Nashville-based duo Escondido is celebrating the release of their first album, The Ghost of Escondido, today, February 26. The duo consists of Tyler James and Jessica Maros.
Tyler James, originally a native of Iowa, had been touring with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes. He’s also had a solo career, and Nashville music-lovers may know him as a part of Ten Out of Tenn. Jessica Maros, a native of Vancouver, moved to Nashville to pursue music originally. However, she found more initial success designing clothes and jewelry – some of her pieces have been worn by celebrities as diverse as Prince and Lady Antebellum.
The two met while James was recording with a mutual friend. They worked on writing songs for two months, then recorded the whole album live, in one day, with contributing musicians Evan Hutchings (drums), Adam Keafer (bass), and Scotty Murray (guitar).
Since recording the tracks for the album, Tyler and Jessica have been touring. Most recently, they have been hitting the West Coast with Wild Cub, and will be heading to SXSW this March. They also appeared as themselves on the TV show Nashville earlier this month, performing their song Don’t Love Me Too Much.
Their local album release show will be this Friday at The High Watt. James and Maros were kind enough to answer a few questions, so before you go, you can get to know Escondido a little better:
Q: How have you grown as a duo while on tour together?
Jess: We do well on the road together. We've learned how to hash things out and move on. Touring really is a reflection of yourself and it tests your personality, you’re pushed to the limit when you’re completely exhausted. I think it’s making us stronger and we’re learning how to communicate with each other.
Tyler: I agree with Jess... everyone's true personalities show through and we're learning to be on each other's side no matter what. We've also grown musically... we're learning how to play a great show no matter the circumstances. And I've discovered it’s a lot easier to sell merch when Jess is standing back there... no one wants a homeless-looking dude like myself.
Q: Any fun stories/anecdotes from recent tour dates you can share with our audience?
Jess: We were shooting a video in the palm desert near Salton Sea and I realized my phone was gone. We went back to the last location in the middle of nowhere... rummaged through the sand along the road but only found the shattered case for it. We had given up and were hours down the road before Tyler got a call from my phone. He answered and this nice man said he had left it in his mailbox for us. He was riding his bike on the highway and found it. Amazing. We left him a CD.
Tyler: That same day I found $50 cash in the pocket of my rented mariachi pants, and bought some margaritas for the video crew.
We did party with Axl Rose as some house in Bel Air one night but I don't recall much of it...
Come back tomorrow to see more of the interview… including their thoughts on writing, and being on the set of Nashville.
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