The name of Annie Brobst and Raelyn Nelson’s tour, “Weed, Wine & Whiskey,” might provide a clue.
The two women are actually mutual admirers who never met face to face before the first night of the tour, which hits City Winery on Sunday and will feature them as an acoustic duo. They share a Boston-based agent, Gary Marino, who brought the two together after guesting on a podcast that Nelson, who is also a sometime comic and actress, does about the connection between comedy and music.
“We’re internet friends and we haven’t even sung together yet,”Brobst said in a group interview this week. Separately the two have very different styles; Brobst tends to be gentler and more acoustic, while Nelson is more punk-inspired. “It sounds less punk when you strip it down,” Nelson says. “You can play anything with an acoustic guitar and it’s country.”
Adds Brobst, “What we bring to the table as strong women, independent artists and songwriters — that’s where we align. I think Raelyn brings such cool energy. Her songs make you want to tap your foot and dance. She’s got a hell of a personality too, so the part between the songs will be just as much fun.” Says Nelson of Brobst, “She can write songs that sound like hits, I’m so impressed by that. It’s inspiring to me how much closer to the mainstream she is, and she actually wants me to do this tour.”
And yes, they also have drinking songs in common: Nelson wrote the number that the tour is named after, while “Red Wine On My Mind” is one of Brobst’s most popular tunes. “That’s my little red wine drinking anthem. I remember when Chris Stapleton’s ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ was such a big hit and I thought, let’s have some representation for a drink that I love. And girls are allowed to sit there with a drink on the table too.”
Adds Nelson, “We don’t have legalized cannabis in Tennessee, and everybody here is addicted to opioids. So my song is saying, let’s get off the pills and get into some old-fashioned balance and moderation. The coolest thing about me is that my grandfather has been an activist for cannabis, and he can now purchase it himself — well, he doesn’t, but somebody goes and gets it for him.”
Her grandfather is of course synonymous with both country music and cannabis; his name is Willie. “It’s so funny when people say he’s royalty — so am I a princess? I know I’m biased, but I think he’s the closest thing to Jesus on this planet. I don’t know anyone else who can bring the hippies and the rednecks together, everybody loves him. For my own music it’s a help and a hindrance — people will probably check out my songs because they like him, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to like it. But he’s always been super supportive and now I want to be just like him — I want to go on the road and play music with my friends.”