The Head And The Heart

About The Head And The Heart

The Head and The Heart started the way a lot of indie folk bands did in the late 2000s — a bunch of musicians in their twenties met at an open mic night in Seattle, realized they had something, and decided to keep playing together. This was 2009. Josiah Johnson and Jonathan Russell were the primary songwriters and vocalists, joined by Charity Rose Thielen on violin, Chris Zasche on bass, Kenny Hensley on piano, and Tyler Williams on drums. They practiced in a basement and played shows at a venue called Conor Byrne Pub in Ballard before anyone outside their neighborhood knew who they were.

Their self-titled debut came out in 2011 on Sub Pop, which gave them immediate credibility in the indie world. The album had this warm, communal sound that felt like sitting around a campfire with people who actually knew how to harmonize. "Lost in My Mind" and "Rivers and Roads" became the tracks everyone latched onto — the former for its stomping, sing-along build, the latter for wrecking people during graduation montages and road trip playlists. The album went gold without a radio hit, which is harder than it sounds.

They followed up with Let's Be Still in 2013, which did well but felt like a band figuring out how to make a second record under pressure. "Shake" got some traction, and they kept touring relentlessly, building their audience the old-fashioned way. By this point they were headlining larger venues and appearing on late-night TV, solidly in that tier of indie bands who could sell out the Wiltern but weren't quite playing arenas.

In 2016, Josiah Johnson left the band to deal with addiction issues. It was abrupt and public enough that fans worried the band might fold. They didn't. Instead, they added Matt Gervais and kept going. That same year they released Signs of Light, their first album for Warner Bros, which marked a noticeable shift toward a more polished, pop-leaning sound. Some fans missed the scrappier folk vibe, others were fine with the evolution.

Living Mirage followed in 2019, continuing in that sleeker direction, and then Every Shade of Blue in 2022. They've settled into being a reliable touring act — the kind of band that plays festivals, does theater runs, and has a dedicated fanbase that's aged along with them. Johnson eventually got sober and has been doing his own music, which left open questions about whether he'd ever rejoin, though the current lineup seems stable.

They're not the scrappy Seattle folk band anymore, but they've lasted longer than most of their contemporaries from that era. They make music that sounds good on adult alternative radio and still fills rooms with people who want to sing along.

Their shows tend to have a genuine communal vibe—people actually sing along and mean it, not as a reflex. The band feeds off that, playing with real attention to dynamics. You'll hear the songs breathe live in ways the recordings sometimes don't allow.

Known for Rivers and Roads, Down in the Valley, Shake, Another Story, Winter Song

See The Head And The Heart Live