Americana duo Surrender Hill (Robin Dean Salmon and Afton Seekins Salmon) just released an emotional, richly lyrical album, “River of Tears.” The pair recently sat down with @skopemag to talk about this wonderful collection of songs.
@skopemag: Tell us about your amazing new album.
Afton: So much of this collection came out of going through some serious reflection brought on by the loss of some dear family and friends. We wrote to help process the loss and then about how life will forever be changed due to that loss.
@skopemag: Tell us about putting this album together.
Robin: We started with Matt Crouse coming to Ellijay, GA to cut the drum tracks. It was fun with Matt in the studio. We tried to find some different drum flavors and captured some cool sounds.
As I started working on guitars and other instruments, I was trying to break out of my usual tones and way of playing. It worked on some songs, and on others, well, my old self worked better. Thank goodness we have our own studio because we would have busted the bank if we had to pay for studio time. The hours were many.
Afton: I think the biggest kick in the studio was watching our 5-year-old son, Wren, soak it up. He loved watching Matt lay down the drum tracks. It kept things light. This was a tougher album to get through than our others. It may have been because the subject matter was so important to us and building the music around the emotion of the lyrics was pretty intense.
@skopemag: How did you come up with your album title?
Robin: “River of Tears” was the first song written for this album. I wrote it for Afton, Valentine’s Day 2022. The title works for the entire collection of songs. Tears of love, joy, loss all come crashing down on this album.
@skopemag: Tour plans?
Robin: We are in the Southeast this summer playing at theaters, wineries, house concerts. We love playing house concerts. If anyone is interested, shoot us a message. Check out our calendar online.
