Witherow’s ‘Christmas’
Featuring: “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Snowfall” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
“Christmas” available at www.witherowmusic.com and on major music sites Nov. 27. Album release show that night at The Upper Room.
Witherow “Christmas” album release at The Upper Room
• 112 N. Lincoln St., Port Angeles, 6 p.m. doors. 6:30 p.m. show, Friday, Nov. 27.
• Opening: David & the Psalms
• Tickets: $7, includes “Christmas” album; 12 and under free entrance.
Advance sale at Port Book & News.
An electric season for Witherow
It’s been a DIY Christmas for some musicians on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Popular duo Dillan Witherow, 22, and Abby Latson, 26, plan to self-release their latest album “Christmas,” a 5-track on Black Friday. They host an album release show that night at the Upper Room in Port Angeles with admission including a copy of the album.
While distinctly a Christmas album, Witherow said it serves as an introduction to the band’s new electric sound. “Christmas” releases exactly three years after their first album “Standing on Shoulders,” which was more of a folk release.
Since a summer tour in 2014, the duo said they asked themselves “What do we want to play?” after finding their sound “not being folk enough” for the folk crowd, Witherow said.
Following a push by former bandmate Adam Bettger to go electric, the duo eventually softened to the idea but Bettger “left right after we got used to it,” Witherow said.
So they embraced the change as Witherow taught Latson electric guitar over a few months. Now she plays lead guitar for the band while continuing to share vocals with Witherow.
As she became more comfortable behind the guitar, Witherow shared their experiences online and the band found itself in a new world.
Witherow said they started gaining thousands of fans/followers on Instagram, a mobile social networking site, as they shared videos and photos, which led into more social media and YouTube attention for them.
Latson said people were generally interested in seeing a woman working with gear and playing instruments because it’s predominately male-dominated in the music industry.
“They like to see a girl who knows what she’s doing,” she said.
Over the past year, Witherow said they started using the Internet more to their advantage, which led to more opportunities with sponsors and promotions for the duo including gigs at trade shows.
After experiencing what they feel were mixed results from their first album and 2014 single “Love You Better,” Witherow said they felt they could do much of the promotion and recording themselves.
“We care about our band more than anyone else,” Witherow said. “Why not do it ourselves?”
Costs of outside services were one push for the duo, too.
Latson began going to Peninsula College to learn marketing and web design with plans to earn two two-year degrees while Witherow built a studio in a spare room in his mom’s house.
There the duo with friends, including longtime bass player Jason Taylor, recorded “Christmas.” Sequim producer Jeremy Cays mixed the album.
“It’s so much more gratifying to maintain creative control,” Witherow said. “It’s empowering to be in a community where we can make music surrounded by people we love.”
Without outside influence, the duo said they can create and release content faster, too, which includes plans for a new full-length album sometime next year.
“Abby plays electric guitar now and that’s rad but people can only hear our folk music now,” Witherow said. “Our content has to match and keep up with what we’re doing.”
Christmastime
“Christmas” is one part passion project for the duo and the other part a gateway to their new sound, the duo said.
Latson said she’s a big Christmas fan and wanted to do a Christmas album since her time with Abby Mae & the Homeschool Boys.
While keeping the album on a DIY budget, the duo said they mostly chose songs that were free of royalties such as “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night,” Witherow’s favorites, and “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” Latson’s favorite.
They did opt to choose one licensed song, “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas,” which they said bridges the two halves of the album nicely.
Witherow wrote their instrumental “Snowfall” in pieces over recent years and they found it tied well into “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” Choosing “O Come O Come Emmanuel” started as a joke though, Witherow said, as he played a rock version of it for Latson. But she liked it and said she had to convince him it was a keeper.
Latson said they wanted to think outside the box for the physical release of their album, too. Witherow had the idea to package the CD version of “Christmas” like a card so that people could share it. But again he wasn’t keen on the idea. Latson said she and friends and neighbors had to convince him to do it.
Going into Thanksgiving and December, the band plans to release music videos produced by Latson to coincide with the release.
For more information on Witherow, visit www.witherowmusic.com.
