Artist:Kathy Kallick Band Hometown: San Francisco Bay Area, California Song: “Just Lonesome Ol’ Me & the Radio” Album:The Lonesome Chronicles Release Date: September 19, 2023 (single); October 17, 2023 (album) Label: Live Oak Records
In Their Words: “People of different ages will feel their engagement with radio in different ways. As part of a family gathered around the radio for a specific show, as a teenager listening to a transistor radio under their pillow, as a traveler on a long car trip with the radio tuned in to whatever signal it can find, or as a listener with that favorite show tuned in on a laptop from anywhere in the world, the radio means connection. In that bizarre time of lockdown, we all looked for ways to ‘be’ with other people, and a dear friend and I started having a listening date, tuning in to the same radio show from our separate places, and commenting to each other via email, text, or calling on the phone. It made us feel like we were having a little party!” – Kathy Kallick
In Their Words: “We’re very excited to release this music into the world and hope people enjoy it. Tom [Knowlton] and I wrote this song when each of us were dealing with the hardships of a long distance relationship. The dilemma between balancing love and pursuing a career in music. It was our first co-write together and an early addition to our live show. Sam [Parks] and Dan [Andree] really helped us bring the whole thing together on record.” – Taylor Shuck, bassist
Track Credits: Written by Taylor Shuck and Tom Knowlton Produced by Sally Van Meter Engineered by Eric Wiggs Recorded at Vermillion Road Studio in Longmont, Colorado Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering
Photo Credit: Elliot Siff
Track Credits: Written by Taylor Shuck and Tom Knowlton Produced by Sally Van Meter Engineered by Eric Wiggs Recorded at Vermillion Road Studio in Longmont, Colorado Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering
Artist:Melody Walker, Crys Matthews, Heather Mae Hometown: Melody – Bay Area, California; Crys – Richlands, North Carolina; Heather – Washington, D.C. Area Song: “Room” Release Date: September 15, 2023 Label: AntiFragile Music
In Their Words: “‘Room’ started as a conversation between me and my co-writer, Sarah Potenza, about the enduring underrepresentation of women and other marginalized folks on festival lineups, but it blossomed into so much more. The ways that women and woman-aligned people are expected to not take up space in the world: to not be fat, loud, queer, creative, assertive, and are definitely not to band together in solidarity to fight against our own oppression. Community and joy are the keys to liberation, and this song celebrates both. I am so glad my faves Heather and Crys were down to come bring it to life with me.” – Melody Walker
“The first time I heard the demo of ‘Room’ that Melody sent me, I had tears in my eyes by the time it got to, ‘Your win is mine, I’ll root for you.’ As a Black, Butch-of-center lesbian in the Americana and country genres, it rarely feels like there is room for women in general, and especially not for women like me. Getting to lift my voice alongside Melody to echo the powerful sentiment contained within this song was an absolute honor. I hope it empowers women and girls to advocate for one another on and off the stage.” – Crys Matthews
“This song is so much more than just an all-woman collab. ‘Room’ stands as a celebratory rallying cry against the enduring patriarchal norms that fuel female rivalry. There persists this notion that there’s only one seat at the table and, when women scan the music industry’s landscape, you can see why we’d be forced to think that. It’s 2023, and a woman has yet to secure a Grammy for Producer of the Year. Examine festival lineups and you’ll see a stark gender imbalance in the representation of male and female artists. This scarcity of ‘room’ forces us into a perceived competition, when in reality, our struggle should be directed at dismantling the system that pits us against one another.” – Heather Mae
Track Credits: Written by Melody Walker & Sarah Potenza
Vocals: Melody Walker; Heather Mae Vocals and Guitar: Crys Matthews Slide Guitar: Jacob Groopman Bass: Michael Majett Drums: Alex Bice Keys: Jen Gunderman Additional Guitars: Dan Knobler Produced by Dan Knobler
Photo and Video Credit: Kaitlyn Raitz Filmed live at Sound Emporium Studios, Nashville, TN
Artist:Kristen Grainger & True North Hometown: Portland, Oregon Song: “Across the Mountains” Album:Fear of Falling Stars Release Date: November 10, 2023
In Their Words: “‘Across the Mountains’ started as a banjo riff, a total earworm Dan [Wetzel] kept playing on this five-string, open-back banjo he built. Dan calls it a ‘mountain banjo,’ it’s got a wood ring instead of metal, sounds really organic and cool. He dubbed the tune ‘Across the Mountains,’ a haunting modal progression that just begs for a dark tale to go along with it. So I crafted a melody and lyrics to ride along the currents of the tune, unfolding a story about a woman seeking refuge in the mountains after getting revenge on her cruel and unfaithful lover.
“In true ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ style, she sets the house on fire after he leaves her, then makes a run for it. I love story songs, but traditionally, women who are the subject of a bluegrass tune have not fared well (‘Banks of the Ohio,’ ‘Pretty Polly,’ ‘Knoxville Girl,’ etc. It’s a long and tragic list). At a time when women’s autonomy, even our right to exist, is called into question, we had to ask ourselves why we’d even play those kinds of songs. And we offer ‘Across the Mountains’ – a woman’s story in a woman’s voice – as a step towards changing the traditional bluegrass narrative.” – Kristen Grainger
Artist:Ross Cooper Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Love Like The Old Days” Album:Lightning Heart Release Date: September 29, 2023
In Their Own Words: “Aaron Raitiere and I were both on the same flight coming back to Nashville and sat together, opened up our journals, and wrote this song in a couple of hours. We’d been struggling to get a date on the books to write, so that plane ride was kind of a ‘stars-aligning moment.’ I wanted to write a song about my wife and the type of relationship that our folks have. The type of marriage worth writing about. This song fell out. I knew it was going to be a special song from the moment we finished it. And the cherry on top of all of it was I got my wife, O’Neal (who swears up and down that she ‘can’t sing’), to sing harmony on the track, and she sounds beautiful. Now it’s all full circle, and we have a song we get to share together. Some songs are easy to write… like they were waiting to get written. ‘Love Like The Old Days’ feels like that song for me.” – Ross Cooper
In Their Words: “I wrote this song in the passenger seat of a Chevy truck on a road trip from Idaho to Colorado. The world was slowly opening back up from those strange days. We found ourselves rediscovering the joys of a good, honest road trip. Rediscovering the joys of the open road. We were fixed up with the perfect ingredients: good company, a good playlist, and the here and now.
“The video was directed and edited by my friend, Jesse Borrell. He had me up at 4 a.m. a few times, headed to particular locations in order to get the right light and angles. I love what he created.” – Daniel Rodriguez
In Their Words: “The museum’s musical atlas of instruments continues with the opening of another wing, the first in a series on bowed instruments. To stretch boundaries over the earth and over time is to forsake them; whether it is a matter of Synchronizität or just the plain unconscious. In Western cultural history, the bowed instrument is a late installment, after centuries, of an almost primordial vibration that we imagine in sound; see in the old paintings; and yet can sample in the remnants of the ancient world captured on gramophone records.” – Pat Conte, curator
“The Secret Museum series is legendary. It opened up new possibilities for me when I first heard it in the 1990s. The curator is Pat Conte, he did something remarkable, even more so because it was before the internet: Starting in the 1970s he began assembling the first and arguably greatest collection of world music recorded in the 78 rpm record era of the 1920s – 1950s, give or take. He did it by casing junk stores in Queens, New York, the most diverse place in the world, and by maintaining letter correspondence with collectors and dealers across the globe. That is the music you will find on the Secret Museum of Mankind albums.
“Conte programs the records by feel, not with a predefined structure. The records are not meant to be academic, they are meant to move the listener. The movement is emotional, using music that was recorded in different places and at different times. Each listener will experience the sequence in their own way, and each track is its own world.
“The Secret Museum of Mankind: Atlas of Instruments – Fiddles, Vol. 1 continues the series and presents fiddle sounds developed and practiced across the globe. The compilation, drawn from Conte’s pioneering and remarkable personal collection of 78 rpm discs recorded in the 1920s – 1950s, offers fiddle music recorded across the world from Crete to Madagascar, Mexico, England, Sicily, Norway, India, the USA, Cape Verde, China and more.” – Eli Smith, producer
Image courtesy of Jalopy Records, Nick Loss-Eaton Media
Artist:Cidny Bullens Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Little Pieces” Album:Little Pieces Release Date: September 14, 2023 Label: Kill Rock Stars
In Their Words: “‘Little Pieces’ is the very first song I wrote after I started transitioning. It took months to even notice what would or what eventually did start happening to me. The ‘old’ me was falling away piece by piece, but I could not yet see the ‘new’ me. In this song I ask myself the question, ‘What will I become?’ Knowing that whatever that was going to be — I had gone too far to turn back. I think every human has this experience at some point in their lives — a decision or choice that we make to change our reality from one thing to another. No matter how big or small, there is most likely some fear that accompanies the ‘not knowing’ of that choice.” — Cidny Bullens
Artist:Luke LeBlanc Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota Song: “A Place” Album:Places Release Date: September 15, 2023 (single); October 27, 2023 (album) Label: Real Phonic Records
In Their Words: “After I released my last album, Fugue State, in fall 2022, I could feel a switch in my mind toggle from ‘Logistics Mode’ to ‘Creative Mode.’ The logistical web of coordinating an album release, booking shows, and scheduling rehearsals was broken apart by a rush of melodies and lyrics that led to some eventual demo recording in my spare time. Two months later I nearly had enough songs for another album, and on a frigid Minneapolis afternoon in January, I texted Erik Koskinen (producer) to set up a time to chat. We eventually made a plan to track this new album live, with a mindset intent on capturing the energy, ebb and flow, and spontaneity that live performance provides.
“‘A Place,’ the lead song from this upcoming record, Places, revolves around a practice I’ve found to be essential for performing live: accepting the place you’re in and then living in it fully. In the studio, a song you demo’d at home, just how you like it, might not sound the same way once the actual band is there recording. You might hit one wrong note on the guitar during the best take of the song, leaving you to decide whether to wear everyone out by doing another take or accept the imperfection, sacrificing ‘perfect’ for that authentic ‘feel,’ realizing that the perfect take doesn’t exist, anyway. While challenging, learning to accept, embrace, and love when things don’t go to plan while recording live unlocks new ways for songs to live and breathe.
“Outside of recording processes, ‘A Place’ is a song that takes a stab at analyzing this search for the ‘perfect place’ of being, both emotionally and physically. The way we’re inundated with ads encouraging us to ‘work on ourselves,’ ‘feel healthier,’ and ‘live better’ are all well and good, but they make it easy to forget that it’s okay to pull up a chair in whatever place we’re in, whether it be good or bad, and feel it. After all, sometimes the easiest way to get through turbulent waters is to just ride the wave.” – Luke LeBlanc
Artist:Kelly Hunt Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee Song: “On the Bayou” Album:Ozark Symphony Release Date: September 8, 2023 (single); October 13, 2023 (album) Label: Compass Records
In Their Words: “I see this song as a kind of modern-day adaptation of the ‘Evangeline’ tale, a centerpiece of Louisiana folklore, which I first encountered through Longfellow’s poem by the same name. This particular song emerged just a couple weeks before heading down to make this record with producer Dirk Powell at his Cypress House studio in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. I felt compelled to revisit the ‘Evangeline’ poem and was struck anew by how deeply her story resonated with me and seemed to mirror my own. On a whim, we ended up cutting it for the record, and I went on to film an accompanying music video for it in the bayou-strewn countryside close to where the album was made. The chorus is an invocation of sorts: ‘Evangeline, tell me what you know…’ A plea for guidance across time and space from one lovelorn woman to another, and a summoning of the same lodestar that, as the story goes, led Evangeline to the live oak on the banks of Bayou Teche where her search was fulfilled.” – Kelly Hunt
Photo Credit: Makemade
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