Playing with a deck of face cards

By Casey Phillips

Staff Writer

Helium does it naturally; water does it as it freezes; and Peeps do it when placed in a microwave.

While expansion seems, at first, to be a strange concept for an Americana band like North American Royalty to build themselves around, it begins to make sense after they mention adding new members who are helping to build a bigger sound and direct it into new genres.

"When we were first getting together, we played a very quiet, indie-feeling music, and then we brought more instruments in," said Jack Kirton (pedal steel/guitar/mandolin). "As the band rounded out, we tried to stretch for a bigger sound, and we really tried to make it larger in the spring (by) doing stuff like adding the organ sound, more vocals and instruments."

NAR in its current, five-piece form was born last October as Kirton, Elise Berkes (guitar/vocals) and Krista Wroten (violin/vocals). The Chattanooga-based ensemble added Joey Berkley (drum/brushes) and Dennis Hubbard (bass) to the fold following the completion of a self-titled, four-track EP in the spring.

"They (Berkley and Hubbard) were involved in the band before we got the first EP out, but we felt like we really had what we wanted on it," Kirton said. "We didn't have drums and bass on the EP, but they were added to the band right as it was coming out, so it felt like they completed our idea of what we were looking for."

These additions to the royal stable made NAR's sound bigger and more multifaceted without being overpowering. Even amping the original instruments (Kirton's electric guitar is a change from the EP, which was all-acoustic) hasn't turned performances into a "wall" of noise.

"I've been in situations where people wanted to stack your records and make them sound big," Kirton said. "I hated that -- when people try to make the music sound big in a way that wasn't real.

"Adding instruments can make (bands) sound big or small, but we wanted to make it really feel like you're getting an organic sound of people actually playing the instruments. We really tried to make it feel natural."

NAR's use of subdued instrumental parts without lengthy, wild solos highlights Beckes' and Wroten's vocals, allowing the lyrics on tracks like "Lonely One" and "Pretty Part" on their MySpace page to shine and lend a distinctly lullaby-like quality to the music.

"We formed around Elise being a good songwriter, so we kind of want to keep her vocally at the front," Kirton said. "With the layering, Elise's vocals are strong, and we look at how another vocal could add another layer to it. Krista's been good at listening. She holds back in all the right places and is selective -- that's been key."

Currently, the band is working on a project to introduce this "new" NAR with their first, as-yet-untitled album since adding Berkley and Hubbard. So far, 10 tracks are complete, and the album should be out by fall, brandishing a sound that's distinctively Royal -- but bigger, Kirton said.

"I think, as a musician, you always want to expand and do new things, and we've really opened up a lot of what we were doing," he said. "We try to achieve the same sound as western but with all the instruments interweaving ... (to) create more than your traditional western sound."

That interweaving is a key element of the Royals' music. They might be kings and queens, but their musical philosophy is more akin to the Three Musketeers.

"Being in a band is about a lot more than yourself, and that's something every band should remember," Kirton said. "It's not about doing something as me as a person -- it's about a lot of things other than just whether an individual is shining or not."

E-mail Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com