Tag: premiere

LISTEN: Ross Cooper, “Love Like The Old Days”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

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

Photo Credit: Sam Wiseman

WATCH: Daniel Rodriguez, “Mixtape”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Daniel Rodriguez
Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
Song: “Mixtape”
Album: Vast Nothing
Release Date: March 1, 2023

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

Photo Credit: Jesse Borrell

STREAM: Secret Museum of Mankind – Atlas of Instruments: Fiddles Vol. 1

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Album: Secret Museum of Mankind – Atlas of Instruments: Fiddles Vol. 1
Release Date: September 15, 2023
Label: Jalopy Records

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

WATCH: Cidny Bullens, “Little Pieces”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

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

Photo Credit: Travis Commeau

LISTEN: Luke LeBlanc, “A Place”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

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

Photo Credit: Sarah Bel Kloetzke

WATCH: Kelly Hunt, “On the Bayou”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

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

LISTEN: Steve Lewis, “Tale of Woe”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Steve Lewis
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Tale of Woe”
Album: Exit to Mystery
Release Date: September 8, 2023
Label: Broken Hip Records

In Their Words: “This song was written while I was in the group King Wilkie and while we did record it, it didn’t fit the winsome vibe of the album at the time. We did pitch it to Levon Helm & co. during the Dirt Farmer era, but they were all set for material. Happily, we have a new (better) recording of a song with a lot of history and a lyric about being distant from the modern fast-paced world – and we can all relate to that.” – Steve Lewis

Photo Credit: Robbie Hall

WATCH: Gwen Levey and the Breakdown, “Barefoot and Pregnant”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Gwen Levey and the Breakdown
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Barefoot and Pregnant”
Album: Not the Girl Next Door EP
Release Date: November 3, 2023

In Their Words: “RIP Roe V Wade. That was such a dark day. It’s a very personal issue for me and most women. I was a child who was sexually assaulted. So, everything that’s been happening hit me really hard, especially here in Tennessee, which has the strictest abortion ban. That, even if you’re a child, you can’t get help for anything like that. The song has a serious social commentary, but I wanted it to still be fun so it’s more accessible. You have to be brave to sing that in the south.

“This song is for all the freedom-lovin’, democracy-lovin’, country music-lovin’ people out there who want to help women win back their Reproductive Rights!” – Gwen Levey

Photo Credit: Jonathan Freeland

LISTEN: Zander Schloss, “Play Me a Happy Song”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Zander Schloss
Hometown: Place of birth is St Louis, Missouri; Hometown is Los Angeles, California
Song: “Play Me a Happy Song”
Album: California’s Burning
Release Date: October 13, 2023
Label: Blind Owl

In Their Words: “These days, it seems the ground beneath us is made of eggshells. One has to be very careful about what they say. I find myself wondering, what happened to ‘you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette?’ If I was a diner, I would serve breakfast all day.” – Zander Schloss

Photo Credit: Stefan Lirakis

WATCH: Katie Curley, “Lucky In Love”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Katie Curley
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York; originally from Home, Washington
Song: “Lucky In Love”
Album: Penny For My Heartbreak
Release Date: September 8, 2023

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Lucky In Love’ while driving through Kansas with my husband and bandmate, guitarist Brendan Curley. Actually, he was driving, and I was listening to the Rolling Stones on the car stereo and watching the flat roll by. By the time we got to St. Louis, I had everything but the second verse. I’m incredibly honored that Mary Lee Kortes agreed to sing harmonies for this song on the album. Blue Betty, the ’79 baby blue Ford pickup in the video, was a dream to drive and her owners are also lovely people. I borrowed Brendan’s guitar and cowboy hat to add a bit of a magical element to the storyline, and I think it works well with director Michael Bartolomeo’s quirky, cool style.” – Katie Curley

Photo Credit: Michael Bartolomeo