This week in Freak Scene, we discover the identity of Juliana Hatfield’s mysterious contractor/music collaborator, Eric Payne, only to learn that he’s long been part of of the Western Mass. music scene with projects that also include a recent album with Kelly LaMay.

When the music website Stereogum announced a couple weeks ago that recent Amherst transplant Juliana Hatfield and a collaborator had released a surprise new album called Bets, the framing bothered me: “Juliana Hatfield Made an Album with Her Contractor,” read the headline. That’s true, as far as it goes, but it feels reductive: the vast majority of people making music can’t afford to be full-time musicians, so most of them work jobs that can pay the bills. Freak Scene has covered musicians who also work as teachers, web developers, graphic artists, dog walkers, house painters, publicists and more — it doesn’t make any of them any less of a musician.

It’s also true that Hatfield has a higher profile than her contractor, Eric Payne, so I understand the grabby clickbait headline. But the Stereogum item overlooks the fact that Payne didn’t just amble out of the lumber aisle at Home Depot and start throwing around guitar riffs. He’s been making music in Western Mass. for decades, with bands including Rent Party, Playtopia and the Labor Pool, and more recently in collaboration with Kelly LaMay. Turns out I was more persnickety about it than Payne, who thought the Stereogum thing was amusing.

“My big joke is, ‘Yeah, I do music, but carpentry is my passion,’” he says by phone, laughing.

Payne and Hatfield recorded Bets in 2024, but his collaboration with LaMay, I Don’t Have Time for This, arrived first. Payne and LaMay have known each other for ages through the Western Mass. music scene, and started writing together last September when she still lived on Cape Cod (she has since moved to Brattleboro — for work).

Kelly LaMayI Don't Have Time For This & Eric Payne

“Eric and I go back a long time, hanging around the Baystate Hotel and moving in the same circle of friends,” says LaMay, who has roots in Western Mass. She has been writing songs since she was in her 20s, but only recently started releasing them — and at an impressive pace (Freak Scene #79 covered Gone with the Low Tide last year).

I Don’t Have Time for This is her fourth album since 2024. It’s a collection of swaggering indie-rock songs that are at once sweet and spiky. LaMay digs into a hypnotic melody on “Sunset Commuter” over guitars from Payne that writhe and snarl (she wrote the lyrics and melodies, he wrote and played the music). Elsewhere, “Special Delivery” comes screaming out of the gate at maximum velocity, with LaMay singing over jet-engine guitars. They ease off the accelerator here and there: “New Sunglasses” emphasizes organ and a thrumming bassline, while “Hold On” has a more atmospheric mix of guitars and bass, underscored by lyrics that waver between wistful and exasperated. Payne adds a rare backing vocal here.

“I’ve never really felt comfortable singing,” says Payne, who calls it “magical” to collaborate with two different people who do.

LaMay and Payne wrote their first two songs when he visited the Cape with family last year. The collaboration continued remotely, their ideas crisscrossing in the ether until they had written the 14 songs on the album.

“It all came together very quickly — Eric and I both write fast — and it was exciting to see the sound take shape,” LaMay says. “More than once he’d send me an instrumental track at night, and by the time he woke up the next morning I’d already sent vocals back. Our styles just clicked.”

Payne connected with Hatfield in 2024 when a mutual acquaintance recommended him for some work the veteran indie singer wanted done in the house she bought in Amherst. (I wrote about her recent solo album Lightning Might Strike for the Boston Globe.) Payne at the time was writing songs inspired by Stereolab after having seen them in concert. When he dropped by Hatfield’s house to look at the job, he seized the moment.

“I was like, ‘Hey, I have this demo tape, you want to listen to it?’” he says. “And later, she told me she was like, ‘Fuck, I just want this guy to do carpentry work. I’m gonna have to lie about his horrible demo tape.’”

Juliana Hatfield and Eric PayneBets

Instead, she liked his songs, and they spent a few months writing and recording together. While the configuration is similar to Payne’s project with LaMay, Hatfield has a different voice, and a different sense of melody (though Payne’s distinctive guitar sound is a big part of both albums). His guitar lines follow Hatfield’s voice like an updraft circling skyward on “Sweet,” while the bassline on opener “Your Social Security” steers the song through currents of organ and electric guitar. The flowing guitars and bass are lean on “Angels Everywhere,” and Hatfield’s multi-tracked vocals lend a luminous feel to “Temptation.”

On 10 originals (and a cover of Lee Hazelwood’s “Sugar Town”), Hatfield and Payne play together on Bet like they’ve been doing it for years, and he has a similar vibe with LaMay on I Don’t Have Time for This. All that’s left now is to hope for a double-bill concert featuring both projects.

Upcoming Concerts

Here are this week’s newly announced concerts; the full concert calendar is available here.

Tree House Brewing in South Deerfield hosts Greensky Bluegrass June 8 (tickets), a rare hip-hop show with Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE July 2 (tickets), JJ Grey & Mofro and the Wood Brothers July 29 (tickets) and Modest Mouse Aug. 20 (tickets).

Lucy Dacus plays Mass MoCA July 23 (tickets) and Big Thief are there Aug. 8 (tickets).

The Iron Horse features a late-night show April 10 with Boston country band Overserved Again and UMass rockers South Pleasant Revival (tickets), Northampton musician tr willits May 26 (tickets), Americana duo Shovels & Rope July 14 (tickets) and Infinity Song Sept. 23 (tickets).

Boston alt-rockers Fai Laci play May 14 at the Drake in Amherst (tickets).

Bombyx in Florence hosts the New Directions Cello Festival June 26-28 (tickets for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3) and Celtic ensemble the Bow Tides July 24 (tickets).

The Marigold in Easthampton presents Hush, Puppy; Marxist Jargon; Sexwave; and PMS this Saturday, March 14. Next week, Trinary System (featuring Roger Miller of Mission of Burma) are there March 20 with Bunnies and Sapling, while Fantastic Shows puts on Emo Night March 27 with the cover band White Belts and original act Cora Monroe. (As I was finishing up the newsletter Thursday, trying to access the Marigold’s website returned a message saying it had been disabled.)

The Unlucky Shots play March 20 at Luthier’s Co-op in Easthampton with Bella Comets and Bring it to Bear, and also March 27 as part of the Back Porch Festival in Northampton (which also now includes Gold Dust).

Franz Ferdinand play Aug. 7 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven (tickets).

The Space Ballroom in Hamden hosts I Am the Avalanche June 13 (tickets) and Six Feet Under July 13 (tickets),

Celtic Thunder play Sept. 16 at Hope Center for the Arts in Springfield (tickets).

Infinity Hall in Hartford hosts Connecticut-born jam band Kung Fu May 9 (tickets).

That’s a wrap on this week. Thank you for reading! If you like what you’ve seen, please share. Previous issues are available in the online archive. Also, I’m always open to submissions. You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.

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