Chatham Rabbits | Club Passim, Cambridge MA

Name: Chatham Rabbits | Club Passim, Cambridge MA
Start: 2025-03-06T20:00:00-05:00
Location: 47 Palmer St, Cambridge, MA, United States, Massachusetts 02138

Schedule

Thu, 06 Mar, 2025 at 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

47 Palmer St, Cambridge, MA, United States, Massachusetts 02138 | Cambridge, MA

Chatham Rabbits at Club Passim
Thursday, March 6
8pm, doors open at 7pm
Tickets: $20/$18
Livestream available
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Sarah McCombie is worn out. “I’m tired of folks looking at us and seeing our marriage first and our music second.”
This lament is coming from a woman who has spent the past six years building a robust catalog and passionate fanbase with her husband and bandmate, Austin McCombie. These are the words of a woman who knows there is more to the story than vows, banjos and vintage dresses. In their current era, Sarah and Austin have scores of songs, thousands of miles, hundreds of shows, and countless experiences that have exposed the raw edges of the music industry, their relationship, and their collective lifestyle.
Austin’s once fair freckled arms are now adorned with tattoos by artists he’s met on the road, and natural elements that bring him joy. Sarah’s closet is still brimming with vintage pieces, but she’s likely to reach for a slip dress at the moment instead.
With their forthcoming fourth release, Sarah should feel a rest coming soon. The music speaks for itself.
“These past two years have totally changed us,” describes Austin. “We’re not as bright-eyed and naive as we were when we committed to Chatham Rabbits full-time.” As unified as ever being the McCombies, the two have faced challenges within their marriage, an overhaul of faith and belief systems, a global pandemic, three moves, the loss of beloved family pets, and the heartbreak that is unique to getting really real and brutally honest with each other. This realness is the backbone of their fourth studio album. The title is the ask — or rather the plea — Be Real with Me.
As Sarah explains, “we got married so young. We are simply not the same people we once were. Playing music for a living has changed us. It has consumed and transformed us in many ways, but ultimately it has been a net positive experience.
Be Real with Me is the duo's best album yet. Written post-pandemic by Sarah and Austin and recorded at the Studio at Small Pond Farm, in Pittsboro, NC, the collection of gorgeous songs was co-produced by Austin McCombie and the band's longtime collaborator, Saman Khoujinian (Watchhouse, Dead Tongues). This record is the band’s "Return of Saturn", an astrological phenomenon that occurs around the age of 29, when one reevaluates life, and through trial and error, figures out who and what one would like to commit to moving forward. This record is about doing your best and still failing, facing the imposter in the mirror, wanting to be reckless and young while simultaneously mature and maternal.
The melodies and tones are unique and enthralling, a welcome departure though somehow a completely natural segue into the band’s newest chapter. On this album, you’ll still hear the banjo, but right along with it is a drum machine, synth, and pedal steel. But it’s the lyrics that will take this duo to higher ground.
You can hear the maturity in the topics, but also in the way the message is portrayed. As Sarah sings in One Little Orange, a startling tender song about her relationship with her late grandfather, “I just have to trust whatever I’ve been told” and trust me, dear reader, these lyrics hit close to home in a way that Chatham Rabbits lyrics have not quite done before.
“It makes me fired up to sing about my life and my discoveries. It’s so cathartic,” says Sarah as she reflects on the future. “There’s a place for Abigail and Bugle Boy (recalling two of the duo’s earlier songs) and I still deeply love those songs, but these songs are what make me feel happy now.”
And we should be happy too.
You’ll hear Sarah and Austin as artists, and you’ll be so happy that they’ve taken the road less traveled. The weariness has paid off. They are here, they are real, and it is beautiful.
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Passim acknowledges that we stand on the traditional land of the Massachusetts Peoples, and want to honor their land and people past and present