BELLOWS FALLS — Consider these two sentences from BettySoo's bio: “Mostly, she toured. Every other minute, she was flying to visit best friends in rehab, driving for days with friends whose family lives were crumbling, visiting mental hospitals, going to houses and cleaning kitchens and bathrooms when friends had no will left to do it themselves.”
One might assume that there would be no time left for making music but, instead, BettySoo has been involved with more music than most people.
In addition to her own records, the most recent of which is When We're Gone, BettySoo is a sought-after session singer for the likes of Eliza Gilkyson and the late Jimmy LaFave, and performs as an integral part of several other acts.
This includes retropop faves Charlie Faye & the Fayettes, and Nobody's Girl, the Americana trio she created with Rebecca Loebe, with whom she shares the stage at the Windham Ballroom on Thursday, Feb. 21.
According to a news release, these women, neighbors in Austin, have both won the prestigious Kerrville New Folk award. With Grace Pettis they formed Nobody's Girl in late 2017, and released an iPhone video of their take on Tracy Chapman's Fast Car which quickly went viral.
A record deal followed a few months later and they were off to the races.
Together and apart, both women make impeccably produced records with Austin A-listers, but are mainly known for their crisp and enchanting singing and intelligent, riveting songs.
Amid all the rest of this, Loebe released a new solo record this month, Give Up Your Ghosts, on the respected Texas label Blue Corn. Loebe first gained national notice as a contestant on The Voice, and has toured steadily since, including a show in Bellows Falls in 2012.
BettySoo, in turn, first appeared in the region at the 2017 Roots on the River festival, where Nobody's Girl will be appearing in June. It's an entangled and communitarian musical storm that swirls outwards from Austin, Texas, and these women are squarely in its eye.