Holly Golightly And The Brokeoffs - Clippety Clop (2018)

Holly Golightly originally made her name as a garage rock chanteuse, working in Billy Childish's orbit as a member of Thee Headcoatees before branching into a solo career. But she began traveling in a rootsy direction when she founded Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, a duo that mined country, blues, and folk influences for inspiration. Making their recorded debut with the 2007 release You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying, Golightly and her musical sidekick Lawyer Dave conjured a sound that was as rich as it was ragged, and it became her primary musical project from then on, with albums like Sunday Run Me Over, All Her Fault, and Coulda Shoulda Woulda documenting her commitment to her own distinctive version of Americana.

Born in London on September 7, 1966, Golightly (born Holly Golightly Smith) got her first break as a musician when her then boyfriend, Bruce Brand, was playing drums with Billy Childish's group Thee Headcoats. Childish wanted to revamp his female vocal group the Delmonas, and Brand suggested he give Golightly a try. Holly made the grade, and she joined the group that had been renamed Thee Headcoatees, recording six albums with them between 1991 and 1999. In 1995, Golightly cut her first solo effort, The Good Things, and she continued to tour and perform after the breakup of Thee Headcoatees, cutting over a dozen solo albums and gaining some mainstream visibility when she contributed vocals to the White Stripes' 2003 release, Elephant.

In the mid-2000s, Golightly began collaborating with singer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Drake, who in deference to his day job used the stage name Lawyer Dave. (Golightly and Drake were also a couple offstage as well as on.) Performing and recording as a duo, Golightly and Dave used the group name Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, and while their music retained the rough-edged charm of Golightly's earlier solo sets, the material was steeped in American influences that only grew stronger when the two relocated to the United States, settling in Georgia. Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs released their first album, You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying, in 2007, and the duo became Golightly's dominant musical project, cutting eight more albums between 2007 (Nobody Will Be There) and 2015 (Coulda Shoulda Woulda), with 2008's Dirt Don't Hurt, 2012's Sunday Run Me Over, and 2014's All Her Fault as standouts. While Golightly returned to the U.K. to record a solo project, 2015's Slowtown Now!, she returned to the Brokeoffs for her next album, 2018's Clippety Clop, a collection of folk songs inspired by Golightly's other occupation as a horse trainer. ~ Mark Deming