Ismay

Ismay is the project of singer-songwriter Avery Hellman, who grew up backstage at their grandfather’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and was inspired early on by such artists as Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, and Hazel Dickens. While working on their recent documentary on Lucinda Williams, Finding Lucinda, they were struck by the power of her lyrics, and thought, “Well, why don’t I learn how to write poetry?” Their new alt-country release, Half Truth, is all about the words. “I wanted the words to be in the forefront,” they say. “Not smooth, but raw.”