Beau Bedford, Zella Day and Jesse Woods make up the band Chaparelle, which will play at The Arts Campus at Willits on Thursday. Day began as a pop star, garnering millions of clicks on Spotify. Chaparelle’s music is more country — think George Jones and Tammy Wynette with popstar spice.
In 2015, I was living in Telluride working as development director for the nonprofit radio station KOTO. When the Ride Festival (2013-2021) rolled around every July, I worked as the “Night Ride” Director in which I ran all of the festival’s nighttime venues. The crown jewel was the Sheridan Opera House, which I ran personally — picture the Wheeler Opera House, but half the size.
At that midpoint of the decade, a 19-year-old named Zella Day (born Zella Day Kerr) came to play the Sheridan. She arrived in Telluride on her first national tour. She had just released her major label debut album, “Kicker.”
That record had found its way into the ears of a young man with intellectual developmental disabilities. As the festival’s venue manager, I received a request for an after-show meet-and-greet between this young man and Zella Day. I presented it to Day and she agreed to meet him.
After the show, I escorted the man to meet Day. She greeted him with a hug, sat him down on the couch and talked with him for 20 minutes as if he were the only man in the world.
On the way out of the theater, the young man stopped, turned to his mother and said, “This is the best day of my life.”
Since that day, I have had a soft spot for Zella Day. She has a movie-star persona, silky voice, incredible stage presence, but much more importantly, a kind heart.
Day will appear on the stage at TACAW on Thursday with her new project, Chaparelle, a trio that includes singer-songwriter Jesse Woods and guitarist Beau Bedford.
Day describes the band’s music as “Eroticana.” The music has a decidedly country flair. “The band has always eyed George Jones and Tammy Wynette as their North Star,” Woods said. Day added Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons as other major influences.
In the 10 years since my encounter with her in Telluride, Day has continued to pursue her solo career. She has seven songs with 20 million Spotify clicks and two songs with over 100 million spins — “East of Eden” (107 million) and “Hypnotic” (130 million). She has appeared at some of the world’s biggest music festivals. After her 2016 appearance at Lollapalooza, Los Angeles Magazine called her performance “hypnotic” and Consequence of Sound wrote: “Day is an undeniably powerful vocalist.”
At the 2021 Austin City Limits Festival, Day invited Woods to see her night performance at the famed club Antone’s. They met after the show and that encounter would change both their lives.
Woods grew up in Texas. After graduating from college in 2006, he moved to Winter Park to bump chairs “to just kind of get away from everything I knew and everybody I knew,” he said.
Woods released his first record in 2009, and has been putting out music in the indie-folk genre for the last 16 years.
When I asked Day to tell me the story of her and Woods meeting, she said, “I’ll defer to Jesse. Hearing him tell me the story is one of the joys of my life.”
Woods picked up the story, saying, “I think an ex-boyfriend of hers had turned her on to my music and she sent me a direct message telling me that she loved my new record. I was very smitten. I don’t get many pop stars telling me that they love my music. She invited me to her show at Antone’s and I went to the show and was just kind of swept off my feet without really asking to be. And, we just kind of hung out after the show, and have been basically hanging out since then.”
Once Day and Woods became a couple, the two discussed writing music together. They met bass player Beau Bedford in 2023 and the idea to create a trio crystallized. Chaparelle was born.
“I remember we were having a pretty fun late night, talking about music and things we wanted to do with our lives, and Zella told me she wanted to make a Patsy Cline styled record. And I remember just immediately being like, ‘I want to do that with you,’” Bedford recalled.
In June 2023, the three musicians got together to record some music and test the chemistry.
“I showed up with some country song starts and we just started finishing songs,” Bedford said. “It was just one of those unique, creative moments in life where I think we were all pretty blown away by what was happening. After one creative day of making music with them, it was so apparent and obvious that these are such wonderful people. We just made really sweet music from day one together, and it’s felt like family ever since.”
Day took responsibility for creating the vibe of the new band. She had made several videos during her pop career and learned some tricks she later employed for Chaparelle.
“We shot like five videos in a day. We wanted to look like it was shot in 16mm film, to get that grainy, saturated look so we could create this kind of vintage essence and this aura,” she said.
“We did everything ourselves and launched the first song, and it actually was the most-viewed video that I’ve released, even my own stuff with all the label support — our homegrown independent release had more momentum,” Day continued.
Check out their video for “Inside the Lines.” I guarantee you won’t ask for your three minutes back. The video has a classic MTV vintage aura. The song reminds me of Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett’s song “Over Everything” from their 2021 album. Chaparelle sounds a lot like Barnett and Vile, with less crunchy guitars and more twang.
The band’s debut record “Western Pleasure” came out in April. Day said the band is ready to release more singles and a full album is planned for next year.
Thursday’s stop in TACAW is part of the band’s first solo tour as a band. Their gigs up until now have consisted mostly of festivals or playing alongside other bands.
“We’re so confident in our show,” Woods said. “We’re so excited to share with audiences where we’ve taken this music and where we’re going next. It’s dynamic. It’s high energy, and then there’s some real ballad moments. Zella and I sing to each other with a bitchin’ band, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s like a real show. It’s theater.”
Thursday’s show offers an opportunity to see a nascent band with a ton of upside. Zella Day was born to be a star. Chaparelle might be the vehicle that gets her there.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aspendailynews.com ’
