Incubating a universal sound in Petaluma

With a name like the Incubators and a debut album titled “Must Hatch,” there’s no doubt that the musical group led by singer-songwriters Chris Chappell and Katie Freeman is rooted in Petaluma.|

With a name like the Incubators and a debut album titled “Must Hatch,” there’s no doubt that the musical group led by singer-songwriters Chris Chappell and Katie Freeman is rooted in Petaluma.

Even the descriptions of their band – “a nest collective of musicians” playing “an American roots-rock omelet of blues, folk, country and jazz music” – pay homage to the town’s chicken-and-egg heritage.

Some of their songs, such as “Rivertown” and “Out in the Wild,” reflect their affection for Petaluma and the Bay Area.

Yet Chappell and Freeman, who both grew up on the East Coast, make music that doesn’t fit neatly into the Sonoma County milieu of blues and country music. It’s more like soul-folk-rock with a groove.

The duo’s rich vocal harmonies are a signature of the Incubators’ sound. By blending folk, rock, jazz and blues into their repertoire, their style is a musical mélange, with each song having multiple stylistic influences.

“Musically, we want to be more universal,” Chappell said. “We want to avoid getting too locked into one style, such as singer-songwriter rock.”

The quality of their songs, musicianship and recording production has drawn praise from music writers and radio DJs in places such as Belgium, Reno and Austin, Texas.

In some ways, the Incubators are a throwback to the 1970s. The band’s debut CD was recorded on analog tape using vintage instrumentation. And its new recording, tentatively scheduled for release next summer, will be a double vinyl LP.

The title track from the upcoming album, “A Place for Us,” has the refrain, “somewhere out there in the universe, come and imagine a place for us.” The song is about two people finding a home together, and on a larger scale, the human species finding a place to call home in the universe.

Chappell, who moved to Petaluma from Seattle in 2003, and Freeman, who came here from Lake Tahoe in 1999, met each other in 2008 through a mutual friend with whom they were both playing music. Both had played in bands previously, Chappell in 7th Generation and Freeman in Cosmic Free Way.

“We went to an open mic night, played some songs that we knew in common and felt we had a musical connection,” Freeman said.

A week later, they were in Prairie Sun Studio recording “Dead River Blues,” a song that Chappell had written. By the end of the year, they had formed the Incubators.

Chappell and Freeman brought songs they had previously written to the first CD, but the new record is more of a collaborative songwriting effort featuring their current material.

“We write our songs in the rondo form – verse, chorus and bridge,” Chappell said.

Both sing and play guitar, although Freeman has been playing primarily ukulele for the past year.

The two musicians mostly perform as a duo or a trio with Mike Pascale on guitar. But frequently, they expand to a band using musicians that have also recorded with them. They include Robin Sylvester, bass; Jeremy Hoenig, drums; Gabe Ford, drums; Shawna Miller, vocals; Steve Froberg, bass; Mike Emerson, keyboards; Mingo Lewis Jr., percussion; Ben Jacobs, keyboards; and Chris Rossbach, guitar.

While they have done mini-tours and played at small festivals in Northern California and Oregon (including BottleRock, Oregon Country Fair, Lumberstruck and Far West Fest), they mostly play in Sonoma and Marin counties. An appearance in Austin, Texas, is in the works for next year.

“We both have our own families, so that grounds us a bit to this area,” Freeman said. “I have toured the country on a bus before. That lifestyle is not a reality anymore. I’m happy to be living here, writing the music that I need to express and to have found a great songwriting partner in Chris.”

They consider themselves to be curators of acoustic music in the local music community. Chappell, who is on the board of the Petaluma Music Festival, said that he had been pressing for years to have an all-acoustic stage at the annual August festival held at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds.

“Last summer we did it, inside Herzog Hall, and it was a big hit,” he said. “It was a great festival-only experience, to have really great musicians coming together in a way they wouldn’t normally.”

The twosome also organized a summer music series this year at Petaluma’s Big Easy nightclub called “Sunday Bloody Beignet.”

“We featured two artists every Sunday from 12 to 3 p.m.,” Chappell said. The musicians included Linda McRae, Lowell “Banana” Levinger and David Thom. “It wasn’t about making money as much as just having fun and bringing together those kinds of musicians for the community.”

They’re planning to bring the Sunday afternoon music series back next year, perhaps with some adjustments to the format.

For more information, visit www.theincubators.net or www.facebook.com/theincubatorsband.

(Chris Samson is the former editor of the Argus-Courier. Contact him at chrissamson@yahoo.com.)

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