DownRiver Collective Archives - The Bluegrass Situation

Every Friday, BGS shines a light on some of our favorite new tracks in bluegrass, folk, Americana and beyond. Then we ask the artist about the inspiration behind the music and pass their wise words along to you.

First off, Jack Barksdale’s “Battleground” is a compelling tale of class warfare that comes to life in an eerie and original music video. The Fort Worth folk/Americana artist is joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Julian Taylor on the track. Another Texas native, William Beckmann, adds a dash of mystery to his latest single, “You Only Love to Break My Heart.” Roy Orbison fans, take note. In addition, Grey DeLisle explains how one of her favorite public radio shows inspired “Don’t Break the String,” a thoughtful track from her just-released album, Don’t Turn Around. Meanwhile, Denitia is previewing her 2027 album with a country-tinged tune, “Can’t Leave You Alone,” which showcases not only the range but also the emotion in her vocals. And if you’re into bluegrass, you’ll want to spend time with DownRiver Collective’s “The Fool” and The Fretliners’ “Hard Times Made Me.”

With one of the finest honky-tonk songs in recent memory, Pug Johnson’s “Just to Love You” is bound to satisfy true-blue country fans, with bonus points for a recitation. And leave it to Nashville musician Josh Rouse to bring a pleasant bossa nova vibe to “Sunday in the Country,” which echoes the vibes of his earliest albums. Another Nashville artist, Runner of the Woods, sings in French on “Le 6 Octobre,” though the music video takes a creative approach to translating the lyrics. Of course, the sentiment of the song–recovering from a tough breakup–is universal. Finally, we wrap up with Hunter Watts’ “I’m Lost Without You,” an evocative folk/country tune that sounds like a deep cut out of Lauren Canyon.

As we say every week … You Gotta Hear This!

Jack Barksdale, “Battleground” (Feat. Julian Taylor)

Artist: Jack Barksdale
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
Song: “Battleground” (Feat. Julian Taylor)
Album: Battlegrond EP
Release Date: October 16. 2026

In Their Words: “‘Battleground’ is about how we, as a society, let people and companies with lots of money, power, and influence get away with things that we would otherwise be very wary of. The music video is more of a symbolic gesture to capture the overall feel of the song. Taking the idea of class warfare and letting the eye and ear travel and search through the song in a symbolic manner. I met Julian Taylor at the You Got Gold John Prine Tribute in 2025 and have since become a big fan of his music. I was very excited Julian was able to lend his voice to the song.” – Jack Barksdale

“‘Battleground’ is a stellar song from an artist who continues to break new ground lyrically.” – Julian Taylor

William Beckmann, “You Only Love to Break My Heart”

Artist: William Beckmann
Hometown: Del Rio, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “You Only Love to Break My Heart”
Release Date: September 25, 2026
Label: Gatsby Records/MCA

In Their Words: “To me, this song evokes a sense of heartbreak and lust. I wanted it to sound kind of like Roy Orbison and I knew it had to have a mysteriousness to it. I wrote it about an experience of being infatuated with a person that didn’t necessarily reciprocate the same level of interest but that’s okay. That’s kind of the point. It’s almost as if I like the way you play with my heart.” — William Beckmann

Grey DeLisle, “Don’t Break the String”

Artist: Grey DeLisle
Hometowns: Los Angeles/Nashville
Song: “Don’t Break the String”
Album: Don’t Turn Around
Release Date: October 23, 2026
Label: Hummin’bird Records

In Their Words: I’ve always been a public radio junkie, especially for my local Nashville station, WMOT! I got hooked on Craig Havighurst’s show The String. I binged almost the whole thing on a long drive through the Smoky Mountains one summer. When I heard that funding for public radio was being severely cut, my first thought was ‘DON’T BREAK THE STRING! My heart was in the right place but it was pretty hokey lyrics-wise, so after many revisions, it sort of morphed into a song about universal human connection and never taking the things we love for granted!” – Grey DeLisle

Denitia, “Can’t Leave You Alone”

Artist: Denitia
Hometown: Baytown, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Can’t Leave You Alone”
Album: Texas Angel
Release Date: February 5, 2027
Label: Thirty Tigers

In Their Words: “When I was writing this song, I wanted to pull from a time in my life where I was drawn to situations that weren’t so good for me. So much of the material on this album has this undertone of having learned my lesson and I wanted to reach back to a time where I knew better, but I still wanted to do bad. It felt right to have it all set against this dreamy sonic backdrop – a place you can’t resist getting pulled into.” — Denitia

DownRiver Collective, “The Fool”

Artist: DownRiver Collective
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The Fool”
Album: Give It All Away (Deluxe)
Release Date: September 5, 2026
Label: Kettleridge Records

In Their Words: “‘The Fool’ is our latest single, and is the final chapter of our album, Give It All Away. After we had released the album in 2025, we knew there were a couple stones that we hadn’t turned, so we set out to release a few new songs as a deluxe version of the record, which came out in September of this year. ‘The Fool’ added an essential ingredient to the album: a touch of heavy metal. The song came to us from a place of frustration, and we tried to channel that energy into the record. The video captures it perfectly; dark, intense, and real. The crew at Film Haus did an amazing job bringing the song to life on the screen.” — DownRiver Collective

The Fretliners, “Hard Times Made Me”

Artist: The Fretliners
Hometown: Lyons, Colorado
Song: “Hard Times Made Me”
Album: When The Kettle Sings
Release Date: October 23, 2026
Label: Hook Set Records

In Their Words: “Tom [Knowlton] has this incredible vocal dynamic range, and when we were recording around a single microphone, there was a moment where we needed him to maintain the same intensity, but with a little less volume. Instead of just telling him to sing quieter, T Bone said, ‘Think about a kettle right at the boiling point. All that pressure building, but don’t quite let it out yet.’ That was the wisdom in his approach to producing. Rather than telling us what to do, he gave us imagery that allowed us to stay creative. It was a moment that stuck with all of us, and with ‘When the Kettle Sings’ already being a lyric on the record, the album title just made sense.” — Sam Parks, mandolin, The Fretliners

Pug Johnson, “Just to Love You”

Artist: Pug Johnson
Hometown: Beaumont, Texas
Song: “Just to Love You”
Album: From a Beaumont Bar
Release Date: October 23, 2026
Label: Thirty Tigers

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Just to Love You’ trying to capture the denial phase of a failed relationship and the notion that breakups are rarely clean cut. I’ve learned from experience that when you’ve spent years of your life with someone, they often hang around your dreams after they’ve left. This was the second song that I wrote for the album. Once I finished this one, the floodgates opened and the rest of the original tunes were finished 48 hours later. I wanted to make sure I put at least one stone-cold hurting song on the record, and this is still one of my favorites.” – Pug Johnson

Josh Rouse, “Sunday in the Country”

Artist: Josh Rouse
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Sunday in the Country ”
Album: Museums and Women
Release Date: October 23, 2026
Label: New West Records

In Their Words: “A lovely bossa nova progression I came up with while watching a film of the same name. I imagined a New Yorker escaping the city for a weekend in upstate New York, reflecting on his life and wondering whether it might be time to slow down and embrace a simpler way of living.” — Josh Rouse

Runner of the Woods, “Le 6 Octobre”

Artist: Runner of the Woods
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Le 6 Octobre”
Release Date: October 6, 2026

In Their Words: “Everyone seems desperate for fall to arrive, but I feel differently. I’ve always felt the season marked the beginning of losing something wonderful–summertime. Years ago, I moved from New Orleans to Montreal. In my mind, I was trading one old French town for another, but it was a shock to go from sweaty south Louisiana, with its joie de vivre, to a snowy, more reserved cosmopolitan city. The chorus asks, ‘Who are these people who love the fall?’ which I sing in my native French.

“In Nashville, I take enormous pride in packing dancefloors with Cajun music, but I routinely sneak in more lyric-oriented, original French songs too. ‘Le 6 Octobre’ recalls an early snowstorm in Montreal colliding with a painful breakup. The video evokes the experience of closing my eyes and seeing those people and places again – but with the English lyrics written on the back of each photograph so viewers can follow along as we remember together.” – Nicolas Beaudoing, Runner of the Woods

Hunter Watts, “I’m Lost Without You”

Artist: Hunter Watts
Hometown: Orange, California
Song: “I’m Lost Without You”
Album: Hunter Watts
Release Date: October 23, 2026
Label: Valentine Record Studios

In Their Words: “It started off as my music theory final in high school, funny enough. After I gradually rearranged the chords and melody, I ended up with the two different songs. I was unsure of which version to finish and somewhat stuck on them until showing the songs to my bandmates (and roommates) at the time, who suggested that I just bridge the two together. While lyrically the song is intentional in its introspection, the process of writing it also somewhat serves as a snapshot of my early independence.” — Hunter Watts

Photo Credit: Edward Stockwell (William Beckmann), Weird Candy (Denitia)

Artist: DownRiver Collective
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest Release: “Come On Back” (single)
Personal Nicknames (or rejected band names): The Upstream Association

Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?

Well, this one is pretty easy for me, as it’s the artist I’m named after, Alison Krauss. One of my earliest memories is of my dad and I driving around town with her album, Live, on repeat. I was only about 4 or so at the time, but you best believe I sang every single word at the top of my lungs. The wild thing is, I still can’t rid myself of that album. It still plays through at least 4 times a week on my commute to and from work. That album, that voice, changed the course of my life. It was through singing along to Alison that I nurtured my love for singing. I found myself at an early age trying to mimic every bend, run, and glottal.

Through the course of my life, I found myself listening to other artists and genres, but somehow it always came back to Alison. I never saw myself singing bluegrass music, but it was in college when I broke out my Alison Krauss repertoire that I fell in love with the genre all over again. And I couldn’t be fully transparent about my adoration of Alison Krauss without mentioning the fact that she’s an absolute boss. Seeing a woman pave her own way for a younger generation of ladies in a male-dominated genre is so inspiring to me. – Ali Vance, lead singer

What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?

I feel like some of the most meaningful advice that I’ve gotten from artists that I look up to has been pretty simple. I was told to always, first and foremost, be yourself. People are able to connect with songs more easily if there’s authenticity behind it. Another impactful piece of advice I got was to not ever compare yourself one-to-one with the artists that you look up to. Everybody has their own path and career arc to follow, and it’s always going to be different for everybody. I feel like these two things really go hand in hand. – Rico Wallenda, mandolin

What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?

This would come as a surprise to absolutely no one who has spent any time around me, but I absolutely adore pop divas. Right now, the ladies that are in regular rotation are Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa, and Chappell Roan. I know it’s a little cliché, but there is something to it. On the one hand, it’s all about the vocalists. Any time a vocalist is as good as any of those ladies, I just find it so compelling and moving. I’ve also been really into Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Whitney Houston– the list goes on. It’s just so awe-inspiring to listen to gifted singers like that.

On the other hand, the pop stars I listed all have a believablity factor that you can’t ignore when you listen to the music. That authenticity draws me to many different genres and artists, but it’s especially compelling with some of these current pop stars. Bailey [Warren, fiddle] and I often talk about these singers when we’re on the road, drowning the rest of the van in Olivia Rodrigo albums (Bailey’s favorite) and Ariana Grande records. – Jonny Therrien, guitar, Dobro

Does pineapple really belong on pizza?

Here’s the deal: Yes. I think we need to broaden our scope, expand our horizons. Food is just so good. And it isn’t nobody hurting anyone or damaging anything by putting a delicious fruit on their pizza. I think we live in a world where we can celebrate pizza as a pillar of food heritage and be thankful for all it has given to us while we push the boundaries of our pizza pleasures and discover new food frontiers. I love a classic pizza as much as anyone, I even order plain cheese pizza from Domino’s as an adult (did that last week). I also love a nice Hawaiian pie. There are multitudes in between, and here’s the good news: It’s all good. So let’s put this thing to rest once, at least for us right now. Pineapple does belong on pizza. Life is too short, and pizza is too good to be choosy. These are some things that I live by. – JT

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years figuring out how we write best together. We’re a big ensemble and getting that many creatives to be on the same page about anything can be tough. What used to be sort of a tricky thing to figure out has turned into each of us individually knowing our strengths and weaknesses better while chipping away at what it is that makes us sound like us. Mixing all our influences can be hard because sometimes those influences and the reflexes they’ve instilled into each of us individually can be at odds with one another.

The specific song that comes to mind is one that we recorded in January for our next album. The song was originally inspired by a sassy Alison Krauss number, which was a tune we had fallen in love with covering. Our earliest iterations of the song were marked by herky-jerky feels, strangely placed jazz chords, and lyrics that didn’t really convey the feeling we were after. At several different points, we were convinced the song was nearly finished except for maybe a lyrical tweak here and there. Finally, when we were in pre-production with Caleb Edwards and Eli Broxham, who co-produced our album, we explored a lot options: we re-arranged the structure, wrote new verses, found homes for the spicy chords, and settled on a rhythmic feel that matched the song’s sentiment perfectly. It felt like we had done the impossible: we pleased each of our artistic instincts in a song that we all had loved and hated at different times. In our show, we talk about this song as being the one that we had to write three times before it was good enough for the record.

That’s not even the end of the song’s story! I was talking to [John] Gray, our banjo player, last week and told him I dug what he did on the intro kick to the tune. Gray told me, “Yeah, I asked Caleb about the very last phrase of it, and he said he liked it, but had doubts about the other parts. The last phrase was the only part of the kick that I had doubts about, I was sure about everything else. So that’s when I knew that the whole intro was right.” – JT

Photo Credit: Tippy // Emily Cowherd

Tag: DownRiver Collective

You Gotta Hear This: William Beckmann, Denitia, and More