Tag: premiere

LISTEN: Juliana Daugherty, ‘Easier’

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Juliana Daugherty
Hometown: Charlottesville, VA
Song: “Easier”
Album: Light
Release Date: June 1, 2018
Label: Western Vinyl

In Their Words: “I don’t think anyone would describe me as a bleak person, but I do feel like my capacity for sadness — depression, sometimes, and sometimes just garden-variety melancholy — has always been somewhat overgrown. I find my various sadnesses to be infinitely interesting when I’m writing, and deeply boring and unhelpful at almost all other times. To write a song is to externalize a feeling, so that I don’t have to carry it around in my daily life. ‘Easier’ also has the benefit of catharsis: Singing the last section feels a little like howling at the moon.” — Juliana Daugherty

Photo credit: Tom Daly

LISTEN: Megan Keely, ‘Love Will Find You’

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Megan Keely
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Song: “Love Will Find You”
Album: Bloom
Release Date: May 25, 2018

In Her Words: “‘Love Will Find You’ was the first song I wrote off the Bloom song cycle. It was a rainy day in August 2016 and I was on my way home from a magical seaside wedding on the Oregon coast. I was alone in the airport cafe, scribbling in my notebook, basking in the beautiful afterglow and digesting something that the bride’s parents had said to me on my way out. They had asked me for updates on my love life, and with no good news to share, I muttered, “I’ll find love some day.” They looked me in the eye and said, “No, Megan, love will find you.” The next day, the song spilled out of me in an unconscious effort to remind myself once and for all that the aloneness I felt was part of a long and crucial process that I needed in order to grow into the person I would become. Flying solo to a wedding was the very step I needed in order to rediscover and strengthen the needle of my own emotional and moral compass — the internal guide that would eventually lead me to the true, open-hearted, laughter-filled love I wanted.” – Megan Keely

Photo credit: Stephanie Dandan

STREAM: Heather Styka, ‘North’

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Heather Styka
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Album: North
Release Date: May 18, 2018

In Their Words: “I was moving back to Chicago while touring a ton, and the 2016 election had created such a bizarre, divisive climate. I was lost. I wrote this album to ask, ‘What now?’ and also to answer that question, as an individual and a citizen. We had so much fun recording with the Sentimentals that the album evolved into this semi-political, tearjerker dance party.” — Heather Styka

LISTEN: The Travelin’ McCourys, ‘Lonesome, On’ry and Mean’

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: The Travelin’ McCourys
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Song: “Lonesome, On’ry and Mean”
Album: The Travelin’ McCourys
Release Date: May 25, 2018
Label: McCoury Music

In Their Words: “Jason Carter, who sings here, is a huge Waylon fan — we all are, really. Several years ago when we started looking for material to cut, Jason brought this one and it worked. We’ve been playing it for four or five years now. Using our instruments, we kept the arrangement similar to Waylon’s version with maybe a few more solos.” — Rob McCoury

Photo credit: Shelly Swanger