Despite COVID19 putting the release of their new album on hold, Nashville based husband and wife music duo, Anana Kaye and Irakli Gabriel have kept busy recording a cover of the Bob Dylan track, Senor from their home as well as recording a video.
Anana Kaye originally hail from the ancient country of Georgia (not to be confused with the State) on the crossroads of Europe and Asia, where Argonauts sailed to steal The Golden Fleece and where wine was invented some 8000 years ago!
The duo have already received rave reviews for their Indie Alt-Americana sound from The Huffington Post, who described their sound as “Rich, strong, tender, translucent, and dynamic,” and Medium who enjoyed “uncompromising fluidity, infectious hypnotic rhythms, electrifying sonic sensations.”
Anana Kaye takes time out to chat to Andy Howells about their new release
Anana Kaye have recorded a cover of the Bob Dylan track Senor Photo: Irakli Gabriel
How did you both get into performing music?
Irakli had been playing in New York in various bands for a while before we met – so it was great, when I moved to New York (Straight from Georgia) he already had a network of musicians and friends, with whom we could play and work on different projects.
You’re a husband and wife recording duo. How did you come together?
It was a natural match – we had and have very similar tastes in music for the most part, so at first we’d play songs that we both loved, standard stuff like Whiskey in a Jar or Proud Mary or Ziggy Stardust, before we started writing together.
Who are your music influences?
David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Kate Bush come to mind right away, but there’s so many more.
Can you tell us about your latest release?
We recently finished an album with one of our song writing heroes and close friends here, David Olney. Tragically, David passed away suddenly, while performing at a festival in Florida, right after we finished mixing the record. That was in January… It was a shock on many levels, personally first of all. Our plans got completely changed, as we were looking to release it early this Spring and tour. Of course, because of Covid-19, touring would not have happened either.
We had to put the release of the album on hold for now, so we started working on other recordings at our home studio, one of which was a cover of ‘Senor” by Bob Dylan from the Street-Legal album, which we both love. It’s been a very special song to us for a long time, and you’ve got to approach covering such revered material with great care. We had played most of the instruments on it ourselves at home, but then had an opportunity to have some of the Nashville’s finest musicians, Chris Donohue on bass and Chris Benelli on drums to overdub from their homes and it felt like the recording really gelled after Stephen Leiweke mixed and mastered it. We decided to shoot a video for it at home during quarantine and release it.
Anana Kaye have recorded and released a video for their cover of Bob Dylan’s Senor.
How have you been coping during the recent COVID19 situation?
It’s been difficult and sad, obviously. Especially sad about people getting sick and some of our friends losing lives or the lives of their loved ones.
Nashville revolves around live music, so it’s been very strange to have that taken away and to lose work, of course. A bit of a silver lining is to have a break – to be able to stay at home and catch up on some unfinished work, to write or to film something new, to catch up with old friends over the phone.
Who are you listening to now?
Della Reese is on our record player!
Where can people find out more about your music?
www.ananakaye.com as well as on most music platforms including Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Bandcamp etc.
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