Little Quirks are sisters Abbey and Mia Toole, who play guitar and drums respectively, plus their cousin Jaymi Toole on mandolin and her brother Alex on bass. When they got going as street buskers in 2015, Mia, the youngest, was just 11. They cut their teeth playing covers of favorite artists including the Cranberries, Mumford and Sons, and Australian star Vance Joy. After a while, they got serious about touring and recording, now with three EPs to their credit and a flood of new singles of late including the sweet, celebratory “The Rain.”
Abbey Toole has told the media that while the group knows how to rock out, they fully embrace the folk music label and ethos, calling it music for all ages. “It’s one of the rawest and most real styles of music, where you can hear very personal stories you can relate to in songs,” she told the Canberra Times. “There’s just something different about folk that we know other young people will love if they give it a chance.” With their infectious harmonies and pogo stick energy (you’ll be reminded of The Accidentals and SHEL), not to mention a recent debut at South By Southwest, that love should be spreading in the US.
Sam Burchfield was raised on folk music in the mountainous west of South Carolina. He attended the University of Georgia at Athens, a great town for finding yourself artistically. And then I find this interesting story in which Burchfield auditioned for American Idol in 2015 and got one of those coveted “golden tickets to Hollywood dawg!”. Except then he applied his music business academic experience to reading the gargantuan contract that came with it, and it turned out to be a thicket of restrictions, limitations, and appropriations he just couldn’t take. So he passed. “Anybody that has been doing music for a long time realizes that the good stuff comes from slow growth and a lot of practice,” he told the newspaper. This fella has his head screwed on right.
The music’s self-assured as well. Sam’s new album Scoundrel is hard to find unless you’re an avid Bandcamp visitor, but it’s there. And it’s straight-shootin’ Americana sung in a voice that fits the settings like a wallet slipped in your jeans pocket.