The Iron Horse Pub in downtown Wichita Falls played host to a recent show by Wichita Falls’ cover band Hannah Belle Lecter and their offshoot Three String Circus, and those in attendance got to enjoy a show unlike any we've seen in recent memory.
Opening act Three String Circus consisted of three stringed instruments — Dustin Fike on guitar, Dusty Potter on bass, and Brooke Whyrick on fiddle — and lead vocalist Hannah Smith leading the others in a four-voice chorus. The end result was an opening set that called out to the great vocal group traditions of The Eagles, Starland Vocal Band, Little Big Town, and others. The harmonies supplied by Hannah and Brooke on their cover of KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” were particularly goosebump-inducing, and they did a great medley of “Brown Eyed Girl/The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” too.
After an opening set, the four members of Three String Circus were joined by the other musicians that comprise Hannah Belle Lecter — Ricci Amador on drums, Dwight Ham on guitar, and Alyssa Ham on keyboards. With the entire crew aboard, the Iron Horse got an incredible dose of wide-ranging singalong songs from the last six decades.
It struck me during this show that Hannah Belle Lecter plays a selection of songs that you would very rarely hear from any other cover band I’ve seen — straight pop numbers like “Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears and “The Promise” by When in Rome for example. If you grew up on The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles and Risky Business, Hannah Belle Lecter’s set is the soundtrack of your life.
At one point during Hannah Belle Lecter’s set, as they performed “More Than a Woman” by the Bee Gees, I looked around the room and was reminded how music is a universal language that spans generations — attendees who were far too young to remember the Bee Gees were singing along in a state of pure joy.
I don’t say this lightly — Hannah Belle Lecter works harder on the vocal aspect of their show than any band I’ve seen in Wichita Falls. If full harmony vocals are your thing, you’ll be thrilled with a Hannah Bell Lecter set. Hannah, Dusty, Dustin, and Brooke are incredible when they’re all singing together, and you’ll get to hear most of them take an occasional lead vocal too.
Don’t be misled. Eighties pop and country numbers aside, Hannah Belle Lecter rocks it up a bit, and I was damn glad I didn’t leave early. At the end of the show, this band turned it loose with four songs in a row that brought down the house.
Again leaning on their incredible backing vocals, Hannah Belle Lecter did an amazing version of “Carry On Wayward Son,” which then segued into “The Thing Called Love” by The Darkness. The crowd would not let Hannah Belle Lecter be done, however, demanding encores. Lecter obliged with a cover of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” and I don’t exaggerate when I say myself and the others at my table were absolutely transfixed watching Ricci Amador play it. The drum parts are so intricate and difficult… and Ricci freakin’ nailed it. When Tom Sawyer was over, as the crowd was calling for another encore, my tablemate asked ”How do you top Tom Sawyer?”
Hannah Belle Lecter answered with a cover of “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin that was equally as amazing. If you missed Hannah Belle Lecter, you missed a Metroplex-caliber show from some hometown heroes. Don’t miss the next one.
Have you seen Hannah Belle Lecter and Three String Circus? Tells us about it in the comments.
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