White Plains Talent Heads to P’ville Music Festival Main Stage
Rebecca Haviland and Whisky Heart have recently finished two national tours, but the White Plains residents are looking forward to a much shorter trip for their next gig.
A young woman with a voice bigger than her size would suggest, Haviland and her band will be playing at this Saturday’s Pleasantville Music Festival at Parkway Field. Growing up in Harrison, Haviland was surrounded by music and began playing piano as soon as she was big enough to sit on the bench. Her grandmother was a piano teacher and her grandfather played drums in a swing band while several of her uncles performed in cover bands for the local bar circuit.
Haviland began sitting in with her uncle’s bands when she was 13 years old before joining her own group while going to Harrison High School. During that time, she sang, played keyboards and wrote music with some of her friends. But when she looked at her future, Haviland never envisioned she could become a songwriter by trade.
“Initially I thought I was going to go to school for opera because I didn’t really realize you could be a songwriter,” Haviland said.
However, she discovered the songwriting program at SUNY Purchase, which is where fellow bandmate Chris Anderson attended graduate school. Despite both being students at SUNY Purchase, the pair didn’t meet until they attended the same show in Manhattan and Anderson learned that Haviland was in need of a bass player.
Anderson, who had played in several bands of his own, developed a seamless songwriting partnership with Haviland. She explained that the pair often collaborates in order to edit or amend music and lyrics that blend elements of classical and modern music.
“My lyric writing is reminiscent of some of that more romantic, kind of standard music but then puts some more of a rock, Americana [sound in it] as well,” Haviland explained.
Influenced by classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin and the jazz standards that she heard her grandparents play, Haviland said the band also blends elements of country, blues and bluegrass.
Having opened for acts such as James McCartney, son of Beatle Paul McCartney, she said the group’s live act features high-energy performances that capture the recorded sound while feeding off the energy of the crowd.
“The songs definitely sound like the record but we take them to a different place live,” Haviland said. “We definitely open them up a little bit more and have some more fun with them in a live setting.”
Having grown up a short drive from Pleasantville, Haviland has been familiar with the festival and has been eager to have the chance to perform at a more local event. She hopes that area residents who have seen her perform over the years will appreciate how her talent has developed and will be interested in hearing more from the group, who will begin recording their next album this fall.
“We’ve really wanted to participate in the last few years and it’ll feel really good to get to do something local and show all the hard work we’ve put into the national touring,” Haviland said.
Rebecca Haviland and Whiskey Heart will be performing on the Main Stage at 1:35 p.m.
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