The Handsome Family at the Bandroom

Event information

The Handsome Family are coming to The Bandroom on the 21st May for a memorial gig for Bandroom founder Nigel Burnham, who passed away in December 2025.

THE HANDSOME FAMILY (songwriting and marriage partners Brett and Rennie Sparks) have been defining the dark end of Americana for over 30 years. Brett writes the music and Rennie writes the words. Their work has been covered by many artists including Jeff Tweedy,
Andrew Bird and Phoebe Bridgers. Their song “Far From Any Road” was the opening theme for HBO’s
True Detective (season one) and still receives thousands of Shazams every week from all over the world.

Asked to describe their music Brett says, “Western gothic” — music inspired by the abandoned strip malls of desert America where thorny weeds slowly reclaim the land. Handsome Family songs may be dark, but there’s always laughter on stage. Rennie sings as well
as plays banjo and bass. She often introduces songs with seemingly unrelated stories. Brett, with his deep baritone and stentorian presence, is the undeniable center of stage. The two are joined on-stage by multi-instrumentalists Alex McMahon (electric guitar,
pedal steel) and Jason Toth (percussion and Omnichord).