The Handsome Family

“Though the Handsomes draw on Depression-era strains of folk music, Honey Moon is sensual and celebratory...May their musical honeymoon never end.” --Richard Gehr, O (Oprah) Magazine

“…these new songs are so full of woodsy imagery that they make Neko Case seem urbane." --Stephen Deusner, Pitchfork

“The husband/wife duo of Brett and Rennie Sparks still deals in spectral bluegrass and noirish folk forms on its ninth album, but gone are the ghosts and murder ballads that had painted them into a gothic-Americana corner. (Trust us, the album is still plenty weird. Love is weird.).” --Magnet Magazine Guest Editor Feature

“A mélange of classic-era Nashville, '50s Tin Pan Alley and doo-wop and Memphis soul balladry—is equally veiled, Brett warbling Rennie's pastoral lyrics about lingering kisses, lonely songbirds and reverse-anthropomorphism in an expressive baritone equal parts George Jones and Bing Crosby. Who are these people, you wonder? Though answers don't come easily, the process of getting to know them is fascinating nonetheless.” --Billboard

CMT Includes "Little Sparrows" in their Hand-Picked Playlist

“As always the haunted lyrics bear a quaintness that seems so archaic you can almost hear the cogs whirring away inside." --Q Magazine

“The songs on Honey Moon are just a gorgeously haunting as anything they have done previously… Yet another terrific chapter in a book that I hope these guys never finish.” --Tim Hinely, BLURT

“We have a dozen songs of romantic yearning from deep within their own strange world…A place where love is measured by extremes…Modern romance but not as we know it.” --UNCUT

“Brett and Rennie Sparks continue to put a brilliantly surreal twist on everyday subjects, using nature imagery to evoke the weird intensity of all-consuming passions.” --Spin

“They're love songs with a curious purchase on the mystical undercurrents of reality, pivoting on those points where the natural world rubs up against intimations of spirituality. Sung by Brett in the booming baritone of a backwoods preacher, Rennie's songs quiver with intimate detail.” --Andy Gill, The Independent

“The Waltons they ain't...They met over a tambourine and a bottle of tequila." Brett and Rennie Sparks discuss their life together as a couple and as band mates with Amy Fleming of The Guardian.

“This is “love” Handsome Family style…Eight albums into a unique musical journey, Brett and Rennie can still beguile and disturb in equal measures.” --The Sun

4 out of 5 stars—“Honey Moon is the duo's most eclectic album to date, with Brett and Rennie cautiously embracing the sound of classic pop ballads, vintage R&B, Tin Pan Alley crooning, and electronic pop along with the traditional country and folk influences… ultimately Honey Moon proves they can ease into more optimistic surroundings and not lose touch with the strange and ethereal qualities that have made them worthwhile.” -- Mark Deming, All Music

“The spooky country arrangements are as ingratiating as ever, particularly the dry pedal steel that twists around ‘Little Sparrows’ and the soft doo-wop piano triplets and guitar that sounds like Marc Ribot covering Angelo Badalamenti on ‘Linger, Let Me Linger.’” -- Michaelangelo Matos, eMusic

“Peppered with jolts of danger and hints of regret, their dark-hued lyricism revels in the kind of mysterious, immersive intrigue that corkscrews its way through affairs of the heart when opposites attract and Cupid comes calling…There's a burnt beauty to Honey Moon – something akin to Mark Twain re-written by Edgar Allan Poe – that exerts a deliciously morbid pull on the imagination and the emotions. Satisfaction is guaranteed.” --Michael Quinn, BBC

“This is music that is deeply rooted in romance, that feels the push and pull of adult life while placing itself somewhere to the side of it.” --Word Magazine

“Their most beautiful and accessible since Through the Trees…French horns, droning bass notes, clippity-clop drums, pedal steel, and musical saw give even the most macabre songs--not to mention Brett Sparks' Johnny-Cash-on-Thorazine vocals--a light, playful air of discovery and wonder.” --Amazon.com

“The album narrows the lyrical focus to a single topic—love—and downplays the murder ballads and apocalyptic imagery of earlier discs. Still, Rennie’s choice of romantic imagery is as genially warped and haunted as ever.” --Christopher Bahn, The Onion/A.V. Club

“The Brett’s baritone is so low it sounds like the earth rumbling, and it gives every tune an oracular presence that’s amply backed up by Rennie’s mystifying lyrics, which meld poetic impulses and everyday language with an effortless grace.” --J. Poet, Crawdaddy

Crawdaddy's Angela Zimmerman attends the Bottom of the Hill show in San Francisco stating, "their best moments are when husband and wife harmonize. They have a unique way of fitting their voices together, trading off on melody and harmony even within the course of one song."

“[Brett] sings in a way that makes you so wonderfully uncomfortable at times, the kind of voice and verve that you just cannot bring yourself to break from. It's outspoken and dark and it gives the songs something like a cross between gallows humor and a purist's remorse.” --Daytrotter Session

“They strum and pluck folkie Americana tunes that can be haunting and even beautifully scary." --Falling James, LA Weekly

"Brett and Rennie Sparks tells Pop Matters' 20 Questionswith tongue in cheek, about fascinating, fantastical elements in the world as they see it. All rather compelling, but proceed with caution regarding their fashion advice."

“The Handsome Family may be this era's Les Paul and Mary Ford, a creative coupling that transmutes the intimacy of a marriage into music of tingling, romantic closeness… rarely these days is the subject matter handled with this level of skilled delicacy or homespun personality." --Dennis Cook, JamBase

Rennie Sparks discusses her ten favorite murder ballads with Aquarium Drunkard. What are murder ballads you ask? Rennie describes them as “the remnants of ancient pre-Christian blood/sex rituals and are designed to make you want to roll in fields of blooming heather, not to become the next Ted Bundy.”

“Just as gorgeously haunting as I remember them… It seems like The Handsome Family could keep doing this forever and I really hope they do.” --Dagger Zine

“Honey Moon harkens back to a time when America was young and traditional values were strictly followed prior to losses of innocence…Honey Moon will undoubtedly appeal to enthusiasts of old-time tunes and laid back country-folk lovers.” --Synthesis

“In its 16th year, the group still is going strong, standing as one of the most distinctive in the roots-rock underground.” -- Jim DeRogatis, Chicago Sun Times

“When Rennie's sweet voice joins Brett's heavy sigh, the balance is transcendent.” -- Catherine P. Lewis, The Washington Post

“One of music’s most madly romantic partnerships." -- Bella Todd, Time Out London

“A true American-gothic country & western duo, albeit with some very indie roots. Brett's the nasally Burl Ives-y crooner and Rennie's the witty lyricist spinning dark and twisted tales with a strong metaphysical/paranormal bent.” -- Village Voice

“The distinct baritone of Brett Sparks shook and soared across his bandmates' slide guitar and swelling violin, while Rennie's bass walked slowly over brushed drums.” -- Decider/Madison live review of High Noon Saloon show

Husband and wife, Brett and Rennie Sparks, take time to describe to 77 Square’s Katjusa Cisar what romanticism means to them and why it's defining the songs on their new Handsome Family album, Honey Moon. While reflecting on the evolution of the song “The Loneliness of Magnets,” Rennie said to her husband, “The first time I heard it, I was alone in the woods, and I called you on the phone and you played it to me over the phone. It was really romantic.…Yeah, when I'm thinking about love, I'm thinking about my husband.”

“Brett and Rennie Sparks are without a doubt one of the most quirky, distinctive and original duos in the annals of offbeat alternative country folk music… A simply splendid jewel of an album.” --Joe Wawyrzniak, Jersey Beat

“On ‘Honey Moon,’ the natural world becomes a symbol for love's intimacy and its sometimes toxic consequences, replete with images of black flies, wet glades and crickets calling out from under stones…Melodies unfold with matter-of-fact grace, the restraint only enhancing the vivid images in his wife's lyrics.” --Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune Review
The Handsome Family Feature by Greg Kot

“Married couple Brett and Rennie Sparks play splendid, down tempo alt-country, and their vivid stories are nothing but dark, some of the darkest songs around, and Brett's monotonous baritone is perfect for delivering Rennie's lyrics.” --NBC Washington

“Musically, the pairing is creatively inspired: Brett’s deep, rumbling vocals and often-gloomy alt-country melodies are a near-perfect match for Rennie’s surreal, dark, and literary lyrics. Together, they’re American gothic in the best sense of the term.” -- Decider/The Onion

“Nature’s endless procession of epiphanies finds an exquisite poetic outlet in Little Sparrows and Wild Wood — while Love Is Like hoves into view like a gothic half-cousin to Ewan MacColl’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” --Pete Paphides, The Times

Americana duo The Handsome Family mark a unique 20-year union with more romance, less murder balladry--In a recent interview with Local IQ, Brett and Rennie share their intentions for Honey Moon to be “a record of romantic songs rather than love songs, romantic in the sense of heightened emotion and connection to nature.” --Local IQ

“Bittersweet crooners like "Linger, Let Me Linger," off their new album "Honey Moon," are made for the jukebox in an out-of-the-way tavern near bar time, when everyone has left except the bartender and a sad, slow-dancing couple.” --77 Square Live Review of the High Noon Saloon Show

The Isthmus speaks with Rennie Sparks about the band's enigmatic moniker, its new album, Honey Moon, and Santa Claus' evil twin. “Few bands have been able to infuse Americana music with a sense of the sublime quite like the husband-and-wife duo the Handsome Family.”

“After listening to this record, I sought out my wife and hugged her like I had never hugged her before...If you have one single romantic bone in your body you will buy this record...I promise you this: you will not be disappointed. ” --Texas Star Tribune

“Their sound is crepuscular at its lightest and cellar black when it delves deep into the tickets of poetry in search of an evocative image…the songs have the power to move, they’re like a Disney cartoon re-imagined by the Brothers Quay.” --David Cowling, Americana UK

4 out of 5 “Country's odd couple continue to make strangely twisted but emotionally ravishing music.” --Gavin Martin, Mirror

The Globe and Mail name “Darling, My Darling” an Essential Track, stating, “The Handsome Family's slow waltzing ode to desire among the insects is as anatomically detailed as Gregor Samsa's waking metamorphosis, and maybe just as frightening. "My darling, your snapping fangs don't scare me," sings Brett Sparks. Try that line at the breakfast table.”

“‘Honey Moon’ is an odd assemblage of musical styles, most of which have a Gothic countrypolitan vibe to them…brilliantly musical tracks that shimmer with lovely orchestrations behind twangy guitars.” -- Country Standard Time

“They put on an excellent show of new songs mixed with some of my all-time favorites from throughout their career on Sunday at Schubas…And as always, Brett and Rennie engaged in some weird and very funny stage banter. The running theme of the night was Rennie's experiments in time travel to acquire kittens from the past.” -- Underground Bee

“This ain’t Wal-Mart country… Each track feels ephemeral and haunting, with chugging acoustic guitar and slow, brushed drums. The perfect accessory to a sock hop for doomed teens, The Handsome Family’s rockabilly charm comes straight from the crypt.” -- Eye Weekly

“The Handsomes remain one of the most enchantingly original acts on the planet. May their love affair last forever.” --Knoxville News Sentinel

“Arguably one the best American dark folk twosomes.” --MOG

“Brett and Rennie Sparks hit upon this style quite a while ago, but they certainly seem to have plenty of miles to roam. Let the songs wash over and bathe you in their glory.” --Aiding & Abetting

“The husky baritone of Brett has always given heft to the dark, naturalistic lyrics penned by his wife, and on the new album that tried and true formula is still at work.” --Pop Headwound

“Through it all, Honey Moon is yet another solid album in the Sparks’ outstanding catalog. Surely, a lot of notable musicians respect them (check out Andrew Bird’s great cover of “The Giant of Illinois” on the Dark Was the Night compilation) and one can only hope that many more fans will come aboard.” -- Bryan Sanchez, Adequacy.net

“This could very well be one of the most promising tours of the summer and is surely not one to be missed. ” --FensePost