TITLE: Original roots music from the heart of Kentucky
Zoe Speaks consists of Kentuckians Mitch Barrett and Carla Gover, their daughter, fiddler/bassist/vocalist Zoey Barrett, and her multi-instrumentalist husband Arlo Barnette — joined on select dates by longtime bassist Owen Reynolds — who draw on their deep roots in the region to put their own spin on everything from traditional ballads to finely-crafted originals. Close family harmonies are a defining feature of their sound, and while their music is drenched in the flavor of the mountain music they grew up with, they skirt the cutting edge of tradition. Their music follows in the tracks of socially conscious writers like Jean Ritchie and John Prine, with a distinctly progressive bent.
Zoe Speaks exists in part to correct the record. Appalachian music and culture have become fashionable in ways that don't always serve the people who actually come from here. There's no shortage of Appalachian-flavored music being made by artists who love the sound but don't carry the lived experience, the complexity, the social conscience, and the potential stigma that comes from actually being from this place. Zoe Speaks does. Mitch and Carla grew up in these mountains in coal and tobacco families, learned from their grandparents, and have spent their careers using this music to build a more just and inclusive Kentucky — changing the culture from the inside out. They bring the grit, the commentary, and the full humanity of a region that even well-meaning people too often dismiss or romanticize, because it matters who tells the story.
A veritable songwriting powerhouse, their song contest wins include the Telluride Troubador Contest, Merlefest's Chris Austin Contest, Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, and Kerrville New Folk, among others. A staple on the Kentucky music scene for nearly three decades with three successful CDs under their belt, they're performing together again, and their most recent album Wings hit #1 on the National Folk DJ Radio Chart. They accompany themselves on guitar, claw hammer banjo, upright bass, and sometimes dulcimer and clogging feet.
