Photo by Jonathan Weiner
Most sets of siblings end up squabbling during even the shortest of family road trips. But for Eric, Ian, and Brittany Hölljes, siblings and members of popular folk band Delta Rae, lengthy, international tours are one of the best parts of being in a band together.
Eric, who plays guitar, piano, and keys for the band, says that touring with his siblings is “incredibly gratifying.”
“We give each other permission to take risks onstage and musically, because we know each other so well,” he says. “I feel very lucky that I get to travel and spend time with my family…we can lean on each other.”
Music has always been a prominent part of the Hölljes’ lives—Eric began playing the piano when he was about seven, and he has been singing as long as he can remember. “My brother and I have been writing music probably since we were about ten years old,” he remembers. “But our passion and our love for [music] developed as we got older, and when Ian and I got to college, we knew we wanted to try to do something in music. So we graduated and put together a plan for starting a band.”
They first called on their sister Brittany, hoping that her “untapped, raw” vocals would give the band a distinct sound. Next, they added Elizabeth Hopkins, a friend they made in California. “She’s got this really old soul, rasp, and grit to her voice,” Hölljes says. About a year later, they added drummer Mike McKee and bass guitarist Grant Emerson to round out the band, and Delta Rae was officially born.
Since their debut in 2009, Delta Rae has traveled all over the world, playing everywhere from Amsterdam to Australia to St. Louis’s own Old Rock House last summer. And, while this will be Delta Rae’s first time at LouFest, they are no strangers to the festival circuit—they’ve performed at Chicago’s Lollapalooza, Delaware’s Firefly, and Tennessee’s Bonnaroo.
“A festival is like a shotgun blast,” Hölljes explains. “You get onstage, you do a line check, and then once you make sure everything sounds okay, you’re on and the show starts. You’re really riding a wave at a festival, which is exciting. The environment is pretty incredible too—you’ve got big audiences and a lot of people who have never heard you, so you have the challenge of winning them over. But if you win them over, it’s such a euphoric, transcendent moment.”
Delta Rae’s music is the perfect fit for the festival scene. Their albums (Carry the Fence and After it All) boast a refreshing diversity in sound, similar to one of their primary influences, Fleetwood Mac.
The rich, cinematic quality of their music stems from the band’s fascination with American folklore and storytelling. One of the standouts is their recent single “Chasing Twisters,” which features a heavy, pulsing drumbeat and some Old-Western-esque whistling.
“It’s inspired by the Southwest and the folk story of Pecos Bill,” Hölljes says, citing the song as his favorite. “I love it; it’s a really exciting, passion-filled rock song.”
As an Americana band, this passion for revitalizing the American folktale lies at the heart of what Delta Rae is.
“Folk stories are uniquely American, and it’s exciting to explore them and incorporate them into our music,” Hölljes says. “It’s a big country with a lot of little pockets that have stories to be told, and it’s fun for us to be able to travel around and discover them.”
Delta Rae performs on Sunday, September 13 at 1 p.m. For more information, visit loufest.com.
