The Wandering Hearts

Based in London, the Wandering Hearts are an Americana group whose glowing harmonies, folk instrumentation, and pop-driven songwriting have earned them an international following. Following in the footsteps of groups like the Staves and the Shires, they established themselves as part of the vanguard in the new British Americana scene of the mid-2010s. They made their debut for the Decca label with 2018's Wild Silence and spent the next few years touring the U.K. and the U.S. where they played the Grand Ole Opry. Initially a quartet, the Wandering Hearts slimmed to a trio on their eponymous 2021 album, then switched to Chrysalis Records for their third album, 2024's Mother. The seeds of the band were sown in late 2015 when Tara Wilcox and Tim Prottey-Jones found themselves singing at the same gig, and immediately hit it off, given their shared background. Both were hard-bitten pros: Wilcox, with years of experience under her belt, had her own singing school, while Prottey-Jones was a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. Shortly thereafter, they were introduced by mutual friends to singer/guitarist A.J. Dean (an alumnus of British rock & rollers the Bluejays) and Francesca "Chess" Whiffin, also a former musical theater performer. Christening themselves the Paper Hearts, the band recorded two demo songs, "Today Is Ours" and "Sunshine," which they uploaded to SoundCloud, leading to a flurry of immediate interest. The deft fingerpicking, rousing choruses, dark-hued lyrics, and sweet, close vocal harmonies drew comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, whom the band later acknowledged as a major influence, along with First Aid Kit, the Civil Wars, Tom Petty, Simon & Garfunkel, and Cara Dillon. Within a month, they had been invited to audition for Decca, who signed them on the spot. Rebranded the Wandering Hearts, they played a number of high-profile festival shows in 2016, and released their debut single, the bittersweet "Wish I Could," early in 2017. Their debut album, Wild Silence, followed in September of that year. A deluxe edition added eight bonus tracks, and the band spent time playing a number of British festivals, including Latitude, Black Deer, and BST Hyde Park. Invited to the U.S. by country maverick Marty Stuart, the Wandering Hearts played both the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry (becoming the first British band to debut at both venues in the same week). As they worked on their second album, the group -- reduced to a trio with the departure of Prottey-Jones -- continued performing, including the C2C Country to Country festival at the O2 in London, CMA Fest in Nashville, and a support slot for Jack Savoretti; their self-titled second record arrived in 2021, followed in May 2022 by its deluxe edition. After this the Wandering Hearts left Decca to join the Chrysalis roster and began working in the studio with producer Steve Milbourne. Titled Mother -- both Wilcox and Whiffin became mothers prior to its release --, the band's third LP was released in 2024 and again centered around their rich vocal harmonies and acoustic instrumentation.
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