Can you tell me the pros and cons of working with such a large group? Chad: This band is really made for each other. In a lot of bands, you can have three people, and that can be too many because of the egos. We police ourselves individually, and everyone is their own boss. So when we bring something to the table, everyone is taken seriously and everyone is on board with it. It's actually more of an advantage, because by the time one person writes a song, we have another five-part filtering system on that song – and it usually gets better.
What are your major influences, both individually and as a group? Chad: That was a big deal for me coming into the group, because I come from more of a rock background. They do Texas Swing; that was all I knew of them, so I was thinking, This is going to be interesting! It just works; unique is a word people use when they hear us, but it just works.
Brook: Our mom calls it Texicana, because there is not really a name for what we do. I really like Diana Krall.
Madalyn: Oh, and Louis Armstrong.
Brook: It's Louis Armstrong, there is no 's."
Madalyn: Either one!
From where do you get your inspiration? Chad: I think that coming out of the negative is what we really hold on to. People like drama, they like seeing the train wreck. It's just who we are. We are not all butterflies and puppy dogs. We deal with some darkness and heavy subjects, but we try to make it as light as we can. Our new album swings pretty hard. We have a song called the Tavern Street Blues. It's about a woman that gets beat and finally kills her husband and buries him between the tavern and her house.
Brook: We play that one at weddings. [The table erupts into laughter.]
