The Lonesome Trio w/ Ed Helms
PR images and album art for actor Ed Helms bluegrass band, The Lonesome Trio. Art Direction by Dale May and the band.
THE LONESOME TRIO
I had the pleasure of working with my friend Ed Helms, creating some conceptual images for his bluegrass band, The Lonesome Trio. When the project began, they were in need of PR images but as the shoot progressed and the ideas started flowing, it turned into an album cover and a series of images for the sake of expression.
Photography / Retouching: Dale May
*Retouching (The Breakdown): Jeff Whitlock
Grooming: Amanda Wilson
Chalk Illustrations: Matthew Diffee
Client: The Lonesome Trio / Sugar Hill Records
Talent: Ed Helms, Ian Riggs and Jacob Tilove
© Dale May - All Rights Reserved
THE BREAKDOWN: This was an image I pitched to the band, that I wanted to shoot for myself. I told them I wanted to cover them in dirt and shoot them in their "all is lost moment". I said, "Imagine you are on tour, your van breaks down and bursts into flames, you're in the middle of nowhere and you have to find your way home." Ok, go!
THE WRITERS: The band wanted a shot of them writing music for their debut album. Someone suggested an old typewriter, with music notes on the page and it turned into this. Ed is always hilarious but I have to give it to his band mates - they really held their own.
STORYTELLERS: This is one of the original PR images, we shot for the band. The band's music is quirky but not comedy by any means, so we wanted the image to be serious, with a wink. We decided that an image of the band, all wearing sweaters, drinking coffee in a guitar factor, would do the trick. Ed picked up my dog Heather for the last few shots.
Unfortunately, Heather passed away months later but that wasn't Ed's fault. Happy to have this image of them together.
THE ALBUM COVER: This started out as a PR shot. They had planned to use an Illustrator for their album cover but once I introduced the idea of writing stuff on the chalkboard and onto the walls, they thought it would be the perfect opportunity to combine the two ideas. All of these chalk doodles are relevant to the band and the songs on their debut album.
THE BAND: Just in case their was any question, The Lonesome Trio is a bluegrass band. Here's a gratuitous shot of them holding their instruments.
