Chatham Rabbits – An Xperience Interview

Chatham Rabbits – An Xperience Interview – by Rob Smittix.

I spoke with Sarah McCombie of the bans Chatham Rabbits.

RRX: I think a lot of people that aren’t yet familiar with you in our area are gonna be confused because they’re gonna think that you’re a local group. Within our local area, we actually have a Chatham, New York. So a lot of people are probably gonna think that you’re from that Chatham.

SM: Oh, sure. Yeah. When we have played in New York State, Massachusetts, and in Georgia there’s a Chatham. Either it’s a town, a county, a region, or whatever. So, there’s definitely a lot of crossover there. We happen to be from Chatham County, North Carolina. Ok. So yeah, that’s where the Chatham is coming from. But I can totally understand a lot of people think that we’re local.

RRX: It doesn’t hurt.

SM: No. See, that’s fantastic actually.

RRX: Normally, I don’t ever ask about where a band name came from or anything. It’s like the most cliche thing that you can ask. But going through your information, I saw that there was another group that was like 100 years ago in the past called the Chatham Rabbits that you named yourself after.

SM: Yeah, exactly. The area in North Carolina where we live is a very prominent cotton mill community. We live very close to a river, the Haw River, and there’s all of these little cotton mills that are along the edge, up and down throughout various joining counties. And when Austin, my husband-slash-bandmate and I got married, we moved to Bynum, North Carolina. That’s one of these mill communities, these mill villages. We learned that back in the early 1900s, the cotton mill sponsored a string band, among other things. They sponsored a basketball team, and a baseball team, and all these things that were supposed to boost the morale of the mill workers. One of them being the string band. So when we moved to Chatham County and we moved to this little house … we were starting our band. We found out that the original guitar player for Chatham Rabbits string band lived in a house that we bought! Which is crazy. And then we also learned that Chatham County has a huge history of rabbit hunting, supposedly around the same time. Back in the early 1900s, there were so many large, wild rabbits that people were coming from all over to hunt and harvest these rabbits. Then taking them back up to places like New York. I mean, honestly, there’s probably some Chatham rabbit of the meat variety that made it to y’all’s neck of the woods.

RRX: I mean, I would eat it. I’d try it as long as it was cooked.

SM: Exactly. But that’s where the name comes from, and it’s a strange name that gets a lot of questions and commentary. So that’s kind of fun.

RRX: Oh, that’s pretty cool. And … so you and Austin are, like you said, not only bandmates but you’re also married?

SM: Yes.

RRX: God bless you. God bless you. I don’t know how you do it. My wife took a staycation this week and my boss told me to definitely take a day off this week. “I’ll pay you to stay home with her a day. She’ll love it,” he says. I ran the idea by her and she was like, “If you come here, I’m going to work!” She’s like, “I’m taking this vacation so I can be by myself.”
SM: Oh, my gosh. That’s too funny. Yeah, being married to your bandmate is its own subset of humanity. And the other people like us that do the same thing, we kind of all have to gravitate towards each other. How do you make it work? Because you know, it’s obviously a creative partnership, but there’s also logistics and the financial aspect of it. Constantly being on the road and then when you’re not on the road, you’re at home together. I mean, we are with each other 24-freaking-7, except when we intentionally carve time out. We have to do that, it’s crucial. So, yeah, it’s its own thing and it works for us, but it’s not without a lot of effort and definitely not for the faint of heart.

RRX: No, I think about it. There’s a band around here named Sirsy, and they’re husband and wife, and they’re always posting these videos of being in the van on the road together and they’re always smiling and stuff. I’m like, I can’t drive to the amusement park (which is like an hour from here) without my family getting on my nerves.

SM: Austin and I 100% are constantly getting on each other’s nerves. I mean … don’t worry, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows over here but … we try to really hear each other out, really respect each other, and try to find a lot of common ground. We are really fortunate that we do ultimately, really enjoy each other’s company. But it’s not without its struggles.

RRX: That’s the best. I mean, I wish my wife played an instrument. I wish we could be in a band together. I’ve been in a band for almost 20 years. So, I guess it’s kind of like being married to your bandmates.

SM: Exactly. It’s a whole other thing. Gosh, for 20 years and you’re in a band that long. I mean, there is some serious devotion and partnership there.

RRX: Absolutely. And we’re guys, too. So we’ll throw it down if we need to.

SM: That’s right. That’s right.

RRX: So what are people to expect from a Chatham Rabbits concert?

SM: Yeah, so great question. We play all of our own music, so it’s all original songs in the Americana space.
I play banjo and guitar, and Austin plays guitar and fiddle, and we both sing. We tell a lot of stories onstage as well. I mean, we really let the audience in and we really make it a warm, collaborative, lighthearted experience. But there’s also elements where it’s deeply emotional or we try to touch a lot of human emotions just within a 75-minute concert.

RRX: That would be kinda crazy.

RRX: Now, another thing: real quickly, I saw on your social media that you are part of a thing … making a beer with carrots?

SM: Yeah, we worked with one of our very favorite, if not our absolute favorite, brewery that’s also on the banks of the Haw River and an old cotton mill. It’s called Haw River Farmhouse Ales. And we’ve collaborated with them for a big … carrot-and-honey Vienna Lager made with all local ingredients. It was really fun … it’s obviously tongue-in-cheek, doing the carrot thing with our band name. But it was really fun to create that together and work on the name, and the flavor profile, and the artwork for the can, and all that kind of stuff. You know? Just all aspects of it. It was really fun to collaborate and yeah, it’s sold all over the place in North Carolina right now. I don’t think it’s made its way out of the state. But if it ever makes it to New York and you see it … it’s so tasty.

RRX: It sounds delicious. I mean, I love my vegetables. I love my carrots. I got a juicer at home. I make carrot juice all of the time but I love my beer too.

SM: See, there you go. It’s a two-for-one.

RRX: It definitely sounds like something I would like to try.

SM: In all seriousness, I really need to see if the brewery can get us some cans so we can keep some on the bus and share it with people. So TBD.

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