The Weepies

Singer/songwriters <a href="spotify:artist:7tFFagB7kjwoCTP3QMlzJD">Deb Talan</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6vvDymlJBME7J2SPsyY3td">Steve Tannen</a>, both of whom had released solo material before banding together to form folk-pop duo the Weepies, first met at one of <a href="spotify:artist:6vvDymlJBME7J2SPsyY3td">Tannen</a>'s shows in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the time, <a href="spotify:artist:6vvDymlJBME7J2SPsyY3td">Tannen</a> was touring in support of his debut record, Big Señorita. Mutual admirers of each other's music, the two musicians started writing songs together, and soon the Weepies' whimsical, acoustic-based sound took shape. The pair released an independent album, 2003's Happiness, before signing with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nettwerk+Records%22">Nettwerk Records</a> in 2005. That December, the label digitally pre-released Say I Am You, which the duo had recorded in a rented cottage in Pasadena, California, and the physical album version followed in March 2006.

After spending the rest of that year on the road, <a href="spotify:artist:7tFFagB7kjwoCTP3QMlzJD">Talan</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6vvDymlJBME7J2SPsyY3td">Tannen</a> returned to California and spent the entirety of 2007 in a flurry of activity: they got married, worked on new material, wrote songs for <a href="spotify:artist:2LJxr7Pt3JnP60eLxwbDOu">Mandy Moore</a>'s Wild Hope, and had a baby. The following year saw the release of their new record, Hideaway. The duo hardly toured at all in support of Hideaway, preferring instead to focus on raising their son, but a flurry of TV placements and commercial advertisements kept their music in the public eye. Meanwhile, <a href="spotify:artist:7tFFagB7kjwoCTP3QMlzJD">Talan</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6vvDymlJBME7J2SPsyY3td">Tannen</a> continued writing music together, and Be My Thrill was released in 2010. After taking some time for a growing family and <a href="spotify:artist:7tFFagB7kjwoCTP3QMlzJD">Talan</a> to recover from breast cancer, they returned to the studio healthy in 2014 to finish the 16-track Sirens, released in spring of 2015. The album featured a number of guest musicians who contributed remotely while <a href="spotify:artist:7tFFagB7kjwoCTP3QMlzJD">Talan</a> was unable to travel, including guitarist Gerry Leonard (<a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a>), bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4UjlFZPd9pYcyGhwdcrXvH">Tony Levin</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:7M1FPw29m5FbicYzS2xdpi">King Crimson</a>), drummers <a href="spotify:artist:2ACGbJEQ3zbG0fcPEmdOSP">Matt Chamberlain</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:1w5Kfo2jwwIPruYS2UWh56">Pearl Jam</a>) and Pete Thomas (<a href="spotify:artist:4qmHkMxr6pTWh5Zo74odpH">Elvis Costello & the Attractions</a>), and keyboardist Rami Jaffee (<a href="spotify:artist:0jJNGWrpjGIHUdTTJiIYeB">the Wallflowers</a>). ~ Marisa Brown, Rovi