The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WALLA WALLA – Twenty-somethings Cody Clark, David Brock, and Jennifer Nichols agree that it's a shared drive, focus, and goal that make their band, Framing Fables, something special.

"I've been in a lot of bands, but I've never been in one that works together this well," Clark said.

With their first album, Away From Home, released in September, the group is one step closer to their dream of making a living through their shared passion of music.

The trio began singing together last November, and made their public debut at the 4th of July celebration in Pioneer Park in Walla Walla. They have continued to grow a steady fan base ever since.

Their musical style is as eclectic as their backgrounds, but all three grew up with strong musical roots.

Nichols, daughter of Jeff and Dawn Nichols of Waitsburg, is a WHS grad and travels two hours each way from her home in Ione, Ore. to practice with the band a couple of nights a week. She provides the band's strong female vocals, and plays bass during performances.

Brock, the band's drummer, attended WWCC to learn welding, and farms outside Prescott. He is married to Waitsburg graduate Megan (Withers) Brock.

Clark works in Walla Walla as a real estate assistant, but earned his degree in music composition from the University of Idaho. He plays guitar and harmonica live, but picks up other instruments, including piano and banjo, as needed.

"Pretty much anything you hear on the album that's not drums is Cody," Nichols said.

"I learned the harmonica the week before we recorded. I even practiced in the car on the way to record," Clark said, laughing.

Brock and Clark have played in several bands together over the years, including a metal band called Echoes of a Dream.

"We decided to get back together and try something friendlier to the local scene here," Brock said. Brock's wife, Megan, approached Nichols about singing with the band, and the trio was born.

"We started out with the idea of being a cover band, playing other people's songs. But we started writing together and pretty soon we were creating two songs a week. At that point we decided we should probably do our own music," Nichols said.

Nearly all the songs are written collaboratively, which is unusual for a band.

When asked to describe their sound they agree that "Americana," a genre that draws influence from country, folk, and rock, fits them well.

The first song they wrote together was Away from Home, which is also the title of their newly released debut album, which contains 10 originals. They recorded the album themselves. Clark mixed it and they sent it out to be mastered.

The album photos were taken at the old schoolhouse in Clyde, Wash. by Tyler Vaughn of Milton-Freewater.

"David's dad has this old truck that is in perfect condition, and we decided we wanted that by the old schoolhouse to bring back old times. We dressed in 50's attire to kind of bring life to the schoolhouse and the truck and have it make sense," Nichols said.

Once they knew they were headed toward creating an album, the band decided to put together a music video, which in turn forced them to come up with a name.

For a band that creates music together practically nonstop, coming up with a name that had meaning, and hadn't already been taken, was surprisingly difficult. Krista Creighton, the videographer, was moving and needed a name immediately in order to upload the video.

"The band basically sat in a room for 12 hours, making list after list of names. We had to come up with something that night, or wait for the video to be posted," said Nichols. Finally, they fell on Framing Fables, which fit perfectly, since their songs are frames for the stories they tell.

The band members are passionate about what they do and are thankful for the support of their significant others.

"I'll get here at 3 or 4 p.m. and then we're together until 1 a.m., and we'll do it again the next night. When we were recording we basically spent all of two weeks staying up until 5 a.m. We've spent a lot of time together!" Nichols said.

Nichols said she loves recording for the purpose of hearing the finished product. "I get to sing harmonies and background vocals. It's really fun to be able to do that," she said.

Brock agreed that there is satisfaction in seeing the final product after having spent so many hours in writing and recording. "My next favorite thing is playing on stage, promoting the product, and seeing the response," he said.

Tyler Vaughn

The cover of the band's debut album, taken in Clyde, Wash.

"My favorite part is probably the songwriting process – sitting in a group and writing the songs. Then of course the rewarding part of seeing how the crowd responds," Clark said.

The band recently played to a full house at The Tuxedo Bar & Grill in Prescott, and performed the National Anthem at the Walla Walla Sweets Roller Derby. They have created special song lists for wineries that are "softer and more approachable," and will perform for house parties as well.

"We can play acoustic or electric; anywhere that makes sense with our type of music. We have a lot of songs and can pick the ones that will fit best for any type of event," Clark said.

Songs from the entire Away from Home album can be found on the band's YouTube Channel. You can also find Framing Fables on Facebook, Spotify, and iTunes.