Tag: Americana

WATCH: Hollow Coves, “Blessings”

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Artist: Hollow Coves
Hometown: Gold Coast, Australia
Song: “Blessings”
Album: Blessings EP
Release Date: June 11, 2021
Label: Nettwerk Records

In Their Words: “‘Blessings’ is a song of gratitude. It’s about recognizing the little blessings that life has to offer. If we don’t take a moment to acknowledge them, we can often miss them. Practicing gratitude is known to be good for mental health, yet anxiety and depression seem to be more and more prevalent in our generation. I think we are just too distracted to stop and take time to practice gratitude. We hope this song helps people realize that there are blessings all around if you just look up and take the time to think about how much we have to be grateful for.” — Ryan Henderson and Matt Carins, Hollow Coves

Photo credit: @Leniflashes

WATCH: Tré Burt, “Sweet Misery”

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Artist: Tré Burt
Hometown: Sacramento, California
Song: “Sweet Misery”
Album: You, Yeah, You
Release Date: August 27, 2021
Label: Oh Boy Records

In Their Words: “To me, the chords sound melancholic but also have this really sweet and playful quality about it but also like that innocence is being hounded by some utterly miserable force of nature. When I was writing this song, I already knew what the chords would say if they could talk, so the lyrics reflect that. Sometimes songs can feel like it’s something hung up in a museum, meant to be observed behind a velvet rope from 10 feet away. My songs are as much yours as they are mine. I wanted to try and show that.” — Tré Burt

Photo credit: Allan Baker

WATCH: Leon Creek, “Call It A Day”

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Artist: Leon Creek
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Call It A Day”
Album: Far From Broken
Release Date: September 21, 2021

In Their Words: “An element of grain is a part of the Leon Creek records, so working with the photographer and videographer Chase Hart, who only shoots on film and Super 8, has been a great fit for us. We were excited by the Super 8 footage Chase got during our first shoot in Santa Barbara, so we wanted to round out the video with some clips from L.A., where we met and started making music together. Bobby Womack’s BW Goes C&W was an inspiration in making our record, so we aspired to have an element of ’70s country western sprinkled throughout the video. Enter Chicago-based editor and animator Jordan Rundle. Jordan added animation and moving graphics, along with some analog visual effects to his final cut of ‘Call It a Day.'” — Leon Creek (Chris Pierce, Matthew Stevens, and Erik Janson)

Photo courtesy of Tell All Your Friends PR

LISTEN: Lake and Lyndale, “Crooked Path”

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Artist: Lake and Lyndale
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Crooked Path”
Album: In the Nude Vol. 1
Release Date: June 25, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Crooked Path’ came to me during a period where I was holding onto a lot of guilt and self-doubt. While I don’t think that your past is something to run from, I also know it’s not healthy to live there. We had just moved to Nashville and this new chapter of life beginning made me realize how important it was to let go of the missteps from the last chapter — so I put them into a song. ‘I took a crooked path to get to the sun / it’s my crooked path that straightened me up.’ This song is for anyone who may need a reminder to embrace every part of the journey.” — Channing Marie, Lake and Lyndale

Photo credit: Kallyn Lagro

LISTEN: Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones, “Stop, Drop & Roll”

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Artist: Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones
Hometown: Kingston, New York
Song: “Stop, Drop & Roll”
Album: Here to Tell the Tale
Release Date: June 25, 2021
Label: Sower Records

In Their Words: “‘Stop, Drop & Roll’ tells the tale of two folks who are living their best lives. Everyone wants to hang out with them, folks line up to hear them play music, their style is impeccable, and they just can’t lose. They are doing so well, in fact, that they are “on fire!” I wish this song was written from personal experience, but hey… a girl can dream! It’s about the people we aspire to be! Musically, I was listening to a lot of ’60s girl group music at the time I wrote this, and was trying to channel some of the sass and killer vocal harmonies of groups like The Orlons. Songs are supposed to evoke a certain feeling, this one is supposed to make you dance!” — Lara Hope

Photo credit: Franco Vogt

LISTEN: Phil Leadbetter, “I Will Always Love You”

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Artist: Phil Leadbetter
Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee
Song: “I Will Always Love You”
Album: Masters of Slide: Spider Sessions (Various Artists)
Release Date: June 25, 2021
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “I always loved this tune. I remember the first time I heard Dolly sing this live, it just killed me! Not only her voice, but the lyrics to the song were so heart-wrenching. I saw her many times telling the story about how the song came about. The story is a very sad one. I used to drive around and listen to that song from several of Dolly’s compilation albums, and it always had such a great melody that I kept hearing in my head over and over. I started messing with it, and liked the direction it was going. In 2010, I got a brand new Scheerhorn guitar. I was at a friend of mine’s home, and I was curious to see how the guitar sounded. I started noodling around and playing different songs to see how the new guitar sounded. My friend told me that I should seriously think about keeping the track. The track got lost over the years, but one day while looking through a bunch of files, I found it!! Me and my engineer worked on it, and I had thought about using it a few years back. So happy I saved it so it could be part of the Masters of Slide album.” — Phil Leadbetter

Photo courtesy of Phil Leadbetter

LISTEN: L.A Edwards, “Here Comes My Train”

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Artist: L.A. Edwards
Hometown: Julian, California
Song: “Here Comes My Train”
Album: Blessings From Home Volume 2
Release Date: June 4, 2021
Label: Bitchin’ Music Group

In Their Words: “‘Here Comes My Train’ is a song that I’ve had for several years. I finally got around to finishing it when I was writing for Blessings from Home in Puerto Rico over Christmas holiday. There was lots of drinking and dancing so it came out pretty upbeat. It’s about young love, setting out to find your fortune, the idea of making a name for yourself, and the arrogance of youth. It would have turned out a lot different if I had finished writing it a few years ago as a younger man.” — L.A. Edwards

Photo credit: Miller Hawkins

LISTEN: K.C. Jones, “Heat Rises”

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Artist: K.C. Jones
Hometown: Lafayette, Louisiana
Song: “Heat Rises”
Album: Queen of the In Between
Release Date: June 18, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Heat Rises’ was my songwriting attempt at making the ending of a relationship, any relationship really, relatable through the imagery of one night around a dying campfire. Musically, I wanted the ‘campfire song’ sing-along elements to meet the cosmic psychedelia of the strangeness of the universe somewhere in beautiful harmony. I think it’s definitely one of the ‘twangier’ cuts on the album but it’s kind of thematically the one that brings my love of classic country and singing with friends around a campfire together with the dreamier and more outlandish aspects of the way I write songs and the other genres of music that inspire me.” — K.C Jones

Photo credit: Olivia Perillo

WATCH: Andrea von Kampen, “Water Flowing Downward”

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Artist: Andrea von Kampen
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
Song: “Water Flowing Downward”
Album: That Spell
Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Fantasy Records

In Their Words: “The way I approached the writing of this song was different than usual. I wrote the lyrics one afternoon to an old hymn tune called ‘Beach Spring.’ I had just watched the film Parasite and was feeling restless to create and get my thoughts out and these tumbled out but I knew the hymn tune never really worked. I filed it all away and four months later my brother David and I thought about co-writing the last song on the record and I remembered these lyrics. I sent them over and by early July we had our song. I love the moodiness of the piano and strings and the sound of a perpetual movement.” — Andrea von Kampen

Photo credit: Mark Cluney

Jamestown Revival Mine the Legacy of Louis L’Amour in “Prospector’s Blues”

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Folk-rock duo Jamestown Revival‘s new project provides an interesting study in the intersection of music and literature, as band members Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance wrote songs inspired by the work of American novelist Louis L’Amour. Titled Fireside with Louis L’Amour, the creative genesis of the EP brings to life an intriguing concept that will draw in any and all folk enthusiasts.

To tease the EP, the band released an official video for “Prospector’s Blues,” derived from the short story, “Trap of Gold.” The song follows a miner whose feverish hunt for riches finds him an early burial beneath the weight of his own recklessness. Like the story, the song imparts a nonchalant, “business as usual” attitude toward the tragedy of greed, as the train-like groove rumbles right through the parable in the lyrics. Acoustic guitar, pulsing rhythm, and Old West allegory — what’s not to love? Check out the video for “Prospector’s Blues” below.

Photo credit: Paul Pryor