Tag: premiere

STREAM: Victoria Bailey, ‘A Cowgirl Rides On’

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Victoria Bailey
Hometown: Orange County, California
Album: A Cowgirl Rides On
Release Date: October 6, 2023
Label: Rock Ridge Music

In Their Words: “A Cowgirl Rides On is my most vulnerable and honest piece to date. I am so proud of this record and of everyone who brought it to life. It started with a few heartbreak songs and a few gospel songs and it turned into an intertwined piece of those two things exactly: An unexpected breakup and what I grasped onto to get me through, my faith and the Gospel. I wanted this record to feel as raw as the songs felt to write, so we went into the studio and recorded live with a string band, all in one room together, and everyone poured a lot of love into each recording. You can hear it so clearly listening to the record. It’s perfect-imperfections, and just some good ol’ classic country storytelling. I can‘t even envision this project coming to life without my good friend and producer of the record, Brian Whelan (also a co-writer on a few of the tracks). I hope this record takes listeners to a good–feeling place – some sort of western, bluegrass dream – and brings them comfort even in the slightest way. Enjoy.” – Victoria Bailey

Photo Credit: Stefanie Lee Johnson

WATCH: Thunder and Rain, “Wendigos Wanderin'”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Thunder and Rain
Hometown: Nashville, Tennesse
Song: “Wendigos Wanderin'”
Album: Storybook Sessions
Release Date: October 20, 2023

In Their Words: “This song was inspired by a TikTok rabbit hole I went down last year that revealed the world of wendigos, also called skinwalkers. I got addicted to watching these terrible quality videos of deer with odd head shapes and dogs walking on hind legs with weird looks in their eyes. One of the TikToks said, ‘In Appalachia, if you hear your name in the woods, no you didn’t.’ I loved this concept that people know these terrifying creatures exist, but they don’t want to talk about it.

“One day while walking through Peeler Park in Madison outside of Nashville, I had an eerie feeling that something was following me. In my mind I sang the chorus of this song to the beat of my footsteps. I got home and wrote the song, then brought it to the band where we had a ton of fun arranging the harmony parts and spooky interludes. Our goal was to make people in the audience feel unsettled but still have fun, like a good horror movie.” – Erinn Peet Lukes

Track Credits:

Erinn Peet Lukes – Guitar/vocals
Laura Ray – Banjo/vocals
Amelia Ransom – Fiddle/vocals
Katie Blomarz-Kimball – Bass

Photo Credit: Jake Byrne
Video Credits: Videographer – Andrew Hutton
Audio Engineer – Tim Miller
Recorded at Laughing Heart Studio in East Nashville, TN

WATCH: Swearingen & Kelli, “This Old House”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Swearingen & Kelli
Hometown: AJ Swearingen – Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Jayne Kelli – Lapeer, Michigan; Current hometown – Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “This Old House”
Album: Build Myself Up From The Ground
Release Date: October 27, 2023
Label: Gone Rogue Music

In Their Words: “It’s about endurance, hope, the passage of time, saying goodbye if you have to, and the longing for stability when your life is changing so fast you can’t find any stable ground. The song is literal and metaphorical. The house we were living in was sold out from underneath us, I lost my father, we had health challenges, and were free-falling. It was a crazy year. Sometimes when everything in your life is painfully uncertain, you have to dig your heels in and hold your ground. My mother still lives in the same house I grew up in. It’s old, but it’s an anchor in the family. I hope she can hold onto it. I think everyone can relate to that.” – AJ Swearingen

Photo Credit: Juliana Shipps

WATCH: Hogslop String Band, “Mississippi Queen”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Hogslop String Band
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Mississippi Queen”
Release Date: October 6, 2023
Label: Tone Tree Music

In Their Words: “‘Mississippi Queen’ is a story about an escaped inmate during the construction of the Richmond-Danville railroad. I wrote it years ago, and we have occasionally worked on it over the years, but we recently came up with a new arrangement of it that felt really good. The main character escapes on foot, follows the Tennessee River south, then across Alabama to find his family in North Mississippi. Ultimately, it’s a story about being separated from loved ones and doing whatever it takes to make it back home, which I think a lot of people can relate to.” – Daniel Binkley, banjo

Photo Credit: Josh Goleman

WATCH: The Brothers Comatose, “The IPA Song” (Feat. Ronnie McCoury)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: The Brothers Comatose
Hometown: San Francisco, California
Song: “The IPA Song” (featuring Ronnie McCoury)
Release Date: October 5, 2023
Label: Swamp Jam Records

In Their Words: “There comes a time in every band’s existence when you have speak up and let the chips fall where they may. We realize that this statement is really going to split our crowd, but it’s time we say something. We can’t drink IPAs anymore! They’ve gotten too strong and too hoppy and we just can’t do it any longer. All we drink are light beers now and maybe it’s because we turned into more of a quantity, not quality type of band… or maybe we just turned into a bunch of beer wusses. Either way, no more IPAs!

“It all stems from us overdoing it back in the day when we were sponsored by a beer company and they delivered 3 cases (72 beers!) of IPAs to every tour stop. So there we were, neck deep in super strong, warm IPAs in our van and we were just trying to keep up. It’s kinda like how you can’t drink Bacardi anymore because of that one bad night you had in college. That’s us with strong and hoppy beers. The song started off as a joke because venues kept putting IPAs in our green room, but we would never drink them. It turns out the message really hits home with a lot of people.

“When we were planning to go into the studio to record ‘The IPA Song,’ our mandolin player Greg wasn’t available, because he was out on tour with another band at the time. It turned out our buddy, mandolin maestro Ronnie McCoury, was going to be in town playing a show, so we got him to come and play mandolin and sing high harmonies on the track. And being the legend he is, he truly delivered the goods on this one.

“We recommend cracking a nice, cold, non-IPA beer to enjoy while watching this video.” – The Brothers Comatose

Photo courtesy of the Brothers Comatose, Pavement PR

LISTEN: Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, “Step Out in the Sunshine”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Chris Jones & The Night Drivers
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Step Out in the Sunshine”
Album: Pages In Your Hand
Release Date: October 6, 2023
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “Ralph Stanley’s early 1970s Clinch Mountain Boys lineup of Roy Lee Centers, Jack Cooke, Curly Ray Cline, Keith Whitley, and Ricky Skaggs was a golden era for his band, in my opinion, and in my mid-teens their music was a major influence on me as I was just getting serious about playing music. The gospel album they did, Cry From the Cross, was and remains my favorite bluegrass gospel album of all time. It inspired my lead singing and guitar playing, and without consciously trying to do it, I learned to sing the baritone harmony part from Jack Cooke.

“I still have and cherish the original LP that I bought when I was around 15, though the jacket is a little battered and my name is written in brown magic marker on the back — because, you know, other kids in high school were likely to try to steal my Ralph Stanley records. I wanted to record a song from the album that I hadn’t heard anyone else do and that hadn’t become a Ralph Stanley standard, and so I was drawn to ‘Step Out in the Sunshine.’ We rearranged it slightly to fit our sound but it remains a tribute to the Stanley original.” – Chris Jones

Track Credits:
Chris Jones – acoustic guitar, lead vocal
Marshall Wilborn – bass
Mark Stoffel – mandolin, harmony vocal
Grace van’t Hof – banjo, harmony vocal

Photo Credit: Sandlin Gaither

LISTEN: Arielle Silver, “Soft On the Shoulder”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Arielle Silver
Hometown: Finding the answer to that question has been a lifelong quest. My childhood was spent in Florida, NYC, and New Jersey. Boston raised me from late teens through most of my twenties, but I did a few stints in PA, TN, and NC. Something brought me to Los Angeles a while back, and it’s now been my hometown longer than anywhere else. I’m rather attached – and detached – from a lot of places, but I think I love LA and Boston the most.
Song: “Soft On the Shoulder”
Album: Watershed
Release Date: October 6, 2023

In Their Words: “Inspired by the Laurel Canyon music of the ’70s and the cultural activism that came about after the murder of George Floyd, ‘Soft On the Shoulder’ is a song largely about self-culpability. I was reflecting on the place of music amid cultural change and its place in political activism and social engagement. I was also thinking about the ways that I – as a white-presenting woman – have unwittingly participated in systemic wrongs. While initially inspired by thoughts sparked by the BLM movement, this song applies to any personal or cultural circumstance where we are asked to examine our long-held beliefs and consider another person’s perspective.

“Having grown up listening to records, cassettes, and CDs, I am very album-oriented. I felt that ‘Soft On The Shoulder,’ which opens the Watershed album with the words, ‘It starts with a witness…’ and is threaded with the mantra ‘love more, fear less,’ captures the compassion and reflective nature of this entire collection of songs.” – Arielle Silver

Photo Credit: Anabel DFlux

WATCH: Sarah King, “Hey Hey What Can I Do” (Led Zeppelin Cover)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Sarah King
Hometown: currently Ripton, Vermont; formerly Columbus, Georgia
Song: “Hey Hey What Can I Do” (Led Zeppelin cover)
Release Date: September 1, 2023 (single)
Label: Ringleader Records

In Their Words: “Recording ‘Hey Hey What Can I Do’ was a bold, last-minute decision in the studio to celebrate and share some self-love: It was the first song I learned to play by ear on guitar, and I kept the original pronouns as a nod to some of the wonderful women I’ve dated in the past. I am now married to a man, but owning my queerness through music felt like the right choice.

“When it came time to craft a video, I knew Loni (of Whiskey Ginger Goods, who also designs my logo and merch) was the perfect director. She’s excellent at capturing women feeling themselves, and those beautiful in-between, emotional moments that can really tell a story. During my summer tour in Montana, we set aside some time to film both the bar and bedroom scenes. Combined, the video leads us through the seductive, and at times silly, story of a woman in love with another woman who won’t be true. As the heartbreak unfolds, the video gets more unhinged, until I just flop on the bed, tired of trying. I loved recording the song and video, and I hope everyone who watches has a blast listening, too!” – Sarah King

Track Credits:
Sarah King – vocals, guitars
David Baron – piano, organ
Johnny Stanton – bass
Jeff Lipstein – drums

Produced, recorded, and mixed by David Baron at Sun Mountain Studios, Boiceville, New York
Renee Hikari – assistant engineer
David Baron – mastering engineer

Photo Credit: Arielle Thomas
Video Credit: Filmed & directed by Whiskey Ginger Goods, Bozeman, Montana

Edited & produced by Sarah King

WATCH: Mark & Maggie O’Connor, “All We Will Be”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Mark & Maggie O’Connor
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Song: “All We Will Be”
Release Date: September 30, 2023
Label: ONErpm/OMAC Records

In Their Words: “‘All We Will Be’ is one of our new vocal songs where we reach for a more contemplative place in words and music. There is such mystery and intrigue with the lyrics, by my co-writer Joe Henry, and the story-telling vocal performance by Maggie, that it was interesting for me to create an expanded instrumental soundscape for it. The musical qualities move from plaintive Americana guitar strums to a jazz-rock acoustic fusion crescendo that showcases Maggie’s majestic violin solo. The powerful and intuitive bass and drums on this song – by Dennis Crouch and John Gardner – help to elevate this idea. Our journey here is about testing faith and rediscovering it through love and music.

“In scouting locations for the music video, it was Maggie that suggested the piece be filmed adjacent to the stillness and reflection of our North Carolina lake. On the day of filming, it poured down during the day leaving us a sense of renewal in the forest when things cleared off to do the shoot. The storm also left a painting in the sky — one of those colorful Southern sunsets over the water that had us dancing to the music for the video on the shoreline. I had my 1865 Martin out there on the edge of the swampy part of the lake conveying timelessness through the bending of the strings like ripples in the water. With inspiration from the lyric, ‘Back into trees, like all that we are,’ the low setting sun gave us the shadow effect essential to combine Maggie’s violin and my viola that accompanies her, returning us into the roots of trees on the forest floor. It was joyful to create this video with my wife Maggie, and even more so to have my son Forrest handling the great camera work and the directing of our music video.” – Mark O’Connor

Track Credits: Written by Joe Henry and Mark O’Connor

Maggie O’Connor – vocals, violin, cello
Mark O’Connor – vocals, guitar, mandolin, mandocello, violin, viola
Dennis Crouch – upright bass
John Gardner – drums
Tracking Engineer – Neal Cappellino
Overdubs and Mixing Engineer – Mark O’Connor
Mastering Engineer – Dave Harris at Studio B Mastering, Charlotte, NC
Recorded at Sound Emporium Studio A, Nashville, TN
Overdubs at Hometone Studio

Photo Credit: David Hume Kennerly
Video Credit: Filmed and directed by Forrest O’Connor

LISTEN: Humbird, “North Country Girl”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Humbird
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “North Country Girl”
Release Date: September 29, 2023
Label: Nettwerk Music Group

In Their Words: “This is a song written from the deep heart of winter in Minnesota. After singing Bob Dylan’s classic ‘Girl From the North Country’ for years, I started to wonder what she would say if given the chance. I realized by the end that she and I had a lot more in common than I’d thought – namely, a love of stark landscapes and fresh water. A lot of folk songs talk about leaving all the time. This one is the opposite. What happens when you choose to stay?” – Siri Undlin, Humbird

Photo Credit: Melissa Alderton