THE BALLROOM THIEVES – AN INTERVIEW WITH CALLIE PETERS

By Ralph Beauchamp

Callie Peters and Martin Earley make up the fantastic indie folk duo, The Ballroom Thieves. Based out of the Northeast, the twosome have released their newest full length entitled Sundust. The record is full of sublime tunes and features beautiful vocal harmonies and exquisite musicianship. Their minimal arrangements are filled with organic soundscapes that soar into the stratosphere.

“Tender,” is one of the textured melodic tracks on Sundust. Consisting of the duo’s signature vocal harmonies atop a lithely finger-picked acoustic guitar and a haunting pedal steel that weaves itself effortlessly into the tune, “Tender” is an ode to the importance of creating space within a song. Martin shares, “We were listening to the band Watchhouse at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022, and their sparse instrumentation and fluid melodies inspired me to start writing “Tender”right on the spot. We learn a lot from our peers, and in this case, the lesson was about the importance of creating space for your songs to breathe so you can hear what’s happening between the notes.”

Sundust delivers 10 tracks of pure magic. Every song explores the depths of the modern human experience. The duo started to ponder what they could do to be more self-aware of their mental health and those around them in a world oversaturated by social media, pop-culture and digital consumption. Yet, The Ballroom Thieves‘ expedition into social awareness couldn’t be more delightful as their tunes have an airy and lush demeanor with a palette full of dazzling and soaring vocals.

Callie Peters took time out of her busy schedule to sit with AMP for this informative interview.

AMP: How did The Ballroom Thieves come to be?

CALLIE: Martin started the band in his last year of college. I joined about 2 years in. We were a trio for a really long time but about 4 years ago our drummer left. We all lived in Boston but since we toured so much we decided to give up our apartments. It’s so expensive to live there. So, we lived nowhere. Kind of on the road for 3 years. It was fun for the first 2 but the last year was terrible, Martin and I then brought a house in Maine. The history of the band is the history of our lives the last 10 years.

AMP: Your new album, Sundust, just dropped. Can you give us some insight into the release?

CALLIE: We were thinking a lot about how our childhood shapes our adult lives. In my opinion, childhood set you up for your adult life’s personality. We were also thinking about our ancestors and how their experiences come into play. This led into discussing how angry and sad people are today. We aren’t having the greatest time as humans.

So, we started to ask ourselves a lot of questions. We all want a happy life and good communications with our relations. We delved deep to search the source of these feelings. From these thoughts, the songs on the album began to evolve.

AMP: “Tender” is a beautiful track and Sundust seems to have a central theme. What do you want your listeners to feel about your music?

CALLIE: Hopefully they feel that our music is supportive. Breaking some generational cycles while looking at social behavior is a difficult thing to do. It can feel a little lonely. We don’t like the idea that anyone feels isolated. So, I hope our listeners feel supported. I want them to feel like we hear them.

AMP: You recorded Sundust primarily at your home studio. What were some of the pluses and minuses?

CALLIE: We had a lot of control over our day and our creativity. That control over where the songs went felt great. To be able to create without outside eyes on you was amazing. It was just Martin and I and we felt confident in the new material. You can experiment more when it’s just the two of you.

One of the minuses was the fact that our house is a little loud. You could hear noise from both inside and out. So, if anyone was visiting or our dog was snoring, it was a difficult time to record. Rainy days were particularly hard. We would be set up for a great session and were in the mood but then our dog starts barking at a squirrel. But we persevered.

AMP: Can you give us a description of your creative process?

CALLIE: We create in a variety of avenues. We can begin in any of 3 or 4 different ways. One way is one of us comes up with some lyrics and we embellish from there. Another path is one of us writes an entire song and the other gives their critique. We work on it until it fits our style.

One rule we stick with is we won’t keep working on a song if it seems to be going south. If we get bored or it seems to be a struggle, we just stop. So far that has worked well for us. On a whole, we don’t want to feel uncomfortable with a song. We don’t want to push through for the hell of it.

AMP: What makes The Ballroom Thieves unique?

CALLIE: That’s a great question! It’s an interesting one to answer from inside the band. I’m not sure that this is just unique to us but the one thing we struggle with is creating a character to represent our style of music. So, each of our performances are truly authentic for the audience and even to us. What you see is what you get. We just can’t seem to muster up a unified persona. Having a new and singular identity for each of our shows kind of makes us different from most. We just try to be real and follow the flow.

AMP: You play with a full band and as an acoustic duo. Is the dynamic different for both?

CALLIE: Very! With the full band, we have a drummer and I paly bass. In addition, we usually have another instrumentalist. The sound is really full and the energy is wild. Plus, it gives us a lot of freedom to dance around the stage and engage the audience. It opens up our crazy side. As a duo, it’s usually a much smaller space and more of a contained scenario. It’s more intimate and we tend to tell more stories. In this situation, the energy comes from us loving what we do.

AMP: You’ve toured extensively. Any particular show(s) stands out?

CALLIE: Most definitely. Days before the pandemic hit and we went home, we had this show in Seattle at the old Crocodile. It was sold out with a line around the block. Surely one of the best shows we ever played. Both the crowd and ourselves were on fire. We had just started the tour and everyone was full of unbridled enthusiasm. Then 2 days later, the world shut down and we had to cancel the rest of the dates. We were home for 2 years. So, that show really stands out.

Another one is more recent. We got to play the Seiji Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood. It’s such a beautiful space and we were worried we couldn’t fill the hall with sound. It was just the two of us. In addition, we had pre-show jitters. We were opening for Guster and the show went absolutely great. it was a fun experience and kind of a bucket list kind of show.

AMP: What makes you feel so passionate about music?

CALLIE: So many things. I love playing with other musicians even though playing the cello by myself can be amazing. I love when notes come together. It’s so cool when they bounce of each other. I love the harmony that you get when you perform with others. Especially when everyone is perfectly in tune and we find that sweet spot. The music just flows effortlessly. It’s a great emotional lift for me.

AMP: Do you have a favorite activity outside of music?

CALLIE: I wouldn’t say gardening because I’m not good at growing things but we both like working on the outside of our house. We also like redesigning the house’s interior. We just enjoy reconfiguring our home to meet our ideas of how it should look like. It’s very satisfying to see the positive changes and believe me, it really needed it.

AMP: Any last words for your fans?

CALLIE: We can’t wait to see them. We are going on tour in about a week. This leg is on the East Coast while we hit the West Coast sometime in the fall.

HEADLINE TOUR DATES
April 25 Brooklyn, NY @ The Sultan Room
April 26 North Wayne, PA @ 118 North
April 27 Vienna, VA @ Jammin Java
April 30 Asheville, NC @ Eulogy
May 1 Greenville, SC @ The Radio Room
May 2 Chattanooga, TN @ Barking Legs Theatre
May 3 Nashville, TN @ The Basement
May 8 Davenport, IA @ The Redstone Room
May 9 Stoughton, WI @ Stoughton Opera House
May 10 Evanston, IL @ SPACE
May 11 Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
May 12 Toronto, ON @ The Monarch Tavern
May 26 Farmington, ME @ Sandy River Music Festival
May 30 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground, Showcase Lounge
May 31 Portland, ME @ First Parish Church
June 1 Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
June 2 Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall

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