Artist: Pinto Bennett
Hometown: Boise, Idaho
Song: “I Needed a Lot”
Album: The Last Saturday Night
Release Date: April 5, 2019
In Their Words: “I was the man so I needed a lot. I needed a lot of women. A lot of booze. A lot of everything. It’s a happy way to say you messed up.” — Pinto Bennett
Artist: David Quinn
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Song: “Grassy Trails”
Album: Wanderin’ Fool
Release Date: April 5, 2019
In Their Words: “‘Grassy Trails’ was a lot of fun to record. It was right in everyone’s wheelhouse stylistically. Dave Roe and Jimmy Lester really were the perfect guys for this track. They set the pace for the rhythm and Jon Estes came in and laid down some nice pedal steel. If you listen close, Jimmy Lester plays my favorite bell pattern in that second chorus. This song has taken a few different shapes since I wrote it but it is one I always play at every show. I know it’s cliché to say this but I have loved trains since I was a kid and always dreamt about riding the rails. I use to go out and sit next to the tracks when I was younger and just watch the trains go by up close. That’s really where the song came from. I grew up reading Jack Kerouac and other beat writers and hearing about their adventures on trains. Those stories always stuck with me and created a feeling I have been chasing ever since. It seemed fit to put it on this record, Wanderin’ Fool.” — David Quinn
Photo credit: Jess Myers
Artist: Mike Robinson
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Song: “Can’t Come Home”
Album: Clevidence
In Their Words: “‘Can’t Come Home’ was written in hotels across the country. Moving from place to place both exciting and isolating for me. This seems pretty obvious and of course I was expecting to feel homesick while touring, but I was still taken by surprise by how profound loneliness can get. I turned to songwriting to try and detail the specific feelings. Luckily enough for me, the low points were infrequent enough that I could just feel them pass over me and come out unscathed.” — Mike Robinson
Photo credit: Justin Camerer
Artist: Kelly Augustine
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “Seeds of Hope”
Album: Light in the Lowlands
Release Date: April 5, 2019
In Their Words: “I was under the gun! When I got to the studio, my producer, Wes Sharon, dropped one of the songs I thought we were going to put on the record. I was playing him a bunch of other stuff I’d been working on, and when I played this one for him — I had a verse and chorus — he stopped me and said, ‘I like it — go finish it.’ So, that’s what I did. I’d been struggling with the song for a while and wasn’t sure where it wanted to go. I was surprised at how much I liked it when it finally came together.
“Some people we meet change us. I met somebody like that. We walked the road together for a time, holding each other up. I am who I am today in large part because of him. As [it] happens, we went our separate ways. But that doesn’t lessen the beauty or strength of his impact on my life. He planted seeds in my life that have bloomed into flowers, and, for that, I am forever grateful.” — Kelly Augustine
Photo credit: Scott McCormick
Artist: Tyler Ramsey
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina
Song: “Evening Country”
Album: For the Morning
Release Date: April 5, 2019
Label: Fantasy Records
In Their Words: “A couple of years ago my band and I started messing around with some of my older and more pared-down songs and trying to bring them into a band setting. ‘Evening Kitchen’ was a song that I had written for the Band of Horses record Infinite Arms and when we did that record it stood out because it was in contrast with the rest of the album and really bare bones. A lot of that album was lushly produced and I thought having the song recorded with a single acoustic guitar and vocals would help balance things. It worked well in the sequence of that album and led to a lot of the more intimate moments in our live shows and the direction we headed in for the live Ryman acoustic album.
“This version, called ‘Evening Country,’ was a way to reimagine the song and a chance to put it into a new frame with some truly amazing musicians. It was recorded in Louisville, Kentucky, with Seth Kauffman (Floating Action), Kevin Ratterman (Lalaland Studio, My Morning Jacket, Ray Lamontagne), and I doing the basic tracking. Seth had worked with pedal steel guitarist Russ Pahl before and we were able to get him to play on it (I still jump up and down when I hear his playing!). And the goosebump-inducing harmony vocals were sung by Molly Parden and Thad Cockrell and recorded at the Fleetwood Shack in Nashville by my old friend Bill Reynolds (former Band of Horses bassist). The opportunity to revisit this song in the way that we did has given it a new energy for me as well as new meaning.
“A wild memory of this song: years ago we were playing at Bonnaroo after Infinite Arms had been released. We finished our set and climbed down off the stage and our manager came up and told us to go back up and play a couple more songs because Bruce Springsteen had come onto our side stage to watch us play just as we were walking off. We ran back up and ended up playing ‘Evening Kitchen’ last, and all I could think about the whole time was that there was Bruce Springsteen standing fifteen feet away from me and watching us play this song I’d written — don’t f*ck it up! We made it through and headed back down off the stage and there he was with that Bruce Springsteen smile and handshakes all around. Our monitor man Jon Cronin told me afterwards that he heard Bruce say ‘That’s a good song!’ That’s enough for me!” — Tyler Ramsey
Photo credit: Jameykay and Arlie
Artist: Jordie Lane feat. Clare Reynolds
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia (Based in Nashville, Tennessee)
Song: “The Winner” – Live from Cobargo Folk Festival, NSW
Album: Lost EP
EP Release Date: June 7, 2019
Label: Blood Thinner Records / Tone Tree Music
In Their Words: “I started writing this song feeling sorry for myself, eating tacos and drinkin’ beers in a motel room in Joshua Tree, California. But when Clare Reynolds turned it into a duet with me, the whole thing took on a new perspective. It became less about self-pity and more about how to feel alive, and how to love. We were lucky enough to play recently in this rural town of 700 people, at the Cobargo Folk Festival in New South Wales, Australia, just a 12,500km stone’s throw southwest of California. And the good people at Yuin Folk Club & Pegleg Productions captured this live video in the local hall as the first of a series they are doing called the Cobargo Sessions.” — Jordie Lane
Photo credit: Tajette O’Halloran
Artist: The Get Ahead
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Song: “Faint Outline”
Album: Deepest Light
Release Date: April 26, 2019
Label: Jullian Records
In Their Words: “‘Faint Outline’ is straight from what I think of as some of my most vivid sensory childhood memories. Approaching the Rocky Mountains across Western Kansas in an old panel van, alley light coming through the bedroom window playing shadows on the ceiling above the top bunk. We think we have our memories, distinct and concrete, but how malleable and practiced do they become? The Echoplex guitar was inspired by the Hannah Montana Karaoke machine I was playing my Tele through while writing the song.” — Nathan Earle, The Get Ahead
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Hearth PR
Artist: Paper Wings
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee/Berkeley, California
Song: “Woods and Fields”
Album: Clementine
Release Date: May 14th, 2019
In Their Words: “‘Woods and Fields’ is the first song on our upcoming album, Clementine, and is one of the first songs Emily and I wrote together. This track features our take on classic duet singing and draws from the roots and traditions of old-time music. As we slowly reveal new facets of our sound throughout the album, we preserve our essential interpretation of rural folk roots. Clementine is a collection of songs about love, longing, self-reflection, and finding sympathy in nature. ‘Woods and Fields’ represents this well, and is a snapshot of our collective voice.” — Wilhelmina Frankzerda of Paper Wings
Photo credit: Kallie Dawn Hagel
Artist: Kora Feder
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Song: “He Wants to Live Forever”
Album: In Sevens
Release Date: April 2nd (album) / March 26 (single)
In Their Words: “My grandfather is 92 and still cooking amazing meals, going on hikes, reading book after article after book, and enjoying as many sunsets as he possibly can. He’s always been one of the most curious, philosophical, and hilarious people in my life. I wrote this after a conversation with him where, in an usually serious moment, he expressed his sadness that he would never read his grandkids’ biographies. I hope it speaks to anyone who’s ever lost someone, or has someone they never want to lose.” — Kora Feder
Photo credit: Grace Finlayson
Artist: Korby Lenker
Hometown: East Nashville
Song: “I’m Tryin” (feat. Eliot Bronson)
Album: Morse Code Soundtrack
Release Date: March 29, 2019
Label: Soundly Music
In Their Words: “Morse Code is the name of my dramedy web series, about a smart-but-dumb folksinger trying to make good in music without alienating everyone around him. Each episode features a new original song, and today marks the release of Episode 3 and its accompanying song, ‘I’m Tryin’.’ I wrote this one with Eliot Bronson, who joins me here for a live take. It’s a song written from the perspective of the main character, Simon, to his 10-year-old daughter. Life on the road has all but undone Simon’s family life, and at this point in the story, he’s realized he wants to change; he just doesn’t know how.” — Korby Lenker
The first season of Morse Code will run for 10 episodes.
Watch Episode 3: Turd Free
Watch all three episodes of Morse Code
Photo credit: Cody Duncum
