Bozeman’s Hawthorne Roots band will celebrate the release of their new EP on June 7 at The Filling Station, and the band seems stoked for that event
and more.

                                                                                                                     photo Jarred Media
The Hawthorne Roots are headed up by sisters Madeline (vocals, rhythm guitar) and Emma Kelly (vocals), with Michael DeJaynes (drums, vocals), Lucas Mace (lead guitar), and Dustin Crowson (bass guitar) rounding out the band. This band is riding the crest of an ever-increasing popularity that reaches well beyond southwest Montana. That includes the honor of being the opening act for a brand-new two-day music festival at Big Sky later this summer, the Moonlight Musicfest, that includes artists like Grace Potter and Bruce Hornsby.

“Yeah, it feels good,” Madeline Kelly said of the band’s success during a recent telephone interview. “We’ve worked our asses off.” Besides countless hours spent writing, organizing and practicing songs, everything else the band does is also “in-house,” from booking gigs and scheduling a workable tour (not an easy task) to recording in their own studio. Guitar player Lucas Mace said that he thinks keeping it all “in-house” has been a plus in the band’s growth.

“We’re going upstream now,” Mace said. “We, as a band, we have a better understanding of how everything works, because we’ve had to figure most of it out on our own, from writing a song to recording it.” And the special touch topping off the band’s success may derive from what Mace described as “a drive to want something more out of our music and our lives.”

“We’ve put in a lot of time together,” added Madeline. “So many gigs, from Bozeman to Wyoming and Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest. I think our energy and comfort level together shows…I think it’s something that’s palpable. We’ve played from the corner of a bar to a big stage, but it doesn’t matter, because we are comfortable enough with each other that we can concentrate on the music yet also focus on the crowd and make sure they’re having a good time. The venue doesn’t matter that much as long as we make that crowd connection…every show like that is special.”

                                                                                                                  photo Jarred Media
The band’s EP release show at The Filler on June 7 should be special indeed. “On Second Thought” contains five new songs showcasing the Hawthorne Roots sound.
“We did the whole album ourselves and we are really happy with how it came out,” enthused Madeline, “and we’re really excited to share it.” Opening for the band that night will be The Kelly Nicholson Band, also of Bozeman, and Madeline said that she expects some other surprise musicians at the EP release gig.

“The amount of talent here in Bozeman is wild,” she said. “It makes for a badass local music scene. This show should be really fun.” The Filler show essentially kicks off another Pacific Northwest tour for the band as well, as they head west the next day for shows in Washington and Oregon: they open for The Hasslers, a Missoula band that’s relocated to the Seattle area, on June 9.

“We’re excited to be playing with another Montana band in Seattle,” Madeline said. “This tour should be a blast. But I have to say that one of my favorite places to play is still the Haufbrau…it’s where we got our start, and it still feels good. Hometown shows are always special to me.”

The release show for the Hawthorne Roots “On Second Thought” EP kicks off at 8:30 pm on June 7 at The Filling Station (music to start at 9:30). Tickets for this event cost $10 advance (available at Cactus Records in downtown Bozeman) or $10 at
the door.