Everybodyfields go their own way

Fans of Tennessee alternative country act the Everybodyfields can no longer see the recently disbanded group live, but coincidentally its co-founders - Jill Andrews and Sam Quinn - both play Charlotte this week.

Quinn plays at Visulite on Tuesday; Andrews performs at Evening Muse on Friday.

The pair called it quits last summer, after five years together. As the Everybodyfields, Andrews and Quinn collaborated on three impressively warm albums, the last of which was the omnisciently titled 2007 swan song "Nothing Is OK" (released by Concord's Ramseur Records).

"We both wanted to do different things," says Andrews. "Trying to do different things in one band doesn't really work."

Quinn compares the split to a divorce. "A lot of it was just 'These people don't need to be in the same room again for a while,'" he says, calling Andrews' solo project - which he witnessed at The Grey Eagle in Asheville - a "quality deal." He adds, jokingly: "We're civil. We don't have to meet at Hardee's at two in the morning to trade kids."

Andrews spent 2009 getting married, having a baby (son Nico is 7 months), and recording an EP. Quinn recorded his solo debut with his band, Japan Ten, and recently moved from Knoxville to Concord. Both admit going it alone was daunting at first, but that the Everybodyfields' established fan base makes it easier.

"If I hadn't had that experience, I would be a total wreck doing this," says Andrews. "I remember how scared I was playing in front of people when I first started. In some ways I had to start over, but with a good foundation. When I play places (now), it's not to an empty room."

Quinn admits he was spooked in the wake of the breakup.

"The very first gig was real hard. I felt like a scrawny guy up there singing some wimpy song. (It was as if) I got no wind in my sails," he says. Then he remembered why he picked up a guitar in the first place - "You start playing because it's fun, not because you want to stand in stinky brick buildings and have people drop beer as you play" - and got his groove back.

In April, Quinn will release his solo debut on Ramseur, "The Fake That Sunk a Thousand Ships" - which he describes as "kind of a super-downer, but not quite."

"It's songs about the last year. Once you get them all together in a group, it makes a funny little family picture. It definitely reflected things," says Quinn. "One year ago, things were a lot different for me. I got a kick in the pants, and (it) kind of pushed me as a human."

Andrews plans to follow up her recent EP with a full-length disc next fall.

"It's kind of a transitional piece, I guess, from where I was to where I want to be," she says of the new EP. She and Quinn will continue to perform Everybodyfields' material on their own. "I definitely didn't want to cut it all out. I was so proud of the stuff that I've written. It's all my history."

This story was originally published January 4, 2010 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Everybodyfields go their own way."