Drawing influences from melodic artists like the Indigo Girls, Stevie Ray Vaughan, James Taylor, and John Mayer, Evansville Living readers’ choice for 2021’s “Best Local Band” has spent the last decade bringing a distinct musical harmony to the area and embracing a universal message of peace, love, and unity.
The singer-songwriting guitar duo of Andrea Wirth and Melanie Bozsa formed The Honey Vines nine and a half years ago after striking euphony at an open mic night in 2011. Wirth had been on the local music scene for several years when she met Bozsa, a teacher for seven years before turning to a different career path. In fact, Wirth was featured in the 2011 September/October issue of Evansville Living for a music issue when she was working as a solo artist.
“We started singing together and realizing we have a lot of similar influences in music, and our music is really harmony driven,” says Bozsa. “It all kind of blossomed from that open mic night.”
Since forming, the Newburgh, Indiana-based duo has performed across the Tri-State at farmers markets, wineries, bars, and festivals, playing a wide range of genres from acoustic rock to blues to folk. While the duo mainly sticks with their own original songs, they also play covers at certain venues of some of their favorite artists. For example, you can hear The Honey Vines perform at places like Bokeh Lounge in Haynie’s Corner, Jennings Street Public House in Newburgh, Indiana, and regionally at area festivals throughout the summer and fall.
“We stay very busy,” says Wirth. “I don’t think we’ve ever actually had a rehearsal.”
Originally billing themselves as Melanie and Andrea, the duo knew they needed a new, catchy name as their local popularity started growing. One day as they were brainstorming descriptive words for their style of music — folk with a mix of rock ‘n’ roll — they kept coming back to Wirth’s favorite plant, the honeysuckle.
“It kind of describes the sweetness of the harmonies,” says Bozsa. “And then vines makes perfect sense because we intertwine those with the vocal parts.”
Wirth and Bozsa also own an instructional music studio called Honey Vinyl Music Studio in Newburgh that opened in 2013, where they primarily teach guitar, piano, and introduction to songwriting, along with production and audio recording.
“This community has shown support for music in so many ways. I think if anything, we’re just seeing more and more music venues pop up because the community wants it,” says Bozsa. “It’s so awesome that everyone comes out to the shows, even through the shutdown when they were logging onto our livestreams.”
