn’t be too much fun.

You’re based in Nashville. The thing about that scene is it’s so crowded. Is it intimidating? Is it hard to poke through and stick out in a town with so

The Twangtown Paramours

When: 8 to 10 p.m. June 17

Where: Sky Stage, 59 S. Carroll St., Frederick, MD 21701

Tickets: $10

Info: 301-662-4190, skystagefrederick.com

many artists?

Lewis: We don’t even try. First of all, there’s all kinds of musicians falling out of the trees. If I meet a random person and they aren’t a guitar player or bass player or songwriter or singer or producer, I’m surprised. It’s like, “Oh, you’re just a lawyer? That’s all you do? Wow.” There are a lot of different little music scenes there.

There are two problems. One is we’re all part of this jaded audience. There’s a lot of great stuff here. When you go to hear music, no matter who it is, the average audience member is standing there with their arms folded, going, “OK, wow me.” The other, much bigger issue here is that you can’t get paid. That is why we get the hell out of town, and once we’re 100 miles away, we can start to make a living.

Zamer: Unless you’re a studio musician, because they make money. Plus, there are people who tour with major acts who make money. Side guys, players who tour with a lot of the bigger acts based in Nashville. They tour and thank God they’re able to make a bunch of money. But if you’re here in Nashville as a little band, and it’s not a big country act, or even just a big act, then you’re going to struggle here because most of it’s pay to play.

Lewis: What happens is, there’s a section in town called Lower Broadway, which is where all the honkey tonks are. It’s a big tourist trap for about four blocks. There are some good bands and there are some crappy bands, but even the good bands, everyone just gets paid in tips. There was this one band there who stopped playing about five years ago — they always had the newest, greatest, upcoming guitar player. He would just go home with $75 in tips. That’s it.

Zamer: A lot of those guys do cover stuff downtown. But some of those guys will get gigs with big touring musicians, which is great. But for your average working musician, you’re not going to make your money here in Nashville; you’re going to make your money touring out of town.

Lewis: Plus, what we do is original music. We’re not interested in playing down on Lower Broadway and playing Merle Haggard tunes, you know?

I was going to ask about that. I know a lot of those tourists go down to Broadway and just want to hear Carrie Underwood songs.

Zamer: Which is great. It’s great for the city. It’s great for the musicians that play because they get work and they pay their bills that way. It’s a ton of people’s livelihoods, but it’s just not what we do.

So, is it safe to say you won’t slip a cover or two in Frederick?

Lewis: Oh, we will.

Zamer. They’ll be our versions. We won’t be trying to be

(See TWANGTOWN 8)