Beta Radio are a North Carolina duo whose alluring mixture of earthy folk, literate Americana, and elegant chamber pop earned them critical acclaim and a devoted national following throughout the 2010s. Blending rustic harmonies with a dense and sometimes experimental sonic palette, they eventually arrived at a sound that lives somewhere between the close harmony folk of the Milk Carton Kids and the layered grandeur of Gregory Alan Isakov or S. Carey. Following the grassroots success of their two independently released albums, the band signed with the Nettwerk label to release their third album, 2018's sonically rich Ancient Transition. Longtime friends Benjamin Mabry and Brent Holloman began collaborating together in the mid-2000s in their hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina. Although primarily singers and guitarists, the two musicians were adept at a variety of other instruments as well, and over time their folky meanderings grew into something more complex. Their first release, Seven Sisters, was originally intended to be an EP, but after their studio money ran out, Mabry and Holloman decided to continue adding songs and recorded additional material in a spare bedroom. Self-released in 2010, the album was a regional success and was elevated when Beta Radio contributed two songs to the CW television show Hart of Dixie. The band later included the material on a deluxe vinyl edition of their debut. The two friends took a more measured approach with their follow-up, spending several years writing and layering the songs into something more nuanced and sophisticated. The resulting album, Colony of Bees, arrived in 2014 and became somewhat of a breakthrough, putting up impressive numbers on the streaming platforms and bringing Beta Radio to the national stage. The following year, they issued a compilation of Christmas recordings called The Songs the Season Brings, Vols. 1-4, which consisted of a series of annual home-recorded holiday EPs dating back to 2011. Their increased visibility helped them ink a deal with the Nettwerk Music Group, which released Beta Radio's third album, Ancient Transition, in 2018. It saw the group moving even further into textured chamber folk territory, a trend they continued on subsequent singles, especially 2020's "It Doesn't Really Feel Like Spring." ~ Timothy Monger