Tag: georgia

LISTEN: Kimberly Morgan York, “Another Lover”

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Artist: Kimberly Morgan York
Hometown: Athens, Georgia
Song: “Another Lover”
Album: Keep on Goin’
Release Date: July 22, 2022

In Their Words: “You know rock ‘n’ roll and marriage is a difficult combination and always a little messy. This song was inspired by a workplace romance that occurred during a long separation from my then-husband. I was ready to leave the marriage, but we decided not to give up…to work things out. When we did, I had to put an end to the affair. The object of my short-lived affection was very quick to find my replacement….who happened to be another musician. I’m pretty sure that romance didn’t go very far or last very long either, but it broke my heart a little bit. The marriage for which I left the tryst also did not last.” — Kimberly Morgan York

Team Clermont · Kimberly Morgan York – “Another Lover”

Photo Credit: Adam Smith

WATCH: Lera Lynn, “Illusion”

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Artist: Lera Lynn
Hometown: Athens, Georgia; now lives in Nashville
Song: “Illusion”
Album: Something More Than Love
Release Date: July 15, 2022

In Their Words: “It’s a rare and deeply beautiful feeling to think you could allow someone to get close enough to commit to each other in a really meaningful way. I’ve only ever had that feeling for one person and it felt like an idea that had been written into existence before me; like I was just following a path I was meant to take; such a beautifully alarming feeling that I struggled to believe it. ‘Illusion’ is the beginning of the story of Something More Than Love and is set against a backdrop of dreamy synths, punchy drums and bass and the sound of my ’60s electric guitar. … It doesn’t feel like a new direction to me. It just feels like a progression. My fans have come to expect a new experience with each new album. I think people are ready for this sound and this energy. I certainly am.” — Lera Lynn

Photo Credit: Alyssa Gafkjen

LISTEN: The Little Roy & Lizzy Show, “Time for Me to Fly” (REO Speedwagon Cover)

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Artist: The Little Roy & Lizzy Show
Hometown: Lincolnton, Georgia
Song: “Time for Me to Fly”
Album: Welcome to the Show
Release Date: April 29, 2022
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “The song ‘Time for Me to Fly’ is one of my favorite cuts on this new album, Welcome to the Show. I love the story behind it and the feeling. It is toe-tapping good. It was fun to arrange an REO Speedwagon song and make it bluegrass — and also leaning on Dolly Parton’s version to make it have that excitement! The whole album is amazingly fun and uplifting. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did making it.” — Lizzy Long, The Little Roy & Lizzy Show

Crossroads Label Group · 08 Time For Me To Fly

Photo Credit: Lauren Tankersley Palmer

LISTEN: Edgar Loudermilk, “The Deal That Won’t Go Down”

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Artist: Edgar Loudermilk Band
Hometown: Eastanollee, Georgia
Song: “The Deal That Won’t Go Down”
Album: The Dark Side of Lonesome
Release Date: March 18, 2022
Label: Rural Rhythms Records/Green Hill Music

In Their Words: “This is a song that I wrote with Zack Autry one night while traveling through the beautiful state of Colorado. We were driving out of Denver on I-70 during a snow storm and saw these big canyon walls. This immediately put us in the mindset to write a western-style cowboy song. It’s about a roving gambler who falls in love with a girl at one of his regular stops. He finds betrayal and catches himself in a bit of trouble.” — Edgar Loudermilk

Photo Credit: Paris Mountain Photography

WATCH: Meg McRee, Adam Chaffins, Brit Taylor, Ben Chapman, “Gone as It Gets”

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Artists: Meg McRee, Adam Chaffins, Brit Taylor, Ben Chapman
Hometowns: Sugar Hill, Ga. (McRee); Louisa, Ky. (Chaffins); Knotts Co., Ky. (Taylor); Lafayette, Ga. (Chapman)
Song: “Gone as It Gets”
Release date: January 12, 2022

In Their Words: “I can hear each and every one of us in it which can be very hard to accomplish when writing a song with four people. We all listened back the next day and felt that we had created something pretty special.” — Meg McRee

“Sometimes in songwriting you can tell a good song is about to come just by the company in the room. Once the groove got started when we all sat down together this song just appeared, then we got together to record it and and the same thing happened and the track came to life.” — Adam Chaffins

“‘Gone as It Gets’ is a melodic journey taken by four friends who got together just to make music. There was no hidden agenda — just a shared commitment to enjoying each other’s company and talents while having a good time and making good music. ‘Gone as It Gets’ is confirmation that when the music business becomes more music and less business, the really good stuff happens.” — Brit Taylor

“We found that when you put four songwriters in a room with homemade cornbread, whiskey, and a mutual respect for the ones that came before, you can end up with something pretty special. Organic, classic, timeless. We’re releasing this song in honor of the first Peach Jam of the year with Adam Chaffins and Brit Taylor as the special guests. I started doing my Peach Jam show in 2021 with the intention of bringing friends and music folk together to turn on, tune in, and drop out. This year I’ll be hosting my Peach Jam residency at The Basement in Nashville on the second Wednesday of every month for all of 2022. Can’t think of a better way to kick it off.” — Ben Chapman

Photo Credit: Fernando Garcia

LISTEN: Caleb Lee Hutchinson, “I Must Be Right”

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Artist: Caleb Lee Hutchinson
Hometown: Dallas, Georgia
Song: “I Must Be Right”
Album: Slot Machine Syndrome
Release Date: September 17, 2021

In Their Words: “‘I Must Be Right’ is a song I wrote with the incredible Trey Hensley on Zoom during the middle of 2020. I have been a fan of Trey for quite some time and was very excited to write with one of my favorite guitar pickers of all time. I tried to bring some kind of guitar lick into the write, which ended up being what you hear in the first few seconds of the song. Trey had the idea for the lyric and it only took us maybe an hour to write it. Trey is such an amazing writer and player so it didn’t take much for us to write a song like ‘I Must Be Right.’ It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written as a result.” — Caleb Lee Hutchinson
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Photo credit: Don VanCleave

LISTEN: Swamptooth, “The Owl Theory”

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Artist: Swamptooth
Hometown: Savannah, Georgia
Song: “The Owl Theory”
Album: B-Flat Earth
Release Date: September 17, 2021

In Their Words: “This song was written by guitarist Jay Rudd. In the Netflix series The Staircase, crime novelist Michael Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife who was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their home. A few years later a neighbor brought forth a new theory that an owl had attacked Peterson’s wife on her way inside the home and she had fallen down the stairs during the resulting confusion. Many have argued that the theory is plausible due to evidence such as microscopic owl feathers found in her hand. This song manifested after visualizing the owl attack and subsequent fall down the staircase.” — Swamptooth

Photo credit: Kelly Roetto

LISTEN: Ben Bostick, “Like Old People Do”

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Artist: Ben Bostick
Hometown: Born in Beaufort, South Carolina. Currently resides in Lilburn, Georgia
Song: “Like Old People Do”
Album: Grown Up Love
Release Date: August 20, 2021

In Their Words: “My friend Pam Hobby, a great songwriter herself, came to one of my shows, and we were chatting between sets. She told me that she and her boyfriend had been down in the Keys doing nothing, sitting at the end of the dock on rocking chairs and watching the sunset ‘like old people do.’ My songwriter brain latched onto that phrase and immediately started writing the song. I think I had it mostly written by the time I played my next set. It was a perfect sentiment for my life.

“My wife Cari and I had been rushing around to doctor’s appointments, therapies, pharmacies, going sleepless with a newborn and also our oldest daughter’s Carmela’s terrible sleep disturbances (due to Rett Syndrome), and generally going at a hundred miles an hour. We needed to slow down just to maintain our sanity. We needed to take a page out of the old people’s book of love, and just sit still, saying nothing, holding hands like old people do. Of course taking a vacation to the coast with two babies during COVID wasn’t possible, because of so many different reasons, but this song helped us realize that we needed to take a breath whenever possible.” — Ben Bostick

Photo credit: Carey Hood

WATCH: Amy Ray Band, “Chuck Will’s Widow”

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Artist: Amy Ray Band
Hometown: Decatur, Georgia
Song: “Chuck Will’s Widow”
Release Date: July 23, 2021
Label: Daemon Records, Inc.

In Their Words: “The songs of the Chuck-will’s-widow, along with its fellow Nightjar, the Whip-poor-will, have always haunted me; their relentless, compelling exchange happens all night when the summer comes to my neck of the woods. I find that I witness the most profound moments in the midst of their songs, when everyone else is asleep. While I am often in need of rest, the respite I find in being awake under a miraculous and melodic night sky is too tempting for me to sleep. It’s a conundrum that inspires me, but also leaves me bleary-eyed.

“I laid down a scratch track of electric guitar and singing, then we built this one from a foundation of Jim Brock’s drums and percussion, with Kerry Brooks’ bass. The rhythm track was important to get right, it had to feel sad and happy at the same time…ha ha… that’s my sweet spot. The first melodic instrument for us to play off of was Dan Walker’s accordion riff, then we added Matt Smith’s pedal steel. I put some mandolin and acoustic guitar down and sang a final vocal track, then we had Jeff Fielder record last. He usually goes first, so it was a lot of experimentation for him to find which instruments he wanted to play. We came around to both the dobro and electric guitar being what the song needed.

“We always had in mind what we wanted for harmonies, using both The Band’s version of Springsteen’s ‘Atlantic City’ and the classic record Trio from Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt as inspiration. Georgia singer Michelle Malone was a perfect fit for this. Then I asked my heroes Tanya and Michael Trotter from The War and Treaty to give us the other two harmony parts to make it complete.” — Amy Ray

Photo Credit: Cowtown Chad

WATCH: T. Hardy Morris, “Shopping Center Sunsets”

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Artist: T. Hardy Morris
Hometown: Athens, Georgia
Song: “Shopping Center Sunsets”
Album: The Digital Age of Rome
Release Date: June 25, 2021
Label: Normaltown Records

In Their Words: “There is a run-down shopping center not far from my house that is one of the best places in Athens to see the sunset. It’s just this big expanse of irony to me at that time of day. I go to the liquor store there and my wife and I sometimes take our kids there for mediocre tacos and cheese dip. One evening I was pulling in when there was an especially pretty sunset and I just sang out ‘shopping center sunsets!…’ in the exact melody of the song… and that became the song. I think I still have the a cappella version recorded on my phone.

“The song is supposed to be darkly funny and entertaining like a shopping center sunset. There is this big, beautiful neon sign of God in the background, but the foreground is man’s attempt at commercialization (which only ever results in urban decay). Nature overpowers every time. We filmed the video there in the shopping center and just tried to have fun and capture some of that irony. Like trying to enjoy nature in this very unnatural setting that we take for granted as this very normal place. The American shopping center.” — T. Hardy Morris

Photo credit: Alec Stanley