We had the pleasure of chatting to the amazing Two Ways Home at The Long Road the other month. Check out our interview with them below!

It’s been a busy weekend for you, right?

Lewis: Yes! We had two slots yesterday; get the work done and then we’ll drink. Press and catching bands today!

Are you here all weekend?

Lewis: We have another festival tomorrow, then a different one the day after! Four festival slots in one weekend!

And how were the slots yesterday? Two very different slots, right?

Lewis: Yeah! Hitching Post earlier in the morning; I think we played the first ever bit of live music on that stage. We christened it. Ashley Monroe was doing an interview before, so it kinda feels like we played a show where Ashley Monroe was playing just before us…

She clearly supported!

Lewis: Well, I didn’t want to put it in those words, but you said it! It was an earlier set on the Friday so you never know if people are gonna be there, but it was packed, right to the back.

It’s a cool stage, as well!

Lewis: It’s nice to have a different format for a stage. You either have an open air one like Rhinestone or one in a tent like Interstate, but this was like… well the hitching post, it’s got posts!

Isi: It kinda felt Austrian. I felt very at home!

Lewis: Yeah, I could see it at a winter market!

You did the Round-Up on there. Were you approached to do it, the first time?

Lewis: We host the Roundup! It’s our songwriters night which we’ve been doing for eight or ten years. We’ve been hosting it at The Long Road now for a few years. We were approached.

Isi: I think they like us because we always bring a good lineup! The bookers say we can book whoever we want so we’re like ‘okay, you know we’re gonna bring a good lineup, so they say we can bring whoever we want’.

I remember seeing Luke [Fleer] supporting Drake Milligan last year; he was great, and to see him again was amazing. I chatted to Baylen too recently and he said it’s cool to have others get involved. I think there’s a record label or two doing a stage takeover as well!

You guys have had a busy festival season in general, right?

Lewis: We have! We get to every year and were like ‘this year was so busy with festivals, next year will be the quiet one, but so far it’s just been extra shows. It feels like we’re going in a nice, steady upwards trajectory.

Is this long weekend the last of the festivals for this year?

Isi: I think there’s a few more! There’s one secret one that we can’t talk about.

Lewis: There’s a few end of the year ones too. There’s a great one coming up in Wales. Then we’ll be looking to do a stream of shows on our own, be it the Round Up on tour or a solo show.

Have you guys taken the Round Up on tour before?

Lewis: We have! It’s something that was always my dream to do, and a couple of years ago we took it on its first tour. I Think we did 13 dates.

Isi: 35 acts, we booked. Every town kinda had a different lineup; there was always someone from the town and then someone coming in, it was good!

Lewis: We did it again last year and it was really successful, so we do need to do it again!

I was going to say do you have some plans for later in the year but it sounds like there’s something!

Lewis: We have lots of ideas floating around. We’re already thinking about next year too, you have to plan that far in advance.

Isi: Definitely a few Round Ups are coming up which… we’ve found a new home for the Round Up in London. That’s where it started, then we had a bit of a break doing it in London, but then we found the Cumberland Hotel. And that’s nice because the first Round we ever played was in Nashville in a hotel, so it’s kinda feels like a full circle moment.

You seem to split your time between here there and everywhere!

Lewis: Yeah! We just did a tour in Switzerland and Germany, which was really fun.

Isi: I’m from Austria, so we go to Vienna quite a bit to see my family and play a bit out there. And obviously the German-speaking countries are quite easy because I speak German, and Lewis speaks German pretty well.

Lewis: For a Brit!

I imagine the scene over there is completely different to over here, right?

Lewis: It is but it’s great too! There’s a lot of enthusiasm for whatever type of country music that we play. It seems to work!

Isi: I heard Spain is pretty good for the country and Americana market so I want to try and play some shows out there!

It’s been a while now since your debut album, would you say your sound has changed or evolved much since then?

Lewis: I think it’s funny, obviously there’s the country contingency and then the Americana one, and people try to say ‘well which are you?’.

Isi: We’re folk-rock, that’s what I’m saying. But there is a bit of country in there.

Lewis: We kinda just do what we do. Maybe that’s a cliche but we don’t try and be more and less of one thing. We like aspects of all these genres and hopefully we draw bits from all of them.

Isi: I’m hoping we got better since our first album!

Lewis: Well yeah! Our next album we’re working on will be a step up!

I was going to say is another album on the cards. It’s so hard to work out these days what’s best to release, from an EP to singles to a full release!

Isi: Actually that’s a good point! We’ve released a lot of singles and fans after shows come up and go ‘can I buy that album’. So we’re thinking of accumulating all of those songs, and then putting a few more songs on there as well as a little package. I think that’s gonna be end of this year.

Lewis: That’s what she keeps telling me!

Isi: I keep dropping the hint! We have to do this, get a move on!

I didn’t even think about people coming up after a show and wanting to buy an album!

Lewis: It seems old-fashioned but the crowd here still have some old-fashioned values. To call them old-fashioned is a shame; some good core values and want to support artists. We’re releasing a song on Monday but we gave our fans the choice to purchase a high quality WAV version of the single ahead of time, for £2, which is less than half of a price of coffee in London!

Isi: We did have a few come up and say they’d want a high quality version. Obviously streaming platforms do crush the audio. It’s quite hard to listen to the whole thing unless you can buy it sometimes. We figured why not, if someone wants to support us it’s a nice way they can do that!