Tracy Sampedro and Kelly Harper have been friends since their college days in Boston, where they immediately bonded over good music, cold beer, and Berklee house parties. By 2004, not too much had changed aside from location. And the two briefly found themselves enjoying lazy days in Austin, TX, writing songs and performing with their band, Hatchback, before life once again took them to separate towns. 

Undeterred -and still enjoying beer and music together at every possible opportunity along the way- the guys eventually found themselves together again in Austin around 2013. They promptly started some serious living room and backyard hangouts, which inevitably led to new tunes. 

With the help of some other good friends -Austin-based lead guitarist Travis Vaughan Johnson and recent NYC-transplant vocalist/songwriter/keyboardist Dre Mazzenga- the crew formed Troublehawk in 2013 to give those tunes a happy home. 

The collaboration led to many more new originals and the group quickly amassed hours of original material as they cultivated shared influences of rock, blues, and soul from artists such as Mason Jennings, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Allen Toussaint, Bonnie Raitt, Jim Croce, CCR, The Black Keys, Jack White, Alabama Shakes and Bad Company, among many, many, many more. 

Photographer: James Conant