Locust Honey String Band
Locust Honey was started in January of 2012 when three friends made a makeshift demo in an Asheville living room. Within three days of getting together to play tunes, the ladies of Locust Honey realized that something very special was happening. Chloe, Ariel, and Meredith blend sweet harmonies with raging Old Time fiddle tunes to take "girl band" to a different level. Using various combinations of fiddle, banjo, guitar, and bass, Chloe, Ariel, and Meredith each contribute a different style to create music meant for dancing and listening.
Chloe and Ariel grew up going to old-time music festivals with their parents and have been playing music together since their early teenage years. Meredith has been playing blues guitar and singing blues and beautiful harmonies since her college years at NYU; while collecting experiences from busking on the streets of everywhere from New York City to New Orleans. The three women combine their interests and experiences to generate a collective sound of blues, old-time tunes, honky tonk, and old country music.
Chloe and Ariel grew up going to old-time music festivals with their parents and have been playing music together since their early teenage years. Meredith has been playing blues guitar and singing blues and beautiful harmonies since her college years at NYU; while collecting experiences from busking on the streets of everywhere from New York City to New Orleans. The three women combine their interests and experiences to generate a collective sound of blues, old-time tunes, honky tonk, and old country music.
Quotes about Locust Honey
"It's raw, rugged and just about perfect - just wonderful - I bet you'd have a great night in the kitchen if they were sittin' around!"
-Frank Hennessy on BBC Radio Wales program
"Taking the tradition into the new century"
-Max Reindhart from BBC Radio 3 show, "The Late Junction"
“By sheer good fortune, our first time at The Camel in Richmond, Virginia brought to our attention the Locust Honey String Band. Their mix of old time standards, uniquely arranged covers (such as a minor key version of “Walking After Midnight”), and original songs (!) was perfectly blended together with a single condenser microphone to produce an authentic old-timey sound. We were mesmerized by the combination of soulful vocal harmonies and skillful yet seemingly effortless instrumentals delivered by these three talented young ladies in cowboy boots. The second set so captivated the patrons of The Camel that a Friday evening barroom was suddenly and delightfully transformed into a listening room. Thanks to the Locust Honey String Band for transporting us to another place, another time—even if only for an hour or two.”
--Joe & Becky W.
-Frank Hennessy on BBC Radio Wales program
"Taking the tradition into the new century"
-Max Reindhart from BBC Radio 3 show, "The Late Junction"
“By sheer good fortune, our first time at The Camel in Richmond, Virginia brought to our attention the Locust Honey String Band. Their mix of old time standards, uniquely arranged covers (such as a minor key version of “Walking After Midnight”), and original songs (!) was perfectly blended together with a single condenser microphone to produce an authentic old-timey sound. We were mesmerized by the combination of soulful vocal harmonies and skillful yet seemingly effortless instrumentals delivered by these three talented young ladies in cowboy boots. The second set so captivated the patrons of The Camel that a Friday evening barroom was suddenly and delightfully transformed into a listening room. Thanks to the Locust Honey String Band for transporting us to another place, another time—even if only for an hour or two.”
--Joe & Becky W.
Chloe Edmonstone- Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals
Chloe grew up in North Georgia and has been surrounded by Old Time music since she was born. She started playing fiddle when she was 13 years old after a decade of falling asleep to the sounds of the luminaries she was so inspired by. She founded Locust Honey with Ariel in 2011 as a way to incorporate all of her current musical interests, including vocal harmonies, bluegrass and old country, original songs, and the Old Time fiddle tunes that started it all. She teaches modern dance and fiddle lessons in Asheville, NC.
Ariel Dixon- Banjo, Guitar, Vocals
Ariel grew up in Concord, North Carolina on a farm to parents who play old-time and Cajun music. She met Chloe at a Fiddler's Convention when they both were 12 years old. It wasn't long before they began studying from the great players that surrounded them. With interests ranging from flower farming to homesteading to music making, Ariel has pursued many musical and agricultural arenas in her life. She has a degree in Sustainable Agriculture and forestry from Warren Wilson College and has been working on farms and making herbal products for years. Recently she joined the Green Grass Cloggers and has been performing with them around the southeast. She has directed her artistic expression from design towards dancing, creating clothing, growing flowers and making music with Locust Honey.
Meredith Watson- Guitar, Slide Guitar, Banjo, Vocals
Meredith was born in Boston, Massachusetts where, at the age of three, she began studying classical dance at the Boston Ballet School. Through her years of dance performance, she developed a love of the performing arts in general, and sought out an education in theater and music. She was featured in countless productions at the Wheelock Family Theater in Boston, and, as a teenager, she taught classes in acting,movement and choreography at the Harwich Junior Theater in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She was selected to attend the prestigious National High School Institute at Northwestern University, where she studied Theater Arts, and subsequently received her BFA in Acting and Music from the Tisch School of the Performing Arts at New York University. While attending NYU, she met acclaimed Bel Canto vocal coach Jeff Halpern, with whom she studied privately for seven years. She has performed in, and played music for, many productions with the award-winning off-broadway theater company “Collaboration Town.” In 2009, she was selected as a finalist in the Telluride Acoustic Blues competition at the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival, and quickly garnered the attention of modern acoustic blues luminaries Chris Smither and Jorma Kaukonen. Meredith teaches fiddle at the Junior Appalachian Musician’s program in Black Mountain, North Carolina. She is currently collaborating with Rhys Jones on a project to digitize and release several dozen hours of previously unrecovered home recordings made by the famous Virginia fiddler, John Ashby.
