All About All Our Exes

Posted on 26 February, 2016

All Our Exes Live in Texas is an indie-folk band that combines contemporary song writing with timeless indie-folk melodies (yes, their songs are as catchy as their band name).

Hannah Croft, who plays ukulele and sings in All Our Exes, says they didn’t come up with the name all on their own.

“We looked up a list of the world’s worst country song titles,” she laughs. “There’s a song called All My Exes Live in Texas by George Strait, which we decided on. It was going to be that or You’re the Reason Our Kids are Ugly, and there’s also another one called Drop Me Jesus Through The Goalposts of Life.”

The four members of All Our Exes Live in Texas, Elana Stone, Katie Wighton, Hannah Crofts and Georgia Mooney, met in Sydney through a common interest in music.

“Folk is my favourite style because of the storytelling and we all love it,” Hannah says. “A song can seem so simple, just three or four chords, but it can be the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard.”

The band started when a friend suggested they put together a set for an upcoming show but has grown to become a full-time project, with All Our Exes playing around 60 shows last year.

“We’re each songwriters so we will often write individually and then bring it into rehearsal and collaborate to make it an Exes song,” Hannah says. “We’re all really good friends. We’re kind of like sisters because and we hang out five days a week and we’re on tour all the time, sharing one motel room. We fight like sisters too!”

All Our Exes Live in Texas will be playing the National Folk Festival in Canberra for the second time in 2016, and according to Hannah it is one of their favourite festivals.

“One of the most amazing things about the Folk Festival last time was the Session Bar, which is a jam session that happens between the musicians and the crowd,” she says. “To see them jamming with all the punters who were equally as good or if not better than the bands was a really special thing and it goes to 6am! The festival has a really great community vibe.”

All Our Exes have toured throughout Australia and are currently supporting UK act Passenger, as well as working on their debut album.

“We’ve got two more days in the studio next week and then it will be finished,” Hannah says. “Recordings been really fun, we’ve got some of the boys from Boy and Bear to play banjo and bass on the record. Then we’ll do an album tour and eventually we’re hoping to take it overseas and see what we can do.”

Pre-orders of All Our Exes Live In Texas’ debut album are available here (along with a crochet set of the band members made by Georgia) and you can find out more about the National Folk Festival here.