By Emily Herbein

The Waywoods, fronted by Philly everyman Pete Hill and joined by Danny Beaver, Jarrod Pedone, and Nathan Matulis, just released their debut LP, A Ghost River Companion, after a handful of years spent shuffling around a solo project and collaborating with some of Philly’s most prolific musicians. The album floats somewhere between an indie and Americana rock space, following Hill’s true to form stream-of-consciousness writing style, emphasizing whatever feels the most authentic on any given track. The opening song, “Black Hair, Blue Heart,” is a subtle, country-rooted stop-and-start exploration of wanting something you shouldn’t have. It’s a gentle lead-in, followed by an equally as subtle burn, “Ain’t Too Big.” The twangy instrumentation is definitely the focal point on these tracks. With vocals that are always aptly reigned in, this is an album that emphasizes that life is constantly in motion, but you don’t always have to push through at full speed ahead. You can take your time. These songs aren’t trying to force any type of response from the listener; they’re just existing at their own pace. “Cold Wind” and “Ghost River” are two sides of one melancholic coin, each detailing a want for change in ways that seem impossible to visualize in the moment. “Honestly Babe” is a bouncing and nostalgic and realistic look at love, addressing all of the great things about a relationship and how those are the same reasons why it’s probably not going to work unless everyone makes a change. A Ghost River Companion is heavy on the storytelling aspect, and Hill nailed his narrative lyricism. Paired with sweet and intentional nods to his country and contemporary and rock influences, there’s no end in sight to the heart behind these songs.

I caught up with Pete after he’d been on my radar for years. My first (or at least most memorable) early Philly show was in 2014(ish) at First Unitarian Church. He opened up solo for Good Old War and You Won’t, and I never forgot about him or that gig. This is a really cool full-circle moment for me in reconnecting with him and the fact that I’m now friends with so many people who had a hand in his career. That’s why Philly’s so great, I’ll always say it.

Read through what Pete’s been up to, who he’s worked with, and what The Waywoods mean to him as a collaborative effort below. The album is linked all the way at the bottom so you have to read this to get there. Also definitely check on everyone he’s about to name drop — they’re some of my most favorite local musicians and artists.

You released a solo EP in 2017, and I believe that was the most recent project you put out? What have you been up to?

Pete Hill: We actually released a live EP in 2018 called Live at The Fairmount House. I took it off of Spotify/Apple Music for the time being because three of the five songs we tracked are actually on the upcoming album. But the whole thing is still currently available on YouTube and Bandcamp. The band for this live EP was:

Tim Arnold - drums

Bryan Gulla - keys

Dan Beaver - guitar/vocals/keys/harmonica

Nate Matulis - bass

We filmed/recorded it in the aforementioned art space The Fairmount House, located at 3rd and Fairmount in Northern Liberties. (Shout out to Mike DeFrehn for letting us use the space). Matt Philips did all the audio engineering, mixing, and mastering. He’s great! It was a visual collaboration with Skyler Jenkins who filmed and edited the whole live session. He’s also amazingly creative and super involved in the Philly music scene as well. Kirby Sybert stopped by to do photos for the session. This was the first time Skyler and I collaborated together.

Prior to this, I met him and Rachel Andie at a benefit show where I opened up solo at the Barbary. (Betty Iron Thumbs and Bohemian Cowboy were the other acts, benefiting SREHUP). He invited me on an RV trip documentary that we shot later that year. It’s called The Escape Artists. Skyler, Rachel Andie, John Gilbride, Brendan Johnson, and myself all traveled in Skyler’s RV down to Asheville and back to Philly, all while playing/sharing music/jamming with each other, hanging out/stopping by/camping out at various RV parks, parking lots, houses, shows, events, etc… it was a great experience. The whole series is on YouTube. We had a release show/premiere party at Philamoca in 2019. Check it out!!! We spent most of 2019 playing shows around Philly/Bucks and writing/recording new material.

In 2020 we finished tracking all the songs that would become A Ghost River Companion. We tracked the record in two sessions. The first one we did 6 songs at my practice space/studio with Jason Harris acting as engineer. In the second session, we did 4 more songs at my buddy Ian DG Bennetts studio in Roebling, NJ. He also ended up mixing and mastering the entire album.

After we had finished up all the instrumental bits at the beginning of March 2020 I spent the next month or so tracking all my main/backing vocals at my studio/garage space. This was right around the time the pandemic kicked into full gear so I was able to take full advantage of the shut down/stay at home orders and really dig into getting all my vocals and extra percussion done. After that Ian and I did a bunch of back and forth remote mixing before we agreed on everything being completely done.

We’ve been pretty off the radar for the rest of 2020 just playing it safe for obvious Covid reasons but hopefully, the vaccinations start rolling out and we can get back to a little bit of normalcy. Until then, I’ll probably just be doing some FB Live and Instagram Live sessions to promote the new record over the next couple of months. We also have a bunch of merch in the works (t-shirts, CDs, Cassettes, etc…) that we’ll be rolling out over the next couple of months.

I also spent part of 2020 quarantine time collaborating with a friend of mine Vadim Taver who lives in California. I’m super psyched with the song we whipped up. Check it out!

What has the last couple of years looked like for you? You've played gigs with tons of great Philly bands, are close with the Circa Survive and Good Old War fam, and you have a nice following in Bucks Co.

PH: I actually went to high school with Tim and Keith from Good Old War. Tim and I have been playing together forever, and he’s been on pretty much every solo album I’ve released. He’s also been my go-to live drummer in the past whenever he was available. Good Old War took me out on a few tours as an opener. (Which you know). I became a lot tighter with Dan Schwartz after this and he laid down the guitar for two songs on the Anyhow EP. I also met Keaton Thandi through them around this time who ended up playing drums for two songs on the Anyhow EP as well. He also played drums for a bunch of live shows and is a solid drummer/good dude. I first met Steve Clifford right after high school, he played drums in a band with one of my close friends/old bassists, so we’ve been buds since around then. Steve actually played on/helped produce one of my favorite songs off my first solo EP Run, called Run as Fast as You Can. My soon-to-be wife Ali is actually Colin from Circa Survive’s sister and I’ve been friends with her other brother Chris since high school as well. He was in a band with Keith and Tim called Days Away. They’re all terrific humans. Here’s a long list of everyone who’s played on my records and in my live band. I always feel the need to offer credit where credit is due, and I’ve had quite a few different live band iterations over the years. Not to start everything off with name drops haha, but I guess this gives you a good feel of how it’s always been a very collaborative experience. Everyone who has been on a Pete Hill record or has been part of my live band:

Tim Arnold

Dan Schwartz

Bryan Gulla

Adam Honeycutt

Jason Harris

TJ de Blois

Keaton Thandi

Kyle Perrella

Jared Pfancook

Scott Blaydon

Steve Clifford

Kirby Sybert

Jason Trzaska

Tim Sanders

Matt Segal

John Hoff

What's changed about the way you approach music with The Waywoods?

PH: I don’t think much has actually changed about the way I approach songwriting since the name change. I think the whole reason behind The Waywoods’ name change was that this has always been a collaborative group effort and I always wanted a pseudonym to reflect that. The band name actually comes from my middle name Way Woody. I wanted it to seem like a family affair and not the efforts of a single individual.

After playing in other Philly bands, I feel like going under Pete Hill was freeing at first but after a while, I always felt like it placed all the focus on me and minimized the contributions of all my friends/bandmates. I honestly don’t really like being the center of attention, which maybe isn’t the best quality for a lead singer. I feel like a solo name also suggests some other singer/songwriter connotations, which comes with its own preconceived ideas.

That being said, I also feel like there’s something very special about our Waywoods line up. With the four of us now things come super easy and spontaneously. There’s trust and respect. A natural groove. I think we all have similar tastes and just meld really well. I also feel like we all put the song first. No one’s here to show off. It’s all in service to the song. I’m super lucky to have these guys in my life. We make a great team.

When I first started putting out solo material I think I was far more obsessed with mapping things out and writing a lot of the parts myself. I think I used to overthink things a bit too much and would try super hard to get things “perfect” but I feel like now we benefit from the looseness. I think a lot of that just comes from playing with great talented musicians. When I have a new song idea I don’t sit everyone down and explain all the changes or what I’m looking for, I just start playing it and we see what pours out. I’m a huge fan of stream of consciousness and spontaneity. I love recording demo ideas straight through, making up lyrics as I go. I feel like there’s a certain energy that comes with initial thoughts. Not all initial thoughts are good but I feel like restricting ideas or overthinking things too much too early on is highly detrimental to the overall feel of a song. I think that approach applies to us as a whole as well and not just me personally.

What were you listening to while writing "A Ghost River Companion"? There are a lot of different genres at work here I think, and the ones I pick up on the most are like indie/country/Americana/rock, but what specifically inspired you?

PH: Recently I’ve been listening to a ton of:

Father John Misty

Weyes Blood

Andy Shauf

Mac Demarco

Hamilton Leithauser/Rostam

Fruit Bats

Bill Callahan/Smog stuff (Been obsessed with the song “Too Many Birds” over the last year or so)

I always go back to old favorites:

Pavement/Stephen Malkmus

Elliott Smith

(Probably my top two)

Also love David Bazan

Wilco

Bob Dylan (Jokerman, in particular, has been stuck in my head for the last 2 years)

As well as my other “oldie” faves…

The Band

The Beatles

Tom Petty

Roy Orbison

Sam Cooke

Neil Young

My fiancé makes a pretty mean Spotify playlist so I’ve also been frequenting those a ton! Alison Frangicetto if you wanna check any of them out. She’s amazing.

Podcasts have really taken the reins for me over the last couple of years. I've been on a 75% podcast 25% music diet lately. Just to name a few, my faves over the last couple of years have been…

Big Grande The Teacher’s Lounge (almost exclusively the last year or so, it's pretty great)

Bonanas for Bonanza (Any comedy podcast with Andy Daly is usually golden)

Futility Closet

Love + Radio (one of my faves)

Criminal

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Since this is a full band project, what does collaboration look like for you? Do you prefer writing with others or writing alone like you were when you were working on your solo projects?

PH: It’s always kind of been a collaborative experience but it’s just grown over the years. The first EP, Run, was probably like 80% me. The next EP, Bones, was actually songs/demos recorded prior to that so like 90% me. But then for The Bullet Tree full length and on, I started tracking a lot more songs flushed out with friends. And it kind of grew into a fluid group of musicians who would help me both live and in the studio.

Before I actually sit down and write lyrics for a song I’ll just record myself on my phone for like two weeks playing the changes over and over and just sing whatever comes to mind. Truth be told I personally hate sitting down and mapping out a narrative. I’ve always kind of preferred vague lyrics that can be interpreted in numerous ways. I typically write pretty stream-of-consciously. I love just picking up the guitar and messing about, melodies always come pretty easily. I always just pray that most of the lyrics come quickly. Otherwise, I’ll kind of workshop them by just playing the song over and over for a few weeks and see what flows out naturally. And if they don’t come quickly sometimes it’ll go on the back burner.

But collaboration isn’t always just musical…

I’ve been working with John Hutelmyer a ton visually since we first met at Temple U many years ago. I think he’s shot at least 4 different music videos for me, as well as numerous live shows. I also played at his wedding and recorded a few Spice Girl covers for him and his wife. He’s a good friend and a super talented dude. He edited two videos for the new album already. “Ain’t Too Big” and “Cold Wind.”

I’ve got another video currently in the works for the new album with Nick Murphy. He’s a super talented Philly Videographer. We’ve collaborated a ton in the past, most recently on a music video for the song “Honest Opinions.”

The same goes with Jimmy Scantron. A mutual friend (Ali Wadsworth) introduced us a few years back at Ortlieb’s and recommended we collab on something, thinking we’d dig each other’s music and vibe. We’ve been friends on the socials since then and somehow I just fell in love with his art and visual aesthetic after seeing stuff he’s been doing for mutual friends. I was excited to work with him on the album art. Love how it turned out.

I feel like Philly is a small community and everyone in the music scene kind of knows each other. Every person I’ve worked with over the years has just kind of branched off from one connection to the next.

That's pretty much how we all got to know each other and become The Waywoods. Just friends of friends in the music community. Jarrod drums with The End of America. I’ve known Trevor from that band forever. He actually mixed/mastered my Anyhow EP. Jay Harris who was my old bass player/forever friend currently plays bass in TEOA. Nate was a founding member of Mo Lowda and we’ve always kind of known each other from a distance. Dan Beaver and I met filling in as backing musicians for a mutual friend Joe Montone’s band Heat Thunder. When we all got together we just clicked.

Music aside — what stands out to you in your mind when you think back about the time spent putting this album together? Any stories you can share about your experience?

PH: For this album/these songs… I feel like what comes to mind is just how easy everything was to track. I think we recorded like 3 takes max of each song and a lot of times we got the album version on the first take. We kept it raw and real. We didn’t overdo things. We did very limited overdubs. We kept a lot of the little flubs in. We finished the album like a week or so before covid hit. So right in the nick of time. And I finished tracking my final vocals a week or so before a storm caused two trees to fall through the roof of my studio. So also right in the nick of time.

What do you feel is being said with this album? What do you want listeners to take from it?

PH: I feel like the main theme for this album, and honestly, a lot of my back catalog, is just the feeling of being lost and confused. Feeling stuck but still in motion. Dealing with a lack of control. Not knowing what you want out of life, but somewhat acknowledging that and trying to have a conversation with yourself. Knowing that life is often sad/absurd/surreal but still something finite, precious, and beautiful. My battle with depression and anxiety goes back some 20 years. It’s a lonely isolating game, and this album definitely touches on that a bit. I also threw these last two questions out to the band and here’s Dan’s take…

“I think what’s being said with this album is that you can make a good album without saying anything in particular. Rather than receiving a message or statement, I would like listeners to feel like each song is its own world that they go into, and to see each song as they would see scenes in a movie, and all of these scenes and stories seem to be connected but they aren’t sure how or why. So maybe they can decide for themselves. Aside from the music, what stands out is the hour-long ride down through bucks county that I take from Perkasie to the garage where we play in Langhorne. Passing by the fields and farms, little towns, and neighborhoods. Stopping for an espresso on the way, and seeing the red mailbox that signals the end of the journey. A trip I never get tired of taking.”

The Waywoods Prove That It's Okay To Take Your Time With "A Ghost River Companion"