Interview by Todd Matthews

The side projects of musicians can sometimes wander into eclectic and strange territories. That is no exception for veteran bluegrass and country musicians David Miles Keenan and Nova Karina Devonie. Keenan is a notable producer and string musician. Devonie is a talented accordionist. Both perform in a number of honky-tonk and roots country bands in the Pacific Northwest. The pair formed an alter-ego, banjo/guitar-and-accordion combo known as 'Miles & Karina.'

TODD MATTHEWS: How would you describe the music of Miles and Karina?

DAVID 'MILES' KEENAN: A confusin' country fusion of quirkish delights.

NOVA 'KARINA' DEVONIE: Another description is folk music for cocktail parties.

DAVID 'MILES' KEENAN: Lately I have been telling people it's mid-twentieth century music [laughing], which says everything and nothing.

Miles and Karina
+ + photo courtesy Miles and Karina + +

TODD MATTHEWS: How did you two start performing as Miles and Karina?

DAVID 'MILES' KEENAN: I remember when I first met Karina. Jo Miller gave me a call one day and told me to check out this band Nyetz from Vancouver, B.C. There was this woman playing accordion, and I couldn't believe what a great performer she was. She had this amazing energy. Such life! I made a point of going up to her, and I said something like, 'Hey, you are a really great performer.'

NOVA 'KARINA' DEVONIE: A few years after that, Ranch Romance was going through some personnel changes, and Jo asked Miles and I to tour through the summer. So we got to know each other, and played together in that band for five years.

DAVID 'MILES' KEENAN: Ranch Romance was a popular national act. We toured all the time . . . played 100 shows per year . . . festivals all over -- busy, busy, busy. We thought, 'Okay, when this band ends, someone is going to come along and pick us up.' We sort of sat around waiting for the phone to ring. In the meantime, we were developing our own ideas.

NOVA 'KARINA' DEVONIE: We were kind of hoping that someone would pick us up, like some musical duo team. It didn't happen. Some folks we met at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop were putting on a house-concert series. They asked us to do a night. That's when 'Miles and Karina' was born. We had all these great ideas and tunes. We hadn't really done anything just as ourselves—we had been backing musicians for a long time. So, as a duo, both of us got to be the front-person. We played country tunes, James Bond movie themes, and did some lip-synching to Nancy Sinatra. The response was good.

TODD MATTHEWS: Have you ever written a song that has just been too silly to perform?

DAVID 'MILES' KEENAN: I don't think so. The thing that's fun about playing music with Karina is that she comes from a theater background. There's always this thing about getting into character and making it so fun that it's OK on the tunes that veer towards that direction.

TODD MATTHEWS: I can't imagine that there are a lot of accordion and banjo combos around town. How do you promote your music?

DAVID 'MILES' KEENAN: We are very selective. We wouldn't just go anywhere and try to pitch and get gigs. That's probably why Miles and Karina didn't play all that much for many years.

NOVA 'KARINA' DEVONIE: We didn't really know what to do with it.

DAVID 'MILES' KEENAN: Where do you take it?

NOVA 'KARINA' DEVONIE: You almost have to hear us and see us to decide. People who see us and like us, they recommend us. Then we don't have to do the sell because they already like us.

Miles and Karina will be opening for Tim O'Brien on April 20, 2002, at Shoreline Community College. To learn more about Miles and Karina, please visit them online at htp://www.milesandkarina.com

This article originally appeared in The Tablet