Each month, we invite local artists to lay down a stripped-back live session. One take. No do-overs. This month features Lauren Housley and the Northern Cowboys, who headed to The Foundry Studios for a one-take performance before joining us a couple of days later at their own studio space at Yellow Arch to talk about the long road from Rotherham to Nashville, Muscle Shoals and back to Sheffield.
For a band that has spent much of its musical life chasing the magic that happens when good musicians get in a room together, the Red Light Sessions format was always likely to suit Lauren Housley and the Northern Cowboys.
Recorded live with Chris Wilkinson at the controls, the session saw the band tackle an original alongside Joe Cocker’s version of ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’ – a song Lauren had previously performed with Red Light co-founder Joe Green at the Joe Carnall Christmas show.
“I’ve wanted to do that for ages,” says Lauren. “Backing vocals are a big part of what we do, and I like the sentiment of ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’. This is such a collaborative process that it just felt like a great one to do.”
Rather than being fazed by the one-take nature of the session, Lauren’s partner and band member Thomas Dibb found being able to concentrate solely on playing something of a luxury.
“When we record, we’ve normally got the production brain going as well,” he explains. “With this, you just need to focus on playing and delivering. We love live recording anyway.”
For Mark Lewis, the pressure is part of the attraction. “As soon as you hit that record button, there’s that pressure. For me, it brings out the best in people. There’s that little moment of, ‘Right, I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to perform.’”
It’s an approach with some serious precedent in the Northern Cowboys story. Several years ago, the trio travelled through Alabama while making music documentary I’ll Take You There, including a day at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.
“We recorded about 14 tunes in one day,” Lauren remembers. “Everyone was throwing backing vocals in and jumping on different instruments. We love that collaboration.”
“It was really similar to what we’ve just done,” adds Thomas. “As soon as we got asked to do Red Light, it was right up our street. Sometimes it takes you by surprise. You finish and think, ‘Whoa, that really gelled quickly.’”
The trip also brought them into contact with David Hood, bassist with the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, AKA The Swampers.
“That studio was all about recording live together,” says Mark. “Artists would come in and record with this incredible session band.”
There’s a neat local connection, too. Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is in Sheffield, Alabama – a city named in reference to its South Yorkshire counterpart. For three musicians now embedded in Sheffield’s music community, the Sheffield-to-Sheffield journey feels almost too perfect.
Their own journey began much earlier. Lauren and Thomas met aged 16 in an art class at Thomas Rotherham College, bonding over Queen and Freddie Mercury. Thomas was already trying to convince Lauren to sing, although she was less certain.
“I loved singing, but I’d not done much of it in public,” says Lauren. “I’d done musical theatre and drama, but singing was still a bit of, ‘How do I get into this?’”
“I’d been asking her for about two years,” laughs Thomas. “Nothing if not persistent.”
The penny dropped when Thomas heard Lauren perform At Last at a jazz night. “I knew she could act and thought there was probably a bit of singing in there, then I heard her and thought, ‘Oh my God.’ She got up and the whole place gave her a standing ovation.”
The pair eventually moved to Newcastle, where they began writing and playing together, before relocating to Manchester. It was there, while making their first album, Sweet Surrender, that Mark entered the picture following a recommendation and coffee-shop meeting.
“We’ve always been independent and we’ve always recorded our own music,” says Lauren. “We worked on that album together and we’ve been working together ever since.”
They later began co-writing, with ‘High Time’ winning UK Song of the Year at the UK Americana Awards. Around the same time, they discovered a name for the musical territory they occupied.
“We didn’t really know what Americana was,” says Thomas. “What we were doing wasn’t country, it wasn’t soul and it wasn’t folk. Then we saw this thing called Americana and went, ‘Oh, OK. Cool.’”
That discovery eventually took them to Nashville. Trips to AmericanaFest as fans led to official showcases and performances at Nashville’s City Winery, including a gospel brunch where Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard was in the audience.
“You do have that moment of thinking, we’re just a couple of kids from Rotherham and we’ve ended up in Nashville, the music capital,” says Thomas.
These days, however, the centre of that conversation is Sheffield. Lauren and Thomas returned around six years ago and, along with Mark, established the Northern Cowboy studio at Yellow Arch.
“I’m proper in love with Sheffield at the minute,” says Lauren. “I feel like it’s welcomed us with open arms. We’ve been lucky that everywhere we’ve been, we’ve met people with that same collaborative mindset.”
From Rotherham to Newcastle, Manchester, Nashville, Muscle Shoals and back to South Yorkshire, it’s been quite the journey – and there’s plenty more to come.
“Something’s bubbling,” Lauren smiles. “We’ve got a lot of stuff that we’re all really excited about and eager to get out.”
Lauren Housley & Thomas Dibb play an intimate duo show at Café #9 on 4 October. Tickets are available via laurenhousley.com. Their latest single, ‘Built To Last’, is a perfect slice of Yorkshire Soul and is out now. Their next single, ‘Catch 22’, drops on 23 October.
Check out the Red Light Session via the Patreon here.
