The Halyards

Anacortes born Carl Funk, lead singer in The Halyards, played Friday at the Majestic as part of the Anacortes Arts Festival. Other band members include Larry Mason and Eric Tingstad. Among those in the crowd was Carl’s father, Wallie Funk.

From the band’s website:

The Halyards joke their debut CD “Fortune Smiles” has been 35 years in the making.
Well, half joke.

Carl Funk and Larry Mason trace their friendship to grade school. For the last decade they have written and performed around the Pacific Northwest as Funk Mason. Approached by old friend and Grammy award winning musician Eric Tingstad to “do a little recording,” no one expected a 12-track CD–let alone a new band. But, sometimes, with luck, timing, and hard work, ingredients become larger than the sum of the parts.

This is The Halyards.

Combining superbly blended harmonies, with driving guitars, the band delivers its take on life, love and the splendor of it all. In “Welcome Home,” Funk writes “There’s a splendid chaos in this life.” Chaos as the engine of creation — the friend of the unplanned.

Moving through the songs, a theme emerges: what fate gives us, and how we respond. The heroes, the villains, and all of it in-between. With the release of “Fortune Smiles,” The Halyards bring a new voice to the Americana music scene.

Thirty-five years in the making. Not a moment too soon.