In her younger days, Florence Dore subscribed to the myth that great songs were always about broken hearts. A subsequent parade of disastrous relationships may have been great from a creative standpoint, but it wasn’t so wonderful for her personal life. The self-defeating narrative changed when she met Will Rigby, co-founder of legendary jangle-pop outfit the dB’s. The two have been happily married for more than two decades.
“When I finally settled down, I realized I could write about other people’s disastrous relationships, deep feelings about other aspects of life and emotional scenarios invented from creating characters who have nothing to do with me,” says the seasoned singer/songwriter, who’s also an esteemed English professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The common denominator is obviously emotion. Songwriters are always searching for whatever brings up big feelings.”
Which brings us to “Butterflies,” the latest single from Dore’s third LP, Hold The Spark, out May 1 via Propeller Sound. The song is part of an album of uniquely American character studies sourced from the Southeast and Farm Belt states, all held together by a twangy mix of country rock, acoustic folk and occasional indie muscle.
“I noticed that I was incredibly sad whenever I thought about my psychoanalyst retiring,” says Dore of the real-life case study that informs “Butterflies.” “I’d been talking to her for about 30 years. She’d basically become my mother. When she told me she was retiring, I felt betrayed. I thought, ‘Oh, maybe this is how people who actually rely on their mother feel when they die.’ Retirement belongs to the world of money, of transactions, of boring labor. What we created in our conversations felt so far beyond that. And I thought, ‘OK, here’s something.’”
“Butterflies” is a study in contrasts—trippy but grounded, skewed yet still achingly beautiful. “It was hard to figure out the harmonies on this one until Eleanor Whitmore came along and just absolutely slayed it,” says Dore. “Mitch Easter’s sitar also blew me away. And then there’s Don Dixon. I was hearing a cello, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted. As usual, Don translated my vague ideas into reality. Everybody knows Dixon is an incredible producer, but I was still surprised when he walked in and handed me a page of sheet music—in classical notation—for my talented student Marion Rambler to play. You just never know what that man has up his sleeve.”
It should also be noted that Dore’s husband typically doesn’t volunteer his services unless a full drum kit is involved. But he was so moved by “Butterflies” that he took to the toms and an occasional cymbal, providing the track’s tribal pulse. Happy wife, happy life.
We’re proud to premiere Florence Dore’s “Butterflies.
—Hobart Rowland
See Florence Dore live.
