Lost Love Songs

There are not many bands that can claim to have done songwriting in Antarctica.  Joey Capoccia of The Pine Hearts did just that while working as a carpenter for the National Science Foundation at the South Pole greenhouse.

The Pine Hearts are a self-described Americana band out of Olympia, Washington with a new release entitled Lost Love Songs. The album speaks of old friends, moonshine passed around a campfire and festival jam sessions.

Capoccia wrote “Wouldn’t You Know” while literally at the end of the earth. The album doesn’t have a title track — Lost Love Songs is a line from this song.  Other key cuts are “Ocean in Your Veins,” “Sugarcane,” “Unrequited Days.” Perhaps the best is “Long Gone Crazy.”

Capoccia plays guitar and is joined by Derek McSwain on mandolin, Dean Shakked on bass, Lob Strilla on banjo and fiddler Bevin Foley of Trout Steak Revival.  It is also interesting to note that the band mentions it has punk influences as well as the bluegrass brought to the northwest by North Carolina ex-pats. The band formed in the early 2010s, but started to gel with the addition of bluegrass stalwarts McSwain and Shakked in 2016.

While not exactly a typical bluegrass offering, it is an interesting listen in an ever-expanding bluegrass tent.