"Smoke Fairies" is a British dream pop duo comprising Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies. Blamire and Davies met at school in Sussex during the late 1990s. They spent 2002 in New Orleans, where they absorbed American blues music. When they returned to England they discovered British folk music at the Sidmouth Folk Week Festival while working as car park attendants. They later settled in Vancouver, Canada, for a year before returning to London to start performing.

In 2007, Smoke Fairies toured the UK in support of Bryan Ferry and the following year they released their debut single, "Living with Ghosts", on Music for Heroes. Richard Hawley was an early supporter of the act, saying they were "frankly the best thing I have heard in years".

They supported Hawley on his True Love’s Gutter Tour of the UK in October 2009. In December 2009, Smoke Fairies became the first UK act to release a single on Jack White's label Third Man Records.

The double A-side single, "Gastown" / "River Song", was produced by Jack White who also played guitar and drums.