The Truetone Honeys are a female vocal trio specializing in the nuanced stylings of early swing music. The Boswell Sisters of New Orleans serve as their primary inspiration, though they hold an appreciation for groups whose arranging took inspiration from their style (the Dinning Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, etc.) Since their formation, their genre has determined that they have mostly performed with full swing bands, brassy and blaring. While they continue to love performing in that mode, they have been inspired more and more lately to highlight the complex metrical worlds and tonalities of the vocal writing they love so deeply–the vocal lines that drew them to the genre in the first place.
Moving toward that purpose, they have taken a step away from the full band for a more intimate tour in which they will accompany themselves on piano, ukulele, and banjolele; they expect that this shift will lessen the sense of “novelty” that can tragically distance listeners from the immediate soul of this repertoire, which speaks for itself in any era. Their highest hope is that these shows will reignite an appreciation for the vocal jazz jewels of the 1920s-1940s and the genius of the female composers and arrangers who crafted many of their most brilliant settings.