Myk & Lo: Be Excellent to Each Other
On the surface, Myk & Lo’s stories sound like many others. They both have called the Corry area their home for decades. They fell in love, had children, and got married while they were young. And they’ve made a living through customer service roles throughout our community.
But to stop there is to understand so little about the full lives they are leading, and the immense love they have cultivated around them.
Myk & Lo (Mike and Laura Deane) have been making music their entire lives. Lo grew up with three older brothers in nearby Spartansburg and moved to Corry when she was eighteen. Myk, who is the youngest of twelve siblings, was living in Columbus, Georgia until he was three years old, when his parents who are originally from the area moved their family back home. Both recalled having a musical childhood and growing up singing and playing guitar.
Their love for music is as undeniable as their love for each other.
“This guy’s a writer,” Lo says while she looks over at Myk with a smile in her eyes. In that moment, a sheepish grin appears on his face and later in our conversation, he returns the compliment to his wife. “She’s just so good at it,” he said while talking about her singing and songwriting. She laughs and softly touches his knee in acceptance of his kind words.
Throughout our conversation, they volley compliments, fill in the gaps of each other’s thoughts and memories, and speak to and about each other in an irreproachable manner. They so obviously love and care deeply for each other and their life experience as a couple and individuals.
Myk and Lo married in 2000, and in November eleven years later, they began playing music as a duo under the name, Slim & Red. Although they had performed separately and in other bands together, this one stuck. So much so that they are often recognized out together not by their names, but as Slim & Red.
Their first studio album was released in 2012. They have since released three more and are currently working on another. During all of that writing, recording, and performing live, Myk and Lo have also raised three children together.
Two sons and a daughter, all young adults now, are described with pride by their parents as, “super-cool individuals.” Reflecting on their young parenting days, Myk said, “They each helped us grow while they all were growing up.” He noted times when music had to slow down or take a backseat to make sure their family needs, which are most important to them, were the priority focus.
Myk and Lo speak with grace for their children and themselves as they explained their family dynamics. Their general understanding has always been as long as their kids knew they could all talk regardless of the situations they were facing, then they were doing okay. Their kids would always be, without question, loved beyond measure. Over the years, Myk and Lo have worked to instill their children with the values of being kind, having a strong work ethic, and trying their best to live happily. “And don’t be stingy with the love,” Lo added. Spreading love and kindness has been the foundation for each of their lives and has trickled out greatly into their parenting. Something their children, who are all so different and very much their own people, are each better for having poured into them.
Corry has created the ideal backdrop for Myk and Lo to build their family. They enjoy the quiet, safe, mostly rural, small city vibe of our community, while still being in the middle of three major cities. They love that Corry feels like it is heading in a different and exciting direction with good people and organizations working hard and trying to prove how great it really is here. And they both echo the sentiment that, “You’re not doing the right thing if you say there’s nothing to do here.”
Photos by Morgan Phelps
With their three grown children out on their own, the couple has continued to find plenty of things to do around Corry, now as just the two of them. In addition to their music, comic book collecting, and a shared love of video games, they are often found together along Corry’s vast and expanding trail system.
Lo, who is also the Caretaker at Mead Park, explains their love of nature as one that is continually growing the more they explore. She describes Mead Park and the trails throughout Corry as “true gems” and doesn’t hesitate to admit how much she enjoys her work. Right before the pandemic, the couple invested in getting bikes for each other. Lo says they “lucked out” because they picked up the hobby in early 2019, gratefully so, since the shutdowns caused a bike shortage. Their longest trail ride together so far has been a 72-mile trip in Ashtabula, Ohio.
It is so easy to feel calm and at ease in their presence.
Each of them speak in a softer tone. Their voices are soothing, and they talk with an uncommon sense of optimism, making you want to continue listing to what they have to say. They are thoughtful in their responses, giving each other space to share and be heard. They make music just by being in conversation with each other.
Once they mention The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz as a guide for their lives, it all becomes very clear that they are the embodiment of those principles.
Be impeccable with your word.
Don’t take anything personally.
Don’t make assumptions.
Always do your best.
As we finished our conversation, the two began to get their guitar and ukulele ready so we could get some action shots. As they take their seats, Lo says, “We haven’t played ‘Us’ in a while,” and the two begin playing along, not missing a single chord.
“Us,” by Regina Spektor has a plethora of assumed, hidden, and politically poetic meanings. On its surface though, can easily be explained as a song about a love so grand it was set in stone for others to admire and emulate.
“…and its contagious…”
The lyrics, taken simply, reiterate the themes of the conversation we had. The acoustics of the room beautifully move Lo’s voice and their instruments throughout the space. Her voice is hauntingly ethereal, even more so after hearing her life’s story, and watching her play with the love of her life by her side.
The body language of Myk and Lo play off each other while strumming along. Little glances at what the other is doing. A wink or nod in acknowledgement of a musical liberty the other took in their part of the song. And the wide, dimple smile they share when they catch each other’s eyes at the same time.
Their love is absolutely, and undeniably contagious.
