The Head and the Heart has become increasingly popular on mainstream airwaves in recent years. You may have heard its melancholic “Rivers and Roads” on such TV shows as Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, and New Girl or the capricious yet optimistic “Lost in My Mind” as the backing track for the trailer of the Jennifer Lawrence film Silver Linings Playbook.
Active since 2009, The Head and the Heart is composed of multi-instrumentalists who are fueled by a passion to create music. The members met at Seattle’s Conor Byrne Pub, where bassist Chris Zasche was the bartender, and bonded over playing open-mic sets “over the course of six months or so,” said pianist Kenny Hensley in a recent interview with The Santa Barbara Independent.
Based in Seattle, the band was influenced by the city’s rich musical history from the very start; it’s the reason why more than half of its members moved there. “This band would have never existed if it weren’t for that. Seattle is incredible. I love Los Angeles so much, but I'm sure there are incredible musicians/songwriters who play around town and will never make it because people aren't paying attention to what they are doing,” said Hensley, a L.A. native with roots in Ventura. “In Seattle, you can play an open mic and start drawing a crowd if you're any good. People there respect the art and support it fully, and that is rare.”