Ash & Eric (formerly The Promise is Hope) have never shied away from life’s hard edges. Hailing from the gritty heart of the Industrial Revolution — Worcester, Massachusetts — the two find consolation in discovering beauty from the challenges of being artists in the most stubbornly independent cities in the north east. Their musings reflect the hope and pain we all experience sung in voices as vulnerable and honest as their lyrics.
Their are exquisite, with lyrics that will transport you into another realm. The pair’s harmonies and easy confidence are something to behold. In addition to top tier writing that No Depression says will have you “…coming away from many of these [songs] cleansed,” their warm harmonies, swirling acoustic guitars, and easy stage presence have earned them a dedicated following in the North East folk scene. Their highly-anticipated debut LP (their third as a duo, but first under “Ash & Eric”) was recorded, mixed and produced by Eric at a boarding school in Western Massachusetts; and will be released in early 2022 alongside an accompanying 25-minute visual EP.
With the release of “Do Something,” about Eric’s experience with almost drowning, the duo find transcendence in fear.
Explain the title of your album.
I don’t think we’ve ever been more unsure of, well, absolutely everything the past few years. I bet a lot of folks can relate! Our career was up in the air for a while. Income was uncertain. Even family relationships took a hit. Our entire life changed in a blink of an eye. With the ground constantly shifting under our feet, we started learning how to settle on our own little island. As everything outside of us grew more and more uncertain, we were able to ground ourselves more than ever before. The album is called Sure because, in 2022, that’s where we’re at finally. We are very “sure” of ourselves, our relationship with one another, the music we make, and why we do what we do. It took a whole lot of uncertainty to get there, but we’re so much steadier than we’ve ever been.
Who would you love to collaborate with? Why?
If we could pick our dream scenario, it would be to spend a day in the studio with Brandi Carlile and her band, with Jerry Douglas on dobro, Chris Thile on mandolin, and Dave Cobb producing. Brandi and Chris both seem to exude a love for their crafts along with a settled confidence in their skill. They also seem really kind! It would be a treat to work with talent of their caliber and witness how they do what they do in such an intimate environment. Jerry Douglas makes the dobro sing, and has collaborated with so many artists. His expression is evocative, and the longevity of his career is inspiring. Dave Cobb’s work over the last several years especially has captured our attention. He has an approach to capturing the energy and humanity of the artists, allowing them to sound real and at the same time larger than life. Working in the historic RCA Studio A with its rich history would be mesmerizing. I think we all could make something legendary.
How do you kill the long hours in the van?
We’re not smart enough to tour in a van yet. We spent the first 7 years of our career touring in a VW Jetta, which oddly enough fit all of our gear, suitcases, food, merch & our bodies perfectly. It was a loaves & fishes type of miracle. So we got even braver (or dumber?) and bought a tiny Prius, hoping the gas mileage will be worth the fact that we will have absolutely no room to breathe on future tours. Wish us luck. Anyway… We probably spend about 20% of the time listening to music, another 10% in silence, and 70% listening to podcasts. We are really introverted, and after late nights in loud venues, it can be really hard to listen to music or even want to talk. But when we get really bored, we’ll pull this old brick-sized 60GB iPod out of the glove and put it on shuffle, enjoying all of our weird downloads from the early ‘00s. Most of the time, though, we listen to podcasts. The Daily and Broken Record are frequent go-tos. We’ll never get the memory out of our heads listening to the Daily on tour in February 2020, driving through North Carolina, learning about this so-called “coronavirus” in China, thinking, “Wow, that’s a bummer!” and enjoying the rest of our tour in blissful ignorance of our impending sidelining.
How are you using your platform to support marginalized people?
When COVID hit, we were pretty devastated, like all musicians. Pretty quickly after dusting ourselves off, we looked around the city we live (Worcester, MA) and realized how hard folks here would be hit. We live in a low-income neighborhood, primarily populated by immigrant families and POC who work in the service and healthcare fields. We knew the marginalized folks here – and around the country – were going to be left out of crisis funding and have a disproportionate lack of support and access to help during this time. Plus, we figured, a lot of people would either be cut from their jobs completely, have to lose their jobs in order to take care of their kids, or be at extra risk of catching COVID and spreading it to their vulnerable family members. So, in March 2020, we started hosting weekly livestream concerts called “Anxiety Relief”, where our fans could donate and 50% of our funds would go to a different Worcester-based nonprofit, helping on the frontlines of the crisis.
We were able to donate about $10,000 to organizations like the YWCA, the Worcester County Food Bank, Family Health Center of Worcester, women & children shelters, programs for incarcerated peoples’ rehabilitation, and community funds helping marginalized people in the city get the support they needed during the COVID crisis. We could toot our own horns here, but honestly, it was our fans that made it happen. They kept us alive during COVID and, through their support of our livestream concerts, they helped out the city tremendously. We know we could always be doing more. It’s a challenge knowing exactly when to speak up without centering ourselves. We are willing to make mistakes in that area, and hopeful to continue learning how we can support our community better. We continue to donate 10% of our income to various nonprofits supporting marginalized communities, and do our best to give our money (the money our fans support us with) to folks who know how to best support the people who need it most.
Do you try to make the most of being in a city, or do you prefer to just rest up?
We are such home-body introverts, in bed at 10 most nights. Sometimes we ask ourselves why we chose this career! When we can sleep in a real bed every night (or most nights) on tour, we consider that a grand success. Of all the cities we’ve been to, it’s rare we enjoy them. If we can hole up on a couch all day before a show, that’s the best case scenario. We will say, though, whenever we’re in Philly, we actually explore. That’s probably our favorite city. We try to hit up the H-mart food court no matter how tired we are.