Behind the Scenes with the Hill Country Honeys: A Wimberley Promo Shoot
Some sessions take us to a garden or a courtyard for a portrait. This one took us to a ridge above Blue Hole, with the Hill Country rolling out in every direction, to spend an evening with the Hill Country Honeys ahead of their upcoming record.
An Evening Above Blue Hole
We met the band near Blue Hole in Wimberley as the day moved toward sunset, working from an overlook with a view across the valley and out into the Hill Country beyond. It is the kind of setting that does not need much help. The light goes soft and warm as it drops, the hills hold color long after the sun is gone, and the band's sound feels like it belongs there.
The Honeys are led by Rose Gabriel, who writes most of the group's music and plays guitar, mandolin, and percussion. Mindy Turner brings drums, guitar, flute, and vocal harmonies to the lineup, Sloane Michael handles lead guitar, and Amber Lucille anchors the sound on bass. Voted Best Band of Wimberley and Best Band in Hays County, the group has built its following the way a lot of the best Hill Country acts do, through honest songwriting and a sound that fits the place it comes from.
Home Stage at Rose's Property
After the overlook, we moved to Rose's property in Wimberley, where the band has a stage set up at home. With no audience in front of them, the band played through a set the way they would for a room full of people, and we worked around them to capture the performance itself, the interplay between the four of them, the energy of the music without anyone watching but us.
There is a different quality to photographing a band without a crowd. Nothing is performed for an audience's reaction, which leaves more room to catch the parts of a live set that usually get lost in a bigger room, the glances between musicians, the small adjustments mid-song, the moments that make a live performance what it is.
New Music on the Way
The timing of this shoot lines up with a new Hill Country Honeys record set to release in October 2026, and these images are part of the visual rollout supporting it, from the album cover to the band's social and web presence. It is the kind of project we enjoy stepping into: documentary-style work applied to a different subject, but with the same instinct for catching a real moment rather than staging one.
Wimberley and the Hill Country
Wimberley continues to be one of our favorite corners of the Hill Country to work in, whether that is a proposal, a portrait session, or an evening with a band ahead of a record release. The mix of natural landscape, like the overlook near Blue Hole, and the kind of properties that double as a home stage, gives a shoot like this real range without needing to travel far.
You can find more from the Hill Country Honeys, including upcoming shows and their new music, at hchoneys.com.
