Folk-rock duo Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irions takes center stage Sunday

by Julie Weisberg - August 24, 2005

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irions are playing at Merwin Meadows this Sunday.

When Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irions decided to write and record an album together last year it seemed like the natural thing to do.

The two had been touring together extensively since releasing their individual solo albums in 2001, and both loved exploring the moody musical melodies of folk-rock and alternative country, as well as experimental jazz and the blues.

But the enthusiastic young musicians had something else in common: the two have been happily married to one another for more than five years, they noted.

Ms. Guthrie, the daughter of famed singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie and granddaughter of folk icon Woody Guthrie, and Mr. Irions, a product of the South’s vibrant indie-rock scene of the early 1990’s, released their first album together, Exploration, in March. The two have been playing to a growing audience ever since.

“We’re lucky to be doing what we are doing and we are lucky to be doing it together,” Mr. Irions said during a Monday morning phone interview with The Bulletin. “It just seems like a natural mix.”

The folk-rock duo will take center stage this Sunday, as the Wilton MusicFest closes out this summer’s series with its third and final concert in Merwin Meadows Park. The concert will begin at 6 p.m. in the park off Lovers Lane. Award-winning songwriter/recording artist A.J. Gundell of Wilton be will the evening’s opening act.

The major corporate sponsor of this year’s MusicFest, now in its fifth year, is The Ridgefield Bank, with assistance from Wilton Magazine. The festival is co-produced by Parks and Recreation Department Director Steve Pierce and Mr. Gundell. Previous performers this summer included Melanie on July 31, Richard Shindell on Aug. 7, and Laughin' Bones, a Fairfield County band, last Sunday.

All shows are free and open to the public, and held rain or shine. However, limited tickets for premier parking adjacent to the concert site at Merwin Meadows are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis for $15. All proceeds raised will go to offset the cost of the program. In case of inclement weather, call the town's program information hotline at 454-5188 for the indoor venue.

On their current tour, the folk-rock duo have generally played larger, more traditional venues then their Wilton stop this weekend. But, Ms. Guthrie said it is often the smaller, out-of-the-way performances that allow musicians to “get in touch again” with the audience. The band most recently played the Ottawa Blues Festival in Canada, which annually attracts tens of thousands of paid concertgoers, last weekend.

“But, we kind of like to do it all,” Ms. Guthrie said, adding that she and her husband often find playing the smaller venues more “artistically inspiring.”

And, it is performing that ultimately convinced the couple to make an album together.

Mr. Irions said during their previous tour to promote their solo records, the two decided to take the stage one night to sing and play a few songs together.

“We just did a show together and got a great response,” he said.

From there, the couple began to work on material — both separately and as songwriting partners — for their first joint recording project. After securing Gary Louris, of the alternative country band the Jayhawks, and Ed Ackerson to produce the record, the couple set up shop last February in Mr. Ackerson’s Minneapolis studio for a dozen days to record Exploration’s 11 songs.

The duo was musically joined on the record by Mr. Louris and his Jayhawk’s bandmate Marc Perlman, as well as Son Volt veterans Dave Boquist and Eric Heywood. And, Tom Rothrock (Beck, Elliott Smith, R.L. Burnside) mixed the album.

“We’re really happy with how the record came out,” Mr. Irions said. “We intended to make a good record, but I think that we ended up making a great record.”

But amid promoting the new record and their busy touring schedule, Ms. Guthrie and Mr. Irions share something else: their three-year-old daughter, Olivia Nora, who is out with them on the road this summer.

Although Ms. Guthrie said the birth of their daughter “definitely changed how we travel,” she said it has yet to slow down the promising young musicians.

“There is a bug that you kind of get for performing, just the lifestyle of it, and both Johnny and I got it,” she said. “And I think that I caught it from my dad.”

To reserve parking tickets or more information: 834-6234.