Bio

It began as a songwriting exercise. It became a romance. Soon, it will be a marriage.

That’s the story of the Prickly Pair — Irene Greene and Mason Summit. And it’s a story told in the rising East Nashville-based duo’s first full EP release, simply titled The Prickly Pair. It opens with “Winsome Lose Some Game,” a sparkling picture of the fullness of their relationship, the excitement and fears of committing to another person captured in both the words and music — and, crucially, in their intertwined voices, the first time they have sung in harmony throughout a song. It ends back at the beginning, that first song they wrote together, “Piece of the Sky,” which transforms the mystery surrounding 1970s hijacker D.B. Cooper into a deeply personal and poetic exploration of isolation and disaffection, also set in music as haunting and complex as the emotions expressed.

Both involve leaps.

“Am I falling or soaring?” Greene sings in “Piece.”

“I hold my breath and take the plunge,” they sing, together, in “Winsome.”

Leaps mark the Prickly Pair’s tale. The first one was when Greene reached out to Summit to team up for a songwriting class assignment when they both were students at USC/Thornton School of Music — they were in the same class, but had never met. The next came a bit later when they became a couple. And then, after pursuing separate musical paths, deciding during the pandemic to see what they could do as a duo. After that it was a big jump, moving from L.A. to Nashville.

And yes, they are soaring. On “Winsome” it’s in the voices, gorgeously intertwining in flight. The song is, in fact, a winsome country-tinged tune featuring Dobro wizardry from guest Jeff Plankenhorn. But the standout characteristic is the love in those vocals, a personalized take on a classic country duo form. It’s a new phase of their, as they call it, Angsty Americana.

“It’s not an artificial thing,” Summit says. “It was like, ‘Why don’t we have a song reflective of our reality, less like a country tear-jerker?’”

The “Winsome” tears are joyful, complementing saltier ones in the EP’s other songs, all drawing on inspirations from Patsy Cline to Brian Wilson, Gram Parsons to Fiona Apple, the Band to Elliot Smith, Hank Williams to Sly Stone, Billie Holiday to Elvis Costello. Here’s a cast of outsiders, misfits and the misunderstood, desperate folks with fates forged by life’s cruelties, some imposed, some of their own making.

“Swamp Angel” is a moving ode to a young woman swept up in revenge. “Riverside” gives us a man finding a place of belonging, but forced to flee. And “Never Any Good,” with a title that says it all, is a vibrant twist on the bad-seed ballad.

“Oftentimes when we’re stuck for subject matter we consult history, or fiction too,” Summit says. “‘Swamp Angel’ is about a real person, Helen Spence. We found out about her listening to a podcast driving through Arkansas. She was a very young woman who grew up on the river, whose dad was killed and then she shot his murderer in court and it was very badass.”

Summit produced the EP, playing guitars and keyboards plus everything from mandolin to Mellotron to Marxophone — a vintage instrument familiar via the Doors’ version of “Alabama Song.” Along with Plankenhorn, guests include drummer Jim Doyle (Hot Club of Los Angeles), bassists Jeff Turmes (formerly of Mavis Staples’ band) and Sebastian Jones, lap steel player Harrison Whitford (Phoebe Bridgers) and mandolinist Devitt Feeley. The set was mixed by Oliver Roman, with whom Summit was in the L.A. band Jaw Talk and who co-produced the Foo Fighters’ new release “Today’s Song.”

While they often write of people on the run, the Prickly Pair has found a place in Nashville with their dynamic, personable shows, both as an acoustic duo and with a full band.

“There is an openness in Nashville that I don’t think we achieved in L.A.,” Greene says. “People are more open to inviting you to play on a show. If you go to someone’s show and support them they’re really open to hanging out or coming to your show. There’s a more reciprocal feeling here.”

They’ve become favorites at clubs including Eastside Bowl, Dee’s Lounge, Grimey’s, the Bowery Vault, Acme, the Basement and Third and Lindsley, the latter guesting with the Long Players, the band of local luminaries playing classic albums. Back in L.A. they’ve played such noted venues as the Hotel Café and the famed McCabe’s (sharing bills with Plankenhorn and Carla Olson). McCabe’s also hand-picked them to represent the venue at the 2024 FAR-West Folk Alliance gathering.

Greene grew up near Philadelphia where she and her brother Conor had a band. Summit was raised in Santa Monica surrounded by music and writing from both his father, actor-musician Christopher Allport (who died in a skiing accident when Mason was 11), and mother, author Susan Hayden.

It was crucial “having the example of two parents that wrote their own material,” says Summit, who has made five solo albums, the first when he was 15. Brian Wilson was, and remains, his top influence.

Greene cites her experience performing with her brother and the music around their house.

“My mom had a jazz compilation, so it was Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday,” she says. “Their delivery of the songs, I thought every word matters. And growing up I loved Fiona Apple, obviously, and Gillian Welch who I’m a bit newer to. It’s not even the quality of their voice, but the way they deliver what they’re saying affected me very deeply and made me think about my own emotional world and how I could portray that.”

That leap into being a duo? It’s proved richer than they could have imagined.

“Irene brings an emotional vulnerability that I sometimes struggle to access,” Summit says. “Her willingness to be open and honest I think is the beating heart of the Prickly Pair. I do a lot of the craft part. I’m kind of the Paul to her John.”

“Okay, wow,” Greene responds.

The magic is simple, he says:

“We inspire each other.”