Zoe Speaks to reprise performance at Hoover Library Theatre — 14 years later

Fourteen years ago, a Kentucky mountain music trio by the name of Zoe Speaks, performed at the Hoover Library Theatre.

Two of the group’s members — Carla Gover and Mitch Barrett — parted ways as a couple in 2007 and divorced. But they started performing together again at the end of 2015 and are coming back to Hoover as part of the 2017 Southern Voices Festival on Feb. 22-23.

And at least one of their two daughters, who was just a child when they last were on the stage in Hoover, is expected to perform with them. Zoey Raven, who is now 19, will be playing the fiddle and singing in three-part harmonies, her parents said.

And perhaps they’ll be able to coax their younger daughter, 16-year-old Maizie, to sing with them as well, Gover said. “She has a really beautiful voice.”

Gover and Barrett started performing together in 1995. Both of them grew up in the Appalachian Mountains, listening to and singing Appalachian music. They have a folk music sound they described as “very rootsy” and heavy on storytelling.

Barrett is a great teller of traditional Appalachian stories, but he’s also good at explaining how they came up with their original songs, Gover said.

“I think people connect with that,” she said. “We sort of share about who we are and where our ideas come from.”

They sing a lot about life experiences and things that are important to them, Barrett said. Their songs share a lot of traditional Appalachian values, such as having connected communities and being able to take care of yourself, Gover said.

“We have a passion for social justice, tolerance, fairness and diversity,” she said. “Those things show up in our music, too.”

They like to use music as a tool for social change, she said.

When asked how they came up with the name Zoe Speaks, Gover noted that “Zoe” means “life” and that songwriters like to take themes that are personal and make them universal — something that applies to a lot of people. As a group, they want to represent life truths to which other people can relate, she said.

Barrett plays the acoustic guitar, dulcimer and Native American flute, and Gover plays the guitar and banjo. The other primary member of the group is bass player Owen Reynolds. And when Zoey joins them, she plays fiddle.

Before their divorce, Zoe Speaks traveled across the country, performing 200 dates a year from south Florida to New York and California, Barrett said. Since getting back together, most of their performances have been in Kentucky, where they have deep roots and where they work with the Kentucky Arts Council, he said.

But they are beginning to branch out again and recently hooked up with a new booking agency called Kosson Talent. In mid-January, they started recording the first song for a new CD they hope to release in the fall. It will be their fourth official recording together as Zoe Speaks. They also have some solo CDs.

Though they are still divorced, Gover and Barrett said they don’t find it hard to work together. They raised two daughters together and maintained contact with each other through the state arts council, Barrett said.

“We’re really good friends,” Gover said. “We actually enjoy being together and making music together.”

And having Zoey sing with them is icing on the cake. “We’ve raised this daughter with music all her life, and now she sings three-part harmony with us,” Gover said. “It’s just a really good feeling.”

Both upcoming performances at the Hoover Library Theatre were nearly sold out as press time neared.

The group fondly remembers the first time they played at the Hoover Library Theatre, Gover said.

“Everybody there was so friendly, and they treated us so well,” she said. “The audience was awesome. We just had such a great experience. We’re super excited to be coming back.”