The Resonant Rogues: At Home in the Mountains and On the Road

After many years on the road—she was with the circus, he hopped freights—husband and wife Keith Josiah Smith and Sparrow Smith, who perform as The Resonant Rogues, have put down roots.

"We live in Western North Carolina," says Sparrow. "It's one of the most beautiful natural places in the world. People can come here from all over the world to experience nature here. We're so lucky to have it in our backyard.”

But as The Resonant Rogues, Sparrow and Keith—sometimes performing as a duo, other times fronting a larger band—maintain a busy tour schedule, playing many songs from their two latest albums, The Magnolia Sessions and the eponymous The Resonant Rogues.

“We love touring for the most part," says Keith. “Like everything else there's things that are not enjoyable, but that's just life. We like traveling and playing music. I feel like going and playing the shows is the easiest part. Everything else is kind of more of the hard work.”

Sparrow plays the banjo and accordion, and Keith plays guitar and percussion. Both sing and are prolific songwriters. Old-time music associated with Western North Carolina is a big part of their musical identity, and being on the move is in their DNA.

“What brought Keith and I together was our love of adventure and our love of travel,” Sparrow explains. “We've done a lot of international traveling through the years. We're really hoping to get back to Europe to tour. We toured Europe three different times pre-pandemic. We also toured Australia, and we’ve been to Alaska four times. We just really love traveling.”

Last winter, Sparrow and Keith made a bucket list trip to South America to explore the music there. Living in the mountains, they feel a kinship with folk music from other countries tied to mountain culture.

“One of my life dreams is to spend more time in Cusco, Peru, up in the mountains and do kind of a musical exchange where I learn music, teach and share music. There's a lot of similar instruments, especially with the accordion and the fiddle. And the people are just so friendly and kind, and the music is so great.”

Much of The Resonant Rogue’s material is either old-time fiddle tunes or original compositions, but the songs may get a widely varied treatment. The Magnolia Sessions album was recorded with just the two playing and singing as they sat under a tree.

“It was right during the pandemic, so it was kind of a neat time for trying new things,” Keith remembers. “And the whole point of it was to do a stripped-down, intimate, simple acoustic set of songs. It was all one take with no break. So essentially, it’s a live album in the backyard.”

On the other hand, their self-titled album has a fuller sound, with electric guitars, percussion, fiddles, and guest vocalists, including Sierra Ferrell.

“That was a really special thing to get to do, and we are really happy with how that turned out sound-wise,” says Sparrow. “We love to dance, we love to make people dance and so being able to do that with full bands and to get drums in there was really a good time. And I'd say that that's true of our shows as well. We go from kind of a string band to a country dance band feel.”

This fall, Sparrow released a solo banjo album, Carolina Mountain, which Keith produced.

“I write a lot of songs, and I had a vision for a banjo-focused record that was about Southern Appalachia and Western North Carolina. It had a very strong sense of place,” Sparrow says. “Honestly, all of them would feel at home on a Resonant Rogues album in some way, but this record was my vision and was all my songs.”

Don't expect to find them there just because they’re firmly attached to their adopted home (Sparrow grew up in Colorado; Keith in Wisconsin). The road beckons.

“We have a pretty big year of Resonant Rogues touring mostly around festival dates, and then we’re going to do a big national album release tour for the Sparrow Smith record,” Sparrow says. “That will be billed as Sparrow Smith and The Resonant Rogues, so Keith will be on the whole tour. We’ll have some other musicians join us for sections of it. We’re going across the South, going up the West Coast and popping down into Colorado. And then probably touring the rest of the country throughout the year with the new record.”

While this pair of seasoned travelers enjoys many experiences touring offers, Keith observes that the bond between performer and audience member drives them.

“I feel like live music shows can be therapeutic for people with our modern lifestyles,” he says. “What probably feels the best to me when I talk to people at the end of a show is when they get something out of it in that human way of connection. I think that's something that you can't get on your phone. You can't get that on social media. You can't get that anywhere else. It really is one of the very few places where you can get that level of connection.”