Irene Greene and Mason Summit aka The Prickly Pair make their home in Nashville, TN, a fitting place for a duo that makes their living playing country music. You may not have heard them on your favorite AM or FM country station, though. They specialize in Americana angst originals and classic country covers.
Neo retro-country perhaps?
Mason says, “There’s an attempt to strike a balance between the classic instrumentation and there are a few unexpected or more modern elements in there that kind of makes it not a straight pastiche. You know, some element that is a little bit askew to ground it in the present day. But we’re definitely not trying to emulate the current Top 40 country.”
“We love puns,” Mason says, explaining the title of the song. The attractiveness of a person – the winsome element if you will – may give way when a person’s faults come to light. Yet after the illusion is stripped away, the attraction is still there. Love, then, is a winsome lose some game.
The love of puns also explains why the duo chose the name Prickly Pair. Mason explains, “We didn’t want a really earnest, self serious name. We are not trying to sound old-timey. I never want to give the impression we take ourselves too seriously.”
The goal was to have something with a little bit of humor, a little bit of fun. Prickly Pair seemed to fit the bill. For the record though, Irene and Mason are not a prickly couple. They are as engaging and friendly as you could hope for.
They met while they were students at USC’s Thornton School of Music. Irene moved cross-country from Berwyn, PA. Mason was from Santa Monica. She says, “Coming from a small town I was overwhelmed at first. But it really grew on me and I met a lot of wonderful people and did a lot of traveling on the West Coast. And obviously I met Mason!”
Mason adds, “That was part of the friendship, relationship. Me introducing Irene to my LA, all my spots and haunts.”
As part of their music class they had to write a song that now appears on the EP. According to Irene, “Piece Of The Sky” was “the first song we ever wrote together.” The song was an attempt at getting inside skyjacker D.B. Cooper’s head a little bit. They were 18 and 19 when they wrote it. Their song-writing teacher had very little criticism of it.
Irene had been in a band with her brother who introduced her to Southern Rock, “a genre that came from country,” as she put it. “But it wasn’t until I met Mason that I was introduced to more country,” she said. Although they are still finding their audience, they are at ease with music they play. Finding an audience has become easier after their move to Nashville.
The transition from LA to Nashville was a bit bumpy. However, they did find that Southern hospitality is a real thing. According to Mason, “Pretty much as soon as we arrived we started getting booked at places. We immediately found a more supportive kind of network where there was a lot of word of mouth happening. People were kind of eager to share their connections and resources.”
When it comes to songwriting they do not have a set formula. They find inspiration in a number of sources from documentaries to podcasts. “We really love to do research on historical figures,” Irene told me. “And a lot of our songs are character stories. Either characters we make up or base on real life characters.”
“We like Townes Van Zandt,” Mason added. “People who do a lot of narrative writing.”
“Swamp Angel,” for example, was inspired by the tragic story of Helen Spence. Born a “river rat” she was looked down upon by the more well-to-do “dry landers.” When her father was killed, she in turn shot and killed his slayer during the ensuing trial. She was convicted but soon was pardoned when public sentiment grew in her favor. Her life outside prison was short and subject to abuse.
There have been many ballads about men who have killed for one reason or another. There are not as many that tell the story from a female perspective in country. “I think that was our initial interest in maybe writing a song about (Helen Spence),” Irene said.
Mason points out the advantage of historical storytelling in song. “When you are co-writing it’s hard to ask someone else to write a song about how you are feeling because you know that better than they will. So it is good sometimes to have a starting reference point that’s external.”
Asked about what is next after the release of the EP they said they were looking forward to doing a honeymoon tour. They got married shortly after the EP’s release but were focused on promoting it. “We really want to get out of Nashville more and out of state. So if anyone has a connection in their town or has a place where they think we would be a good fit, don’t be afraid to contact us.”
If you do, their honeymoon tour just might become a reality.
