Jeremy and Sheree Eisenhauer have been performing and recording together on different projects for the past 15 years. But when it came to songwriting, Jeremy admits it was often easier to go it alone. "We liked what each other was doing, but we had different ideas of how the song would come out in the end," he says. "I think that with writing together there is a lot of trusting and relenting. It doesn't come easy. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of patience. Some nights are great and we can really hash things out and write a bunch of songs in a night. Other times, it can take a month or two to be able to sit down and not be at each other. We're not screaming or yelling, but it's a test of patience for sure." That patience has paid off in the form of The Eisenhauers' excellent debut album The Road We Once Knew, out now on the Black Hen Music label. Most of the songs were written after the couple and their three young children moved from Vancouver to the small town of Kaslo, B.C. four years ago. Located equidistance between Vancouver and Calgary in the mountainous Kootenays region, Kaslo boasts a strong arts community, but it's also very isolated. Separated from their Vancouver social circle, Jeremy says the couple found they had more time to write music together. It also didn't hurt that the financial pressure of living in Vancouver were somewhat relieved. The city's overpriced housing and rental markets have forced many artists and musicians to move from central artistic hubs to communities farther afield. "We got to a point where keeping all the balls in the air wasn't possible," Eisenhauer explains. "We have three young kids and there is always a sense of wanting to have bread on the table. When I was growing up in Vancouver, I literally never thought that I would ever own a home. It was just an impossibility. But in Kaslo we play music, I have my own business, and we own a house. It's a pretty good situation." Recorded in Nashville with producer Steve Dawson, The Eisenhauers' new album is chockful of exquisite melodies and simple, stripped-down acoustic folk/bluegrass that highlight the dynamic vocal interplay between Sheree and Jeremy. Jeremy says he and his wife are fans of Dawson's work and felt he would be the right person on whom to test their new songs and help guide them in the right direction. "Steve's a really intuitive guy," he says. "He helped steer the ship. Everything we did was recorded live off the floor. He's all about getting the take from us that felt right, not the one that was perhaps technically perfect or even the most articulately performed. It definitely changed the way that we played sometimes and arrangements of some of the songs." The Eisenhauers are bringing their new songs on the road this spring with a 17-date Western Canadian tour starting in April. Go to theeisenhaurs.com/tour for more information.