Music Notes | How Sweet it is!
Jeremy Dunham has been performing original music along the Grand Strand since the turn of the millennium, first with alt rock band Silenced, then Circles in Autumn, more recently with Bullfrog, and his duo The Potatoheads (with Shaun Brown.)
Those projects, and his collaborations with singer/songwriter Joshua Grant in John Owens Journal, has afforded him the opportunity to perform in both lead and support roles, as a songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist. It was in John Owens Journal that Dunham first met cellist Kerrine Gifford. The two found a musical connection in early 2014, which became a surprise hit, so to speak, as a guitar/cello vocal duo they call Sweet Sweet.
“We never expected to be able to play all these rooms,” said Dunham. “We are focusing on originals and obscure covers, and figured there would only be a couple of places we’d be able to play. The most recognizable artists we cover are Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers, but even then we’re picking deep album cuts.”
Sweet Sweet has in fact carved out a rare niche in the cover-heavy world that is the Grand Strand live music scene. So how did this happen and how do they do it?
“Kerrine and I first played together a few times in John Owens Journal,” said Dunham, “and then we started doing classical pieces for weddings, but we never thought of putting [us] together as a band. But then we’d jam on a Mumford & Sons song we liked, or other covers we liked, and it led to regular shows. We never expected it. At the same time Shaun [Brown] started doing more solos and started his band, Lion’s Pride, and that opened up opportunities for Kerrine and I to accept more Sweet Sweet bookings.”
While the Potatoheads and Bullfrog remain the busiest of Dunham’s projects, Sweet Sweet regularly performs at Bubba’s Love Shack, Wicked Tuna, The Dead Dog Saloon, Wahoo’s, and Uncle Titos, all in Murrells Inlet, and hosts a singer/songwriter open mic night at the Island Bar (Surfside Beach, U.S. 17 Bypass) the last Tuesday of every month.
“It’s set up kind of like an open mic,” said Dunham, “but it’s meant for songwriters.”
Sweet Sweet will perform at Sea Captain’s House, from 6-9 p.m. June 1. The Sea Captain’s House has opened an outdoor patio bar, primarily for dinner patrons waiting for their tables, but the pleasant waterfront patio is open to all. The pair will perform again Friday, 8-11 p.m., June 5 at Nacho Hippo in The Market Common.
A man of many talents, you’ve seen Dunham’s graphic design work in countless local and regional businesses’ ads, websites, logos and the like, but design is taking a back seat to his first love; music.
“Music has become pretty much full time for me,” he said. “I still do graphic design, but more in the winter.” Gifford makes ends meet by working as a server at King Street Grill in The Market Common.
“Our goal was always to write original material, but also learn some covers so we could work,” added Dunham. “But we’re playing the covers we want to play and are going against the grain of the typical cover act. We have lately added a few more well-known covers, but we make them our own.”
Sweet Sweet has recorded demos of originals and few covers, and was noticed by a Charlottesville Va., studio, who offered full production and the recording of a single, “To The Stars,” which will be out in a few weeks on iTunes.
“The last few months have been crazy, and people are coming out of the woodwork to help us. Rueben Long (Julio and the Saltines) is going to shoot a music video for us to pair with the single.
“Our sound is kind of delicate at times, and we’ve got the guy/girl thing going on, and with the strings, we went with Sweet Sweet. People use that word so often, it seemed like a good name.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2015 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Music Notes | How Sweet it is!."