Raven and the Wren

Central Pennsylvania’s Raven and the Wren will release their debut album in the winter of 2016. Self-recorded in a cabin-in-the-woods type setting, the band took a simple approach to documenting their music, opting to record live, with no overdubs. Influenced by the songwriting of Lucinda Williams and Townes Van Zandt, Raven and the Wren offer a modern take on classic American-roots music.

Raven and the Wren started as a collaboration between long-time friends NattyLou Race and Junior Tutwiler. While NattyLou was honing her vocal abilities singing in local bluegrass and cover bands, Junior was developing his lyrical slide-guitar skills along with drummer Chris Rattie in The Rustlanders - recording with producer Don Was, The Rustlanders toured across the US before landing back in Central Pennsylvania.

After years of watching each other play, NattyLou and Junior began a weekly duo gig together in 2013, playing cover tunes, with an occasional original song. They were joined by bassist Bob Hart, who had recently moved to central Pennsylvania from Brooklyn, NY, where he continues to be a part of the indie and jazz scenes, playing with artists such as Clare and the Reasons and Kat Edmonson. In late 2014 Chris Rattie joined the group on drums. As the singer/guitarist of his own band, Chris Rattie and the Brush Valley Rumblers, Chris has long been one of NattyLou’s favorite songwriters. With this assemblage of musicians, cover songs eventually started giving way to more original material.

Raven and the Wren quickly started developing an original sound, with NattyLou’s expressive voice, Junior’s slide guitar, Bob’s upright bass, and Chris’ responsive style of drumming bringing a nuanced approach to familiar sounding music.