Celebrating a Change of Faith aith Hill continues to evolve from going on that I have my hands full, Leslie,” he recalls. “In fact, everyone Fcountry singer to pop diva and and one of the girl background said the low end sounded bigger.” or SHeDAISY, success came at the best of Steve Hornbeak couldn’t be happi - singers plays the extra parts on a All piano sounds come from a Ftimes and the worst of times. Their debut er. “Country is where I got my foot Yamaha EX5 Synthesizer.” Yamaha P200 Electronic Piano. disc arrived last year in the door,” says Hill’s longtime Particularly exciting to “That’s not just my choice,” insists just when the indus - keyboardist/vocalist, “but I’ve Hornbeak is the way Hill is rein - Hornbeak. “Faith absolutely loves try was of a mind to always venting some older material to suit the Yamaha sounds. They cut get behind a new been her changing sound. “For example,” through in live performance and female pop-coun - more of he says, “she decided to replace they’re awesome to record with. try trio. The good a pop the original acoustic piano sound There’s nothing else in the same news: The Whole musi - on ‘Take Another Piece of My Heart’ league.” And when the crew rolls a SHeBANG sold over a million copies. The not-so-good news: After a decade Steve of dues-paying, SHeDAISY had to endure How Kristyn Osborn Makes Ho rnbeak Her Songwriting Garden Grow “Faith absolutely endless comparisons to another new female loves the Yamaha pop-country trio. sounds. They cut But those SHeDAISY/Dixie Chicks through in live comparisons are downright silly. The performance and immaculately crafted pop of sisters Kristyn, they’re awesome Kelsi, and Kassidy Osborn bears little to record with. Kelsi, resemblance to the Chicks’ bluegrass- There’s nothing Kassidy and else in the same Kristyn flavored stylings. And while SHeDAISY records in Nashville, they aren’t even from league.” the South-the Osborn sisters were born and raised in Magna, Utah, near Salt Lake City. Melding pop and country is hardly a new idea, but few acts do so as smoothly as SHeDAISY. It’s no surprise to learn that the sisters grew up listening to the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and classic show tunes. Their best material manages, in similar fashion, to play by the pop rulebook without being formulaic. Almost every track on The Whole SHeBANG packs its little surprises: an unexpected melodic spiral, a quirky vocal harmony, a sudden flash of sly, sarcastic wit. cian. Now that Faith is crossing with a heavy overdrive organ. I 7-foot grand piano for the acoustic Part of SHeDAISY’s magic is that strange sibling-singers chemistry, the hard-to-define quality that makes acts like the Beach Boys and the over with things like the Divas tour, found the perfect sound on my EX5: portion of the show, few listeners Everly Brothers truly sound bound by blood. But perhaps even more central to the group’s success is the songwriting skill of elder sister Kristyn, the gig has turned into something a preset called ‘Hard Rock.’ Faith ever realize that it’s really a second who, with a large cast of collaborators, penned every tune on The Whole SHeBANG . We recently asked Osborn about her songwriting techniques. I enjoy even more.” loved that grinding, distorted P200 inside a piano shell. To hear the Nashville- organ, so we used it For this year’s tour, Hornbeak You play both piano and guitar? based road and studio again on ‘Love Child’ says he plans to add a Yamaha S80 Both Kassidy and I play guitar, and all three of us play piano. But I do most of my writing on a Yamaha acoustic guitar. veteran tell it, it’s like on the Divas 2000 Synthesizer: “Beside being a great playing two gigs at tour.” controller, it has all these great Why is that? once: “On Faith’s older Hornbeak used arpeggio features. It seems to be a I sometimes have trouble finding a groove at the piano, so I usually use guitar for groove-oriented songs. When I compose on the piano, it’s usually material like ‘Hey Baby to rely on an organ perfect fit for the next step up Faith ballad-driven. Plus, it tends to be more convenient to haul a guitar to appointments than a keyboard! Let’s Go to Vegas,’ it’s and a rotating is trying to make in her music.” strictly boom-chick speaker cabinet for Your main acoustic guitar is a Yamaha CPX-15E. What do you like about it? acoustic piano. But on his organ sounds, Besides its aesthetic beauty, it sounds incredible. I’m very impressed with the electronics as well. The tone is as great unplugged as plugged in. the newer, poppier songs, but after growing frustrated with It’s the guitar I write on, and I’m so accustomed to the feel and sound that it’s my first choice for the stage, too. there’s so much keyboard stuff repeated breakdowns, he switched to straight EX5. “Nobody even noticed I’d stopped using the 2 Yamaha all acc es s Yamaha all acc es s 27 J CPX The Compass Series of handcrafted Yamaha SHeDAISY at the Millennium Concert acoustic guitars started as a guitar designer’s on GOD and the FBI dream in 1996 and saw their first NAMM anis Ian has been through many musical that way changed everything,” says Ian. show in 1998. The dream is to create instru - incarnations since her 1967 song a J “Collaborating with the same people in the ments of unsurpassed aesthetic beauty, while “Society’s Child” made her a star at age 15. She’s same space every day made it feel like we offering the professional guitarist a perfect You also have a couple of AES1500 instrument seems to be pretty simple and been a soft-rock balladeer, a disco diva, a polished were in a band, as opposed to being in a big acoustic and acoustic/electric combination Nashville tunesmith and a prolific jingle writer. But even studio with musicians who have done 30 and AES1500B electrics. user-friendly, though I admit that there are Yes. I really feel Yamaha hit the mark with the a lot of features I haven’t had time to explore for the studio or stage. Each Compass guitar those who’ve come to expect the expected from Ian may be startled by her other sessions that week and where every - draws it’s design inspiration from a latest album, the raw, hard-hitting God and the FBI. AES1500 series. It exceeds my expectations on yet. The feel is what really one is cognizant that the clock is running.” point on the Compass. The CPX15 “My working title for this record was Bite Me! ” states Ian. “I wanted it One room of the house contained a all levels. If I could have my absolute dream sold me. Kristyn with guitar, there’s only one thing I’d want to add: the Yamaha was the first and represented the to be edgier and more dissonant than anything I’d done before.” hard disk-based Pro Tools digital recording AES-1500 With that goal in mind, Ian made a 180-degree turn from her previous make it a chameleon guitar that changes color You worked with beginnings of the voyage with a n system; a second workstation was a simple disc, Hunger, which had been recorded live to analog with minimal overdubs. Yamaha MD8 8-Track Digital Recorder. “We to match my wardrobe. [Laughs.] That’s every Dann Huff on The nautical theme and position mark - This time, she and her collaborators constructed their own digital home studio ended up tracking a lot of guitars on the girl’s dream, trust me. Whole SHeBANG . ers replicating the numbers of the so they could have the luxury of experimenting as much as they liked. “Working MD8 and flying them into Pro Besides being a frets in actual flag signals. The sec - Tools later,” recalls songwriter great producer, ond in the series was the Western- Kassidy with and multi-instrumentalist he’s one of the inspired CPX15W, followed by a the Yamaha world’s most Phillip Clark, one of Ian’s key CPX-15E Caribbean motif CPX15S, a far collaborators. Ian and Clark ini - respected studio i guitarists. Did you Eastern- inspired CPX15E, and tially feared that finally this year’s the data com - pick up any tricks s This time, she and highly coveted model, pression of the watching him work? her collaborators Honestly, I am usually in the Limited constructed their MD8’s mini disc format might such awe when Dann plays Production CPX15N. own digital home compromise the that I lose all focus! But The CPX15N enjoys a studio so they could one thing I have taken beautiful white trans - guitar tones, but have the luxury of they were entirely away from long hours in parent burst over experimenting... satisfied by the the studio with him is the bleached sycamore, results. “I love importance of a producer being able to with whale’s tails adorning communicate with the players in “musician I analog, so I’m a bear about the fingerboard. speak.” Dann understands the studio guys, that stuff,” insists Ian. “But we Yamaha Handcrafted CPX5 were amazed when we flew in and he really has a knack for bringing out a the best in them. Compass guitars range the mini disc tracks.