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An Oklahoma City-based husband-and-wife duo is releasing their sophomore album this week after spending two years crafting the \u201cgritty blues-rock riffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shane Henry and Maggie McClure, of the duo The Imaginaries, will release \u201cFever,\u201d an album about breakthrough and being on the other side of struggle, according to McClure. The 12-song album is full of vocal harmonies, pop-rock tunes, blues-rock riffs and heartfelt singer-songwriter ballads. It features guitar solos from Vince Gill, Joe Bonamassa, and Ariel Posen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a few songs about the challenges that we encounter as artists, but there\u2019s breakthrough to the other side and we\u2019re seeing glimpses of that right now, which is really exciting,\u201d McClure said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the journey and this album is about calling forth what you want in life and making it happen and I think this album is a testament to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
McClure and Henry are born and raised Oklahomans, growing up in Verden and Norman respectively. The pair met when McClure opened for Shane, falling in love and getting married in 2011 before moving to Los Angeles to work on their solo music careers. The Imaginaries\u2019 first collaboration was the Christmas album, \u201cHometown Christmas,\u201d and has since amassed 75-plus sync-licensing placements in film, television and advertisements.<\/p>\n
The sophomore album was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, recording a total of 15 songs and narrowing it down to 12 tracks for the final release. McClure said this album will be pressed on vinyl, a first for the duo, and will feature bonus tracks.<\/p>\n
\u201c We came home from Muscle Shoals with all of these sessions and all these files a little bit overwhelmed, to be honest,\u201d McClure said.\u201dWe\u2019re like, okay, how are we going to finish this and keep the vibe of the band all playing in the room together, but also kind of clean it up and tighten it up and add anything that needs to be added.\u201d<\/p>\n
McClure said the duo worked with Stephen Leiweke out of Nashville to finish the recording and get the album to the finish line. It was during this part of recording the album that the duo began adding features to some of the tracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just crazy because we had no intention of having featured people on this album. It just kinda happened. We\u2019ve actually never had features before on any of our other projects,\u201d McClure said.<\/p>\n
The Vince Gill feature came in a roundabout way, starting with the soundtrack of a film called \u201cThe Cowgirl Song.\u201d McClure and Henry both had starring roles in the film, filmed in Chickasha, and wrote several of the songs performed on screen. Henry said they enlisted several Oklahoma musicians to play on the soundtrack and reached out to Gill to see if he was available.<\/p>\n
Though he was not able to work on the soundtrack, Henry said he and McClure formed a friendship with Gill and met up with him several times in Nashville.<\/p>\n
\u201c We had this song called \u201cWhole Lotta Livin\u2019\u201d that we thought he would just be perfect for because it was kind of a little different, more major-sounding type song and it was a little bit more\u2026 it had a tinge more of country to it. So we asked him if he\u2019d play guitar on it and he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry said the collaboration with Bonamassa was a happy accident. He met Bonamassa years ago when they both were on the B.B. King festival circuit and shared a passion for old guitars and vintage cars and trucks. In fact, Henry said he sold Bonamassa an old truck in 2018 and when the duo was in Nashville, Bonamassa reached out to show Henry the work he had done on that truck.<\/p>\n
\u201c He came by the studio and we happened to be working on the song \u201cCrossroads\u201d and it was just like a perfect moment for him to step in the room and be like, \u2018Hey man, would you play some slide on this,\u2019\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n
Henry reached out to Posen to see if he would be open to playing on The Imaginaries\u2019 upcoming album as they had met years ago in California.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one of the coolest things about the era that we live in now, the age of technology, is that it\u2019s really easy to collaborate with people that you like, that you want to collaborate with,\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n
Henry and McClure produced the album themselves and are independent artists, which McClure said is the reason it took two years to complete and release the album.<\/p>\n
\u201c We wanted to do it right and we wanted to give the music the best shot that we could, being independent and getting it out there and getting it heard and seen,\u201d McClure said.<\/p>\n
One song on the album Henry is proud of, called \u201cBuzzards Roost\u201d, was written with their friend Jeff Silbar, a Grammy award-winning songwriter. Henry said it\u2019s the first song by The Imaginaries that is not about their own experiences but tells a story instead. Henry said this song is about western outlaw Jesse James and Buzzard\u2019s Roost, an old outlaw hideout near Cement.<\/p>\n
Henry said the legend is that the James Gang hid a bunch of gold in the area while on the run, adding that Henry\u2019s grandfather took him to Buzzard\u2019s Roost as a child to explore and mess around with a metal detector.<\/p>\n
A single from the album, \u201cConstant,\u201d was released last month and is a ballad McClure wrote as a love letter to Shane during one of his hardest days. A release about the album said the song is shaped by place, experience, and the strength of starting over.<\/p>\n