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.
This week, fiddler and singer-songwriter Laura Cortese reflects on her family’s hiking ritual in the uplifting title track to her new album, Lucky Waters. Meanwhile, Levi Foster takes a metaphorical cue from the natural landscape on “Appalachian Funk Tree,” a very fun song to listen to (and the title track to his new album, too). Folk favorite Crys Matthews tips her hat to a musical hero, Nina Simone, with a deeply felt rendering of “Feeling Good.” Then, from the Pacific Northwest, River Tramps offer a pretty and poetic song, “Never Was,” followed a true-to-life song called “It Never Ends” from rising acoustic duo Rosine. After that, Jacob Sharp of Mipso opens his heart in “Space,” a lovely song he catches himself singing around the kitchen. (Same here.)
Two very different Nashville bands are up next. The trio verygently brings a really cool electric vibe to “I DON’T WANNA DIE,” a song about aging inspired by a band member going to get a B12 shot. They’ve got the harmony thing down! For the Volcano Brothers, it’s the acoustic guitars that beautifully blend on a wonderful, Hawaiian-flavored tune, “La Rosita.” Embracing her love of country music, the exquisite Jess Williamson shares her feelings of wanderlust in “Hum of the City,” while country icon Wynonna imagines her late mother (and more than a little of Joni Mitchell) in an intimate new song called “Hear Me Now,” written with Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam. It’s a standout track from the legendary artist’s new album, The Hard Truth.
As we like to say every week, You Gotta Hear This!
Laura Cortese, “Lucky Water”
Artist: Laura Cortese
Hometown: Ghent, Belgium
Song: “Lucky Water”
Album: Lucky Water
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Label: Compass Records
In Their Words: “Lucky Water’ is more or less a family hike in Lassen Volcanic National Park, on the ancestral lands of the Atsugewi, Yana, Yahi, and Maidu peoples, that my aunts, uncles, cousins, and I have done every year since my mom was born. It’s a short, steep hike with a meadow at the top. Each year we stop at the same spots, look for the flowers, put our feet, or full bodies, in the freezing stream. It’s not a ritual with pomp and circumstance, per se, but through repetition it has become a touchstone.” — Laura Cortese
Levi Foster, “Appalachian Funk Tree”
Artist: Levi Foster
Hometown: Rustburg, Virginia; now in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Appalachian Funk Tree”
Album: Appalachian Funk Tree
Release Date: October 9. 2026
Label: Banner Music Records
In Their Words: “I wrote this song during a deer hunt in South Carolina when the idea hit me to build a song that could hold all strains of country music under one roof. The tree became the anchor a wild thing grew nearby feeding off bluegrass, funk, Texas swing, rock ’n’ roll… with each verse wandering into a different influence. Weird, I know. We never saw a deer that day, but we came home with a song that set the tone for the entire album.” — Levi Foster
Crys Matthews, “Feeling Good”
Artist: Crys Matthews
Hometown: Richlands, North Carolina
Song: “Feeling Good”
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Label: Shamus Records
In Their Words: “I have always felt so drawn to Nina Simone. We are both North Carolinians, we both grew up loving classical music, and we were both raised in the church. This intimate version of her iconic song Feeling Good (featuring Seth Glier on the keys) feels like the embodiment of all of those things.
“Written by English composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1964 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, the song was first performed by a character simply called ‘The Negro.’ He sings the song after winning a ‘ruleless game’ against two white characters. The struggles of racial and socioeconomic inequality in 1960s Britain (the premise of the musical) paled in comparison to its American equivalent. As a fellow Black southerner, I don’t have to imagine how deeply that resonated with Nina. That ‘game’ is being played just as fervently today as it was then. It is still just white supremacy coated in a veneer of capitalism — it was not (and is not) designed for Black or poor people to win. And so, ‘Feeling Good’ is a freedom song of sorts, much like the songs Nina would’ve grown up hearing her ancestors sing.
“‘Freedom is mine’ is just as revolutionary of a proclamation now as it was when Nina first sang it, and is an absolute honor to sing them now.” — Crys Matthews
River Tramps, “Never Was”
Artist: River Tramps
Hometown: Tokeland, Washington
Song: “Never Was”
Album: Songs in Solitude (five-track EP)
Single Release Date: October 9, 2026 (EP: March 19, 2027)
Label: De La Luz Records
In Their Words: “‘Never Was’ came from a question we kept returning to: how much of what we believe about ourselves is actually ours, and how much was handed to us by circumstance? The song is about learning not to mistake what happened to you for who you are. It also recognizes that taking responsibility for your life doesn’t require carrying every burden or accepting every judgment placed on you. Sometimes transformation looks less like charging forward and more like becoming still enough to recognize what was never yours in the first place. We recorded it to tape at Fremont Recording in Oregon, and the arrangement grew around that emotional tension—pedal steel and mandolin alongside electric and acoustic guitars, bass, and drums. We wanted the performance to keep its human edges rather than smoothing away the uncertainty inside the song. For us, ‘Never Was’ is ultimately about making peace with the past without letting it name the future.” — River Tramps
Rosine, “It Never Ends”
Artist: Rosine (Forrest & Meredith Lane O’Connor)
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “It Never Ends” (feat. Alison Brown & Mark O’Connor)
Release Date: September 25, 2026
Label: Compass Records
In Their Words: “‘It Never Ends’ was fully developed as a musical concept first, with the progression, melody, and arrangement finished before any lyrics were written. The music of the verse takes its cue from some of the early twangier Beatles songs, in particular ‘I’m a Loser,’ which starts with the 1-5-b7 progression and in which the 5 chord really could work as either minor or major…I decided to go with minor! The chorus melody, and the parallel harmonic movement beneath it, is derived from the second movement of Dvořák’s “From the New World” symphony, which I think is one of the most beautiful themes in all of classical music.
“Like many writers, I’ve kept a running list of song concepts, many of which I might never get to, some of which I hold onto for a number of years before exploring. ‘It Never Ends’ is a subject I’d wanted to tackle for a little while. I enjoy it because it’s such a ubiquitous phrase that is, of course, ironic in its fundamental untruthfulness, and that irony made it seem like a good fit for a lighter, more uptempo musical context (also a Beatles-inspired approach).
“As would hopefully be the case for any couple (!), Meredith and I have leaned on each other through a wild stretch of life; in some ways, the last two years have felt like 10 given all that we’ve been through together. We bring each other down to earth in ways no one else can, and we also serve as each other’s best reminders that whatever onslaught of troubles and challenges we might feel won’t end is only happening ‘for now’ — the truth is that it will all ultimately end, and one of our main hopes and goals is to serve as a light to one another through it all!” — Forrest O’Connor
Jacob Sharp, “Space”
Artist: Jacob Sharp
Hometown: Morganton, North Carolina
Song: “Space”
Album: Middle Kid
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Label: City Kitty Records
In Their Words: “‘Space’ is the song I’ve played most around the house these past few years. Singing it makes me feel calm – it’s like a balm. I wrote it for my wife Cate a few chapters of life ago whilst imagining the path toward the chapter we are now in. It’s about being patient amidst growth and the pleasure and power of committing your love to someone else over and over again. The day we tracked this Joseph Terrell (from Mipso) and I sat across from each other finger picking in unison as we have so many times in our years together. I love the interplay of the guitars on the track with Hannah Read’s fiddling. Hannah has such a unique way of finding a melody that really dances. Her playing has this mystical element to it always, and was the exact binding this track needed.” — Jacob Sharp
verygently, “I Don’t Wanna Die”
Artist: verygently
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “I DON’T WANNA DIE”
Album: SORRY, SARAH
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Label: Nettwerk Music Group
In Their Words: “‘I Don’t Wanna Die’ was written about aging and not liking it. We were all in a season of sickness and ailments at the time. Drew told us he was getting a B12 shot that afternoon and that kind of kicked off this idea. Written from a place of defiance against the things trying to slow you down, while also realizing a lot of it is self-inflicted. This has been one of our favorites to play live for awhile now, so stoked to finally have it out in the world!” — verygently
The Volcano Brothers, “La Rosita”
Artist: The Volcano Brothers
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “La Rosita”
Album: Light of the Hilo Moon
Release Date: September 25, 2026
Label: Black Hen Music
In Their Words: “Since our repertoire mostly draws from Pre-WW2 recordings, this is a great example of what gets us fired up as a band. ‘La Rosita’ is a song that I learned from a recording by the great Sol K. Bright, who was an early steel guitar virtuoso and member of Irene West’s Royal Hawaiians. He left her band to form his own group, Sol K. Bright’s Hollywaiians. The song dates back to 1923, and was featured in a Mary Pickford silent film from that era. Sol Bright’s version was recorded in 1934. Our version draws from that recording, but then we take it off into our own zone as well. It’s a fun launch pad for improvisation.” – Steve Dawson
Jess Williamson, “Hum of the City”
Artist: Jess Williamson
Hometown: Los Angeles and Marfa, Texas
Song: “Hum of the City”
Album: A Mile South of Heaven
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Label: New West Records
In Their Words: “I’m kind of a wanderer by nature, and this song is about my complicated relationship with the idea of home. I’ve spent years feeling pulled between the excitement of life in the city and the peace of a more rural life, never quite sure where I belong.
“There’s a romance to being in hotels alone. I love checking into my room, going down to the hotel bar, and talking with the bartender. I once checked into a hotel and realized I was staying in the very same room I’d been in years earlier (room 12, from the song), during a completely different season of my life, right before a major life change. There’s something uncanny about the anonymity of a hotel room holding such a personal memory.
“The song imagines a conversation with the hotel bartender, asking him to change the music. Sometimes contemporary music feels a little weird if you happen to have history with the person singing it. But old country music always hits.” — Jess Williamson
Wynonna, “Hear Me Now” (Feat. Iron & Wine)
Artist: Wynonna
Hometown: Franklin, Tennessee
Song: “Hear Me Now” (Feat. Iron & Wine)
Album: The Hard Truth
Release Date: October 2, 2026
Label: ANTI- Records
In Their Words: “This song represents where I’m at right now. It’s me looking around at what’s still here, what’s gone, and what I’m still carrying with me. There are little snapshots and references in these lyrics that probably won’t make sense to anybody but me, and I love that. They’re pieces of my life. So much of my story is wrapped up in my mother, and I still wonder what she would think if she could hear me now. Would she roll her eyes? Would she be surprised? Would she harmonize? Writing this with Sam Beam gave me a place to put those questions, because losing someone doesn’t mean the conversation ends. I still talk to Mom. I still hear her. And every once in a while, when I’m singing, I wonder if she’s listening.” — Wynonna
“She was really open and vulnerable with the stories she shared,” Beam explained. “I was surprised at how determined she was about trying something new, and she talked a lot about how much Joni Mitchell’s music meant to her. I wanted to give her something in that vein. A great collaborator.” — Sam Beam, Iron & Wine
Photo Credit: Jackie Lee Young (Jess Williamson); Thomas Crabtree (Wynonna and Sam Beam, Iron & Wine)
