Channing and Quinn

The first thing you ought to know about Channing Lee and Quinn Matthews is that they’re fresh off a train tour of the East Coast. By riding the rails, the vocal-guitar duo found a way to simultaneously save on gas and invoke mythic Americana without resorting to hackneyed, hobo-inspired lyrics. And the worst travel experience they had to report was a night spent stranded on the streets and in the diners of Boston while the train station was closed. But unorthodox transportation isn’t the only thing that stands out about Channing and Quinn. There’s also the fact that they combine unique elements—Lee’s fluttery, sumptuous Ani DiFranco-meets-Peggy Lee vocals, xylophone plinking and imaginative lyrics, Matthews’ percussive strumming and plucking on guitar, banjo and ukulele—to create a sound that’s none-too-cluttered and utterly original.
- Nashville Scene - Jewly Hight

Facing gas shortages mixed with steadily rising fuel costs, the Nashville-based band Channing and Quinn looked to a bygone form of transportation for its upcoming tour. By hitching a ride on Amtrak for nine dates in October—the tour kicks off October 7 at Java Monkey in Decatur—the group is mimicking a romantic ideal and saving money in the process.

“It started out as a whimsical idea and quickly escalated to a very economical, not to mention environmentally friendly, way to travel the country,” guitarist Quinn Matthews wrote in an e-mail. “We are quite literally bringing instruments and practically nothing else. Our carryons will consist of a ukulele, tambourine and xylophone.”

Matthews met vocalist Channing Lee in 2003, and the two started playing regular gigs in Boone, North Carolina. As their sound strengthened, the do moved to larger cities—Boone gave way to Charlotte and eventually Nashville, where the band is finding its way in a music city armed with a unique genre that’s hard to pin down.

“We have a different sound,” Quinn writes, “and that's what we loved about it from the beginning.”

Buying train tickets wouldn’t have been possible for most acts, but Channing and Quinn deal in a stripped-down sound, filled out by handsnaps instead of electronics. Quinn’s guitar accompaniment, sometimes a simple riff on one string, allows Channing’s vocal to skip around her register with almost no harmonic constraints.

Once their trains pull into stations up and down the East Coast, the duo is relying on a few friends and a few more cab rides to get them from venue to venue. Instead of hotels, Channing and Quinn are crashing with their buddies, making a frugal tour even less costly.

“We’re sort of winging it in each city,” Quinn writes. “We are anticipating a few curve balls here and there.” - Creative Loafing, Atlanta

Tonight, Cicero’s will bring the earthy acoustic duo Channing and Quinn to their stage.

The pair met in North Carolina while both were working in musical theater. Vocalist Channing Lee’s background in stage is evident as her voice would easily project to the Muny’s free seats. Guitarist Quinn Mathews calls their music “quirky Bohemian folk.”

They ended up in Nashville where they have been playing places like the Exit Inn for three years.

I asked Mathews about their recent tour of East Coast cities, traveling solely via Amtrak.

“We were planning a tour right when the gas price situation came about. I was always fascinated by trains and I found out you could get unlimited rail passes for two weeks so we went for it. A few weeks before leaving, I realized that you can’t check luggage on certain commuter trains. We had to survive on one duffel full of a few clothes, guitar cables, instruments and 100 CDs. We even stuffed clothes in some instruments.

“After our last show in Boston, our train didn’t leave until 5 a.m. but the station was closed. We were stranded so we snuck into the bus station next door and acted like we were passengers for hours. Channing said it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. I looked at her and said, ‘Yes it is!’”

- St Louis Post Dispatch