By: Josh Belcher Freelance Writer
Local band SHEL is on fire these days with a song in the new movie “The Best of Me,” based on the Nicholas Sparks novel. The four sister group of classically trained musicians is from Fort Collins, Colorado but call Franklin their second home, where they record in Franklin with legendary producer Brent Maher (The Judds). Their song “Hold On” is featured in “The Best of Me” and they were invited to the Red Carpet premier of the film. “Hold On” was co-written and performed with Irish singer-songwriter Gareth Dunlop and the music video was shot in Franklin with pieces of the movie inserted in the video.
Sarah Holbrook,the band violinist, bass player and vocalist spoke with The Williamson Source.
WS: How was the “Best Of Me” Red Carpet premiere? Was this your first?
SH: It was our first red carpet and that was interesting in itself. We met so many people—we met the director Michael Hoffman and Nicholas Spark’s green room was right next to ours and he came out and spoke with us for a little bit. We also met all the guys from Lady Antebellum and that was really cool; they are really really kind.
WS: How did your song “Hold On” get picked for the movie?
SH: So Eva (my sister) and Gareth Dunlop wrote this song in Franklin, and we have a relationship with Relativity and Dianna Maher,our publicist, sent the song to Jason Markey and Jason is a big advocate for us and he showed it to the director and as far as I know it was the first song to be placed in the movie. Everyone involved was really excited about the song that we where chatting with at the movie premiere.
WS: And you directed the music video for “Hold On” and you shot it in Franklin Tennessee?
SH: So I directed it with our friend Scott Mele and the girls and I live out in Franklin, so of course we love Franklin and I have driven on Franklin Road a ton when heading into Nashville and back and we have always passed Wyatt Hall. It is such a beautiful spot and Dr. Woody and Alice Woody are some of the kindest people. In fact our publicist bought the house that she lives in now from the Woody’s. And Dianna kept telling us that there is place called Wyatt Hall and it is absolutely gorgeous and is full of antiques and you have to come and see it and we have to shoot a video there. So we went over to visit with Dr. Woody and Mrs.. Woody and we had tea and we had cookies and they gave us a tour of the place and we fell in love with it and we asked them if we could shoot the video there and they were all about it.
WS: How did Gareth Dunlop come into the mix and serve as a collaborator?
SH: Eva and Gareth were staying at Dianna’s house and they were having a rust spell with writing new stuff so they both decided to go down to Sweet Ce Ce’s and get some yogurt and they went down there and thought you know why don’t we try to write some stuff together and see how that works out. And this was the last time Gareth was in town because he is from Northern Ireland and they tried it, so they went back home and continued and “Hold On” came out of the night.
