Artist:Wood Belly Hometown: Denver, Colorado Song: “Gone Are the Days” Album:Man on the Radio
In Their Words: “‘Gone Are the Days’ is a project we’ve been working on, well, for a lifetime. The video features some of Wood Belly’s childhood home movies interlaced with moments from the last few years playing music across the country. We wanted to pay homage to our roots and express our undying gratitude to the people that helped us get to where we are and will go. There’s a clip towards the end of a couple of our moms hugging during our set in Telluride, Colorado, which pretty much sums up the whole idea. Much love to everyone who made us who we are.” — Chris Weist, Wood Belly
Artist:Charley Crockett Hometown: San Benito, Texas / Austin, Texas Song: “Welcome to Hard Times” Album:Welcome to Hard Times Release Date: July 31, 2020 (album) Label: Son of Davy/Thirty Tigers
In Their Words: “‘Welcome To Hard Times’ is about the viewpoint of society from an outcast’s perspective. The hobo who prefers to skirt by Sin City taking it in as he passes by its outskirts. Inevitably we are compelled to play the game. In America today everyone understands the casino and that when you’re in it you have to play by the house rules. I’m a nameless drifter at the end of the day. Forced to roll the dice and get that money, but the dollar doesn’t own me. I think anybody can relate to that hustle.” — Charley Crockett
Artist:Alec Lytle & Them Rounders Hometown: Woodside, California Song: “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” (Paul Simon cover) Album:The Remains of Sunday Release Date: April 17, 2020 Label: CEN/The Orchard
In Their Words: “There is a bit of an interesting story around the album cut; it was fully recorded live, no overdubs. The band was in the live room at Sound City Studios and I was in the reverb chamber. The chamber is a huge, empty, concrete vault normally used to add reverb and echo to the mix in a very natural way. So I sat in there, hearing the band over headphones. No light, total blackness. All that echo and reverb is because of the space I’m sitting in. This is the same reverb chamber that became famous from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours that was recorded there too.
“I chose to put this song on the record after sitting with it for about six months. My sister passed away recently after a brutal battle with cancer. She loved music, she was the first person I ever heard play guitar and sing, she sang the soprano part when my sisters and I would sing together. I played this song at her memorial service because my family and I felt like this song represented how we want to remember her. I decided to include it on the record as a marker for her… a testament to her memory.
“Dylan Day (guitarist/Jackson Browne, Jenny Lewis, Beck) was spending a few days at our house in November. We had just finished playing and recording some other songs in our living room when we noticed the light starting to fade at the end of the day. Dylan and I decided to play the song outside our back door while the sunset over the forest. It was a one-take thing… filmed and recorded in a matter of minutes. This was likely only the second time Dylan and I played this song… the first time for the record, and then this time behind our house.” — Alec Lytle
With spring just arriving, our BGS Artist of the Month has just given us a seasonal freshen-up with a lovely new release. Siblings Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle, known as The Secret Sisters, released their latest album, Saturn Return, at the end of February. The new record was produced by Brandi Carlile along with Phil and Tim Hanseroth and was released on New West Records.
“Late Bloomer” and its accompanying video have the same glow that an old photo album or a home-cooked meal with your family might have: welcoming, heart-warming, and encouraging. The message of the song is one of affirmation and reassurance, reiterating that everyone’s story is different and every path is unique. For a peak into what Saturn Return holds, watch the Secret Sisters’ touching music video for “Late Bloomer,” a spring of solace for those who feel the familiar impulse to compare and pass judgment on their own experience.
Artist:The Lone Bellow Song: “Count On Me” Album:Half Moon Light Release Date: February 7, 2020 Label: Dualtone Records
In Their Words: “After singing ‘Count On Me’ together in the studio we walked outside and couldn’t help but think about the sense of camaraderie and kindness that seems to happen at our shows. Like strangers becoming neighbors wrapping their arms ‘round each others necks and saying ‘I got ya.’
“[For the lyric video] I had this vision of a figure skating routine, but we wanted to bring it a little closer to home. Instead of a poised athlete on ice, we hopped into a dirty old muscle car and while doing donuts in a field, we got to be Burt Reynolds for a day! I’m so thankful I was finally able to reap some of the skills from my redneck upbringing.” — Zach Williams, The Lone Bellow
Artist:LULLANAS Hometown: Worcester, Pennsylvania Song: “Memphis” Album:Before Everything Got Real Release Date: April 24, 2020 Label: Nettwerk
In Their Words: “What started as a few scribbles on a page and some acoustic guitar was brought to a level we couldn’t have ever imagined. Everyone has their own version of their ‘Memphis.’ This song takes listeners on their own journey, but in the end, we all end up at the same place with the same feeling. We got to record our debut EP with Grammy Award-winning producer Peter Katis (The National, The Head and the Heart, The Paper Kites) whose work we have admired for years. Seeing our song being built from the ground up was truly a life changing experience for us. The video was directed by Lenne Chai, and seeing her stunning interpretation of our lyrics really brought the song life.” — Atisha and Nishita Lulla, LULLANAS
Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is inescapable this time of year, heard everywhere from shopping centers to Home Alone. Now for the first time, the holiday chestnut has an official music video. Commissioned by Universal Music Enterprises, created by Ingenuity Studios, and inspired by the style of vintage UPA cartoons of the 1950s and ’60s, the irresistible video features a merry trio of musicians as they perform throughout town and encounter scenes from popular holiday movies.
“When I recorded ‘Rockin” in 1958, I never could have dreamt that it would become a Christmas standard that would be listened to year after year and loved by generation after generation,” Lee said. “I always loved the song and knew it was great, and that was the main criteria for me and Owen [Bradley, her producer], but we never imagined it would become the quintessential Christmas song it has become, it’s been an amazing journey with this song. I thought Home Alone was a pretty darn good video so I never brought up the idea of a video but I’m honored that Universal has created ‘Rockin”s first-ever video.”
Also for the first time, all 18 of her Christmas recordings for Decca Records are available on vinyl, with the title Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree – The Decca Christmas Recordings. Collectors, take note: The release offers three tracks originally only available on the Japanese release of her 1964 album which are all making their U.S. vinyl debut: “White Christmas,” “Silent Night,” and “Jingle Bells.”
Lee, who is the only woman inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, still holds a special place in her heart for “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” more than six decades after she recorded it.
“It was just one of those magical moments in the studio when everything came together,” Lee remembered. “The sax solo, the little guitar lick that’s in there. Everything just sort of fell into place.”
Artist:Yola Hometown: Bristol, England Song: “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” Album:Walk Through Fire: Deluxe Edition (Featuring “I Don’t Wanna Lie” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”)
In Their Words: “Can’t believe it has only been a year since we announced Walk Through Fire, working with Dan Auerbach and the team has been an absolute dream and [I am] so proud of everything we have achieved. So many great songs from that session didn’t make the final cut, including ‘I Don’t Wanna Lie.’ I’m a HUGE Elton fan and we’ve been playing ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ on the tour and wanted to cut a version for this release, which Dan also produced! And then for Elton to personally premiere it, well that is the icing on the cake!” — Yola
The idea of success, especially as it relates to being a musician, songwriter, and/or performer, has always been a wily, shifting idea. What are the benchmarks we use to determine someone’s level of notoriety? What are their claims to fame? Owning a tour bus? Having your first number one hit? Being the musical guest on SNL? Having a highway named after you? Or perhaps a proclamation from your local public figures designating a [Named After You] Day?
Well, for everyone’s favorite bluegrass powerhouse vocalist turned mainstream country star and global sensation Chris Stapleton, success isn’t measured only by a cameo appearance on HBO’s Game of Thrones. How about having LEGO figures modeled after you, your wife, your band, your stage set, and your otherworldly, music-hating fantastical arch-enemies?
LEGO Group and Stapleton collaborated on the brand new music video for “Second One To Know,” creating a fully realized toy brick universe replete with Stapleton’s signature hat, Morgane Stapleton’s omnipresent tambourine, strikingly accurate LEGO versions of instruments, gear, crew, family members, and even a cameo by bassist J.T. Cure’s cat! (A cat-meo? A cat-meow?)
It may seem a little off the wall for an artist who, while ceaselessly compelling, is generally reserved and counterintuitively subdued — despite his music and window-shaking voice being anything but. But the video is whimsical, painstakingly detailed, expertly crafted, and damn, it’s entertaining. Watch LEGO + Chris Stapleton’s “Second One To Know” right here, on BGS.
If you haven’t gotten your fix of straight up bluegrass today, stop what you’re doing and check out new music from bluegrass pillars The Grascals. In late August the band released their most recent album, Straighten the Curves, on Mountain Home Music Company.
No stranger to the bluegrass limelight, the Grascals have now released eleven full-length albums, building a reputation of excellence on their tight vocal sound and traditional writing style. Accompanying the album is the music video for “Callin’ Your Name,” a catchy number led by newcomer-to-the-band Chris Davis, who proves himself as a strong vocalist and stout lead guitar player, injecting some fine flatpicking into the Grascals’ refreshed but classic sound.
Photo credit: Kim Lancaster Brantley
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