Worcester’s Neptune’s Car: Telling a Story Through Music

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Jeffrey Starr, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Neptune's Car writes about what they observe on the road.

Holly Hanson says she really enjoys sharing stories with others when asked what she personally gets out of playing her music. Her partner, Steve Hayes, goes a step further, claiming it gives him a literal high.

"There’s no greater feeling for me than to play live music," he says.

With their recent success, they are now getting more opportunities than ever to tell their stories and to get that high.

Holly and Steve make up the local contemporary folk duo Neptune's Car, and they are currently touring nationally. Formed in 2006, the musicians have already reached the height of the genre. The song "Lighthouse Keeper" from their debut album, Strawberry Moon, reached number 1 on the folk charts. The album itself reached number 4 on the Folk-DJ charts. Their second album, the 2012 release Letters from the Road, achieved similar notoriety.

A life-long Passion

Holly grew up in West Boylston and has lived in the Worcester area for almost her entire life. Steve was born outside Central Mass. Holly brought him here. They both began playing music from a young age and quickly fell in love with it.

"I like how music makes me feel different things," says Holly.

"There’s a song for every emotion. It can be an escape from reality. I’m fascinated by the power of it all on a person’s state of mind and well-being."

"Music allows me to express myself in ways that I can’t with words," says Steve.

Admirers of folk around the country, whether through seeing a performance of theirs or hearing the duo by chance on the radio, can now share in this musical love and the stories it produces.

"I hope the listener is listening to each word in the moment and that by the end of the song, the listener understands the whole story and was caught up in it and maybe saw themselves in it somehow," remarks Holly.

"If it’s a song about a historical person or location, I like that the listener might have learned about something he or she hadn’t heard or known about before. I love talking to the audience from the stage and after the show. It’s great to make a connection with people through music and stories. I leave every show with new ideas for topics to explore for songs because so many people are happy to share their stories and the interesting things they have come across."

What to Expect: Music and the Future

The duo describes the content of their music simply. Upon a listen, you should expect carefully-crafted lyrics, generous harmonies and lots of guitar picking. In other words, all the best qualities of good folk music, whether it be traditional or more contemporary. The sound is mostly acoustic, but expect some electric to be thrown in as well. Whatever fits the song, as they say. Their ideas come from the heart and mind, which they use like a bank, where they've stored their past experiences and what they've learned talking to people, reading and traveling.

The future will hopefully be more of the same, their own personal story continuing.

"I think the future holds more of the same of what we’ve already been so fortunate to experience -- meeting wonderful new people and meeting up with old friends again and again, seeing the country, and really living a good, full life," remarks Holly.

Look out for a new four-song EP late this year or early next year.

You can see them perform in concert halls, theaters, coffee houses, house concerts, and festivals around the country. And luckily for us, they have shows coming up back in the Worcester area as well, Saturday, October 5th at the West Boylston Fall Festival and Tuesday, December 31st at First Night in Worcester.

For more information on Neptune's Car and to hear some of their music please visit their website or find them on Facebook.