Artist:Hallie Spoor Hometown: Denver, Colorado Song: “Julia” Album:Heart Like Thunder Release Date: August 22, 2023 (single); October 17, 2023 (album)
In Their Words: “‘Julia’ is the first song I wrote for what would eventually (three full years later) become a new record, Heart Like Thunder. I had just seen a Bonny Light Horseman show at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY, and was very inspired by the performance. Their music has a grounded and natural energy, and that was how I approached writing the song that evolved into ‘Julia.’
“‘Julia’ is a strophic song – meaning it’s a very simple, three-verse format that is a tad unusual to the way I typically approach songwriting. (Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, etc.) But I think the simplicity of the form is what allows the story to shine. ‘Julia’ is about losing your lover to their best friend. In real life, we humans can be jealous bitter creatures, but in art we get to be wise and soulful. ‘Julia’ ultimately is about forgiveness – and I hope that feeling of peace is what the listener takes away.” – Hallie Spoor
Artist:Jon Danforth Hometown: Dallas, Texas Song: “Can’t Stay Here” Album:Repetitions Release Date: August 18, 2023 (single); October 27, 2023 (album)
In Their Words: “‘Can’t Stay Here’ is a bit of a rambling song, but it is also self-aware enough to know that rambling is typically not a solution to life’s problems. The song acknowledges the strong impulse and the feeling of needing to get away while admitting that, most of the time, that won’t solve anything. It’s a reminder that most of our problems need to be addressed by doing the work on ourselves. At the end of the day, as the saying goes, ‘wherever you go, there you are.'” – Jon Danforth
Artist:The Clements Brothers Hometown: Gloucester, Massachusetts Song: “As the Crow Flies” Album:Dandelion Breeze Release Date: August 25, 2023 Label: Plow Man Records
In Their Words: “’As the Crow Flies’ is a tune written by George and finished by Charles. George came up with the Celtic-inspired tune on the guitar and brought it to the band. Then we played and improvised around on it until we had something we thought was exciting and interesting. The metric modulation and build in the middle of the tune was something George had conceived-of from the initial demo, but it took some playing around and experimenting with until the current progression and bass solo with the fiddle weaving around it emerged. The great fiddler Jenna Moynihan lent her beautiful playing and creative energy to the fiddle part, which we think really tied the tune together in the end. In terms of the tune name, we thought the melody had a kind of soaring and darkly quirky quality to it, so the title “As the Crow Flies” seemed to fit the mood and spirit of the sonic journey. Our late father, who passed just before the album was coming into shape, always loved crows with their intelligent and family-oriented qualities, so it also serves as a little memory capsule to him.” – The Clements Brothers
Artist:Sandy Bailey Hometown: Northfield, Massachusetts Song: “Like You Loved Me” Album:Daughter Of Abraham Release Date: August 18, 2023 Label: Red Parlor Records
In Their Words: “I first wrote and recorded this song about 10 years ago and never released it. When we were tracking it, the drummer started crying and I realized I had written something that would resonate with people. Still, in typical artist fashion, I constantly second guess myself and try to perfect things and get in my own way. Because of this I have a whole catalog of songs that will probably never be heard. The only people who ever listened to what I recorded were my kids. They made me play this song for them all the time, it was one of their favorites. I decided I wanted to finally release it on this album, but I had to make a new recording, because my voice had changed 10 years later. Not only has my voice changed, but so has my son’s! I guess it turned out to be fortunate that I waited, because I was able to record his new man voice for the background vocals on one of his favorite songs.” – Sandy Bailey
Artist:John McCutcheon & Tom Paxton Hometown: Smoke Rise, Georgia; Alexandria, Virginia Song: “Life Before You” Album:Together Release Date: October 13, 2023 Label: Appalseed
In Their Words: “Tom Paxton and I started writing together early on during the pandemic and, with seemingly endless time on our hands, we tackled all manner of subjects and ideas. This one started out as a pretty standard love song. But, often, along the way, one of us will say, ‘Wait a minute, what if this turned left instead of right?,’ and we’ll bravely go down that blind alley. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Tom was particularly enamored of the way the ending comes out of left field to the listener, a real surprise. He breaks into a big grin every time the end of verse three rolls around. One of the great joys of songwriting teamwork is to see your partner so delighted with the final result. Doesn’t get any better…” – John McCutcheon
Artist:Arny Margret Hometown: Ísafjörður, Iceland Song: “waiting” Album:dinner alone EP Release Date: September 22, 2023 (EP) Label: One Little Independent Records
In Their Words: “Sometimes you feel like you’re waiting for someone, or for a moment to say something, but the person doesn’t really see or give you the time. This song is about a lot of things: feeling left out and alone, feeling unheard and unwanted. It’s a song that was scary for me to write. Like most of my newer songs, I feel like I’m starting to write in a bit of a different way, a more honest way. This song is all the things I would never say out loud to anyone, I’m not using any metaphors or trying to mask anything here. That’s a pretty scary thing to do to, at least for me.” – Arny Margret
Artist:Scott Sean White Hometown: Dallas, Texas/Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Hope You Never Do” (Featuring Radney Foster) Album:Even Better On the Bad Days Release Date: August 18, 2023 (single); January 19, 2024 (album)
In Their Words: “Eric Erdman and Radney Foster were writing at Radney’s house one day and the news or something came on the TV while they were having lunch. Whatever it was, it made one of Radney’s kids say, ‘Dad, I don’t even know what it’s like to ball up my fist to hit someone.’ And Radney teared up and said, ‘I hope you never do.’ Eric gave him a minute and then said, ‘We’re writing THAT!’ They got stuck on the idea for some reason and couldn’t get it where they wanted. It was a year-and-a-half later that I met Eric for the first time and for some reason, he thought I was the guy to help them and their other co-writer, Chad Wilson, get it unstuck. We got together over Zoom one day and left with this.” – Scott Sean White
Artist:Philip Bowen Hometown: Montgomery, West Virginia Song: “Anymore” Album:Old Kanawha Release Date: August 18, 2023
In Their Words: “We really wanted to do this song as an acoustic/bonus track on the record. I wrote it with the intention of it being more bare bones, and I love how it turned out. The acoustic guitar, fiddle, and piano are all that’s needed, and I think musically, it really hits differently when it’s scaled back like this.” – Philip Bowen
Artist:High Fidelity Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “The Mighty Name of Jesus” Album:Music In My Soul Release Date: September 15, 2023 Label: Rebel Records
In Their Words: “‘The Mighty Name of Jesus’ is an incredibly special song to me. It came to me at a time in my life when I was struggling with mysterious health issues, and all I had to get me through was my faith in the Lord. Early one morning, I woke up with it playing in my head like a recording. I knew I could easily fall right back asleep, and I actually started to, but I thought, ‘I better just grab my phone to record this.’ I was so sleepy that I actually forgot that it existed for a few days! When I finally remembered something about it and listened to the voice memo, I was a bit in shock. It was like listening to a song for the first time, only it was me singing it! I had gotten three verses and two distinct choruses that morning. As I wrote out the words, the fourth verse came to me, so I wrote it out, too. I could talk on and on about the amazing things with this song. I hope it is an incredible blessing to everyone who hears it!
“Much like the making of this song, there are so many special things I could talk about in the making of this video! Location after location fell through right up until the morning of the video shoot when the weather threatened to rain on our only day available for shooting. Love Circle was a location that came to me while desperately praying for ideas and direction, and it turned out to be absolutely amazing. The unique weather that day combined with our videographer Warren Swann’s artistic touch created an indescribable texture quality to this video that almost feels like Technicolor. It’s hard to believe that this is the first video High Fidelity has shot in our hometown of Nashville proper. The city has changed so much through the years, but we still love and care deeply for it. To be able to perform this song of healing and deliverance right there in our hometown with our beautiful city skyline behind us was beyond special. As the ‘songwriter,’ I feel so incredibly blessed to have received a song like this and to get to perform it with High Fidelity — I hope it can be a blessing and encouragement!” ̶ Corrina Rose Logston Stephens
Artist:Birds of Play Hometown: Telluride, Colorado Song: “Breathe” Album:Birdsongs of the American West Release Date: August 25, 2023
In Their Words: “‘Breathe’ was written as a response to witnessing my wife navigate a somewhat tumultuous time, rife with hard questions about meaning and purpose and her place in life. I was also wrestling with some of the same sentiments at the time and wrote this song as a friendly reminder to us both of the impermanence of all of our states and experiences and how much agency we have to reground with a simple breath. We worked this song up specifically for this album as it was one of the only songs in this group that we hadn’t played before recording Birdsongs of the American West. We’ve only started to play this live during our most recent tour around the PNW and it’s been really moving to see how deeply it’s resonating with our audiences.” – Alex Paul
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