The Lone Bellow: Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist, and Kanene Pipkin, have known each other almost all their lives, but they have only been singing together as The Lone Bellow for four years now. They all grew up in Georgia, but originally only Williams pursued a career in music. He began writing songs in the wake of a family tragedy: After his wife was thrown from a horse, he spent every waking moment in the hospital at her bedside, bracing for the worst news and writing his darkest fears in a notebook. That journal would eventually become his first batch of songs as a solo artist. (Happily, his wife made a full recovery.)
Then Came the Morning, the second album by the Georgia-born, Brooklyn-based indie-folk trio, opens with a crest of churchly piano, a patter of drums, and a fanfare of voices harmonizing like a sunrise. It’s a powerful introduction, enormous and overwhelming, as Williams, Elmquist, and Pipkin testify mightily to life’s great struggles and joys: “Then came the morning! It was bright, like a light that you cut from your smile!” Working with producer Aaron Dessner of The National, the Lone Bellow has created a sound that mixes folk sincerity, gospel fervor, even heavy metal thunder, but the heart of the band is harmony: three voices united in a lone bellow. 
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This article was originally printed in The Local Voice #216 (published November 6, 2014).
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