Admiral Radio, the duo of singer/songwriters Becca Smith and Coty Hoover, are one of those classically-minded Americana duos that use a hushed atmosphere to create entire sonic worlds with just two gorgeous voices and finely picked instruments.
The two met as undergrads at College of Charleston, where Smith built up an early rep with an assured set of tunes and a polished solo debut, 2018’s I-26. That album’s lush arrangements swung from folk plaintiveness to classic country swing, but, as Admiral Radio, Hoover and Smith dial in more specifically to the kind of minimalist perfection that duos from The Civil Wars and Gillian and Dave Rawlings to Shovels & Rope and the everybodyfields have proven has a real and timeless staying power.
Jasper is happy to premiere their debut single and video for “Two Star Motel.” Shot by the Columbia production company Apollo’s Bow, the video plays straightforwardly with the narrative of the song with long, sweeping shots of the duo singing and picking around a room mic along a dirt road. It’s a simple premise, but it matches the simple joy of the tune—and this duo—to a T. -KP