Tag: Miles Miller

LISTEN: Grayson Jenkins, “Mockingbird”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Grayson Jenkins
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Song: “Mockingbird”
Album: Turning Tides
Release Date: August 27, 2021

In Their Words: “I had just broken up with my girlfriend of four years and was a bit of mess at the time I wrote this song. I decided to go camping in my van and to see Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan in Milwaukee. Willie and Bob could fix about anything, right? The first line of the song came one morning when a bird was chirping nonstop by my van while I was trying to sleep. I couldn’t get it to leave, kind of like her memory. ‘Mockingbird’ is me saying that I don’t need any help remembering that I screwed up, with a grain of hope that I’d wake up one day and not think of her. It was a good trip, but I didn’t come back with anything but a broken heart, toll tickets, a sunburn, and this song.

“The finished track highlights a lot of the elements I like to hear in my music — verses with imagery, big choruses, and a rocking groove. Miles Miller (Sturgill Simpson) did a great job dynamically on the drums to lift the song in the right places. It was cathartic writing and recording the track; somehow it helped heal the hurt and now it makes me smile when I listen. I hope listeners can relate to the song’s sentiment and find some relief in there, too.” — Grayson Jenkins

Photo Credit: Patrick Brumback

WATCH: From the Station Inn, Sturgill Simpson Cuts Grass on ‘The Late Show’

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

In October, outlaw country badass Sturgill Simpson expanded his already broad musical palette with the surprise release of a bluegrass record. The 20-track album, aptly titled Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions, is a return to roots for the singer-songwriter, whose prior endeavor could be described as nothing short of a roaring rock album.

After breaking the mold with Sound & Fury (which was released as a visual album, with an accompanying Netflix anime film), Simpson’s pivot back to more of a traditional-sounding record exemplifies his creative prowess and artistic boldness. Truly beholden to no rules, Simpson does things his own way, sparing no means to create a bluegrass record that honors the traditions of the genre. The album was cut as naturally as a bluegrass album is expected to be and features an all-star band with musicians like Sierra Hull and Stuart Duncan gracing the songs.

Released in October on High Top Mountain Records, Cuttin’ Grass also comes after a livestreamed bluegrass concert Simpson organized as a charity event and broadcasted from the mother church, the Ryman Auditorium in June. On a Veteran’s Day episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Simpson and Co. safely performed “Breakers Roar” from the Station Inn in Nashville. Watch the performance and check out his interview, too.

 

WATCH: Tyler Childers, “House Fire”

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Kentucky country troubadour Tyler Childers has announced his highly anticipated upcoming album, Country Squire, and gives us a taste of what’s to come with the lead track “House Fire.”

Childers says about his mission behind the album, “I hope that people in the area that I grew up in find something they can relate to. I hope that I’m doing my people justice and I hope that maybe someone from somewhere else can get a glimpse of the life of a Kentucky boy.”

Country Squire was recorded at The Butcher Shoppe in Nashville and features renowned musicians such as Stuart Duncan, Miles Miller, and Russ Pahl. And like Childers’ 2017 release Purgatory, Country Squire is produced by Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson.

You can grab your tickets for Childers’ headlining fall US tour on May 23, and find the track list – nine original songs — and more info about the record here, as you wait for its release on August 2 via Hickman Holler Records and RCA Records.