Tag: premiere

WATCH: Trapper Schoepp, “The Fool” (Live from Cash Cabin)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner
Artist: Trapper Schoepp
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Song: “The Fool” (Live from Cash Cabin)
Album: Siren Songs
Release Date: April 21, 2023
Label: Grand Phony (US) / Rootsy (EU)
In Their Words: “Joseph Cash filmed and photographed us throughout the sessions for Siren Songs, which was recorded at the historic Cash Cabin. From Merle to Snoop Dogg to Dolly Parton, this sacred space has had many visitors and I hoped to tap into some of that DNA they left behind. ‘The Fool’ is the first song I wrote in an open D tuning. I stumbled upon it while toying with an Irish folk song during lockdown, finding that it offered a whole new canvas to write songs from. It produced a full and vibrant sound in my lap that guided me through writing this record. As I figured out the new shapes up and down the neck of the guitar, I wrote lyrics for ‘The Fool’ from the perspective of a sage, old romantic who’s giving advice to a younger version of himself.” – Trapper Schoepp

Photo Credit: Joseph Cash

LISTEN: Dale Ann Bradley, “Kentucky Gold” (feat. Sam Bush)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Dale Ann Bradley
Hometown: Middlesboro, Kentucky
Song: “Kentucky Gold” (featuring Sam Bush)
Album: Kentucky For Me
Release Date: June 23, 2023
Label: Pinecastle Records

In Their Words: “‘Kentucky Gold’ is a great story about determination, faith, and a desire to be in the race despite all the doubts and opinions of others. It’s about just taking your place and giving it all you’ve got, while at the same time, keeping in mind not to let the odds be a factor in your right to be at the race. We’re really happy with how this song came out and it was an honor to have Sam Bush on it. We’re excited for everyone to hear the full album when it drops. The title is Kentucky For Me and it’s a tribute to my home state. We also have a great lineup of guest artists who joined us.” – Dale Ann Bradley

Photo Credit: Pinecastle Records

WATCH: Rachael Kilgour, “Dad Worked Hard”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Rachael Kilgour
Hometown: Duluth, Minnesota
Song: “Dad Worked Hard”
Album: My Father Loved Me (produced by Rose Cousins)
Release Date: September 22, 2023

In Their Words: “My dad was an ordinary working man: trustworthy and stubborn with calloused hands and an unwieldy appetite. Work as a builder left him exhausted at the end of each day — he fell asleep reading bedtime stories, watching the hockey game, and even eating his own dinner. Thanks to his work ethic and my mother’s careful spending, I had a happy and safe childhood; one purposefully focused on relationships and cooperation in lieu of material success.

“In the final years of his life, dementia forced my dad to rely on others the way we had relied on him, even as he struggled to the end to maintain his independence. His last chapter left me thinking a lot about how we value life and labor. No one could look at my dad’s life and say he didn’t try hard enough, could they? And yet there we were making choices about his care from a place of financial limitation.

“I want to live in a world where every father, every human, can be afforded the very best of care in times of need, no matter who they are or where they went to school or what their particular talents were. Surely we are each worthy.” – Rachael Kilgour

Photo Credit: Sara Pajunen

WATCH: Cordovas, “Fallen Angels of Rock ‘n’ Roll”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Cordovas
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Fallen Angels of Rock ‘n’ Roll”
Album: The Rose Of Aces
Release Date: June 14, 2023 (song); August 11, 2023 (album)
Label: ATO Records

In Their Words: “This is a song about the friends back in the day who didn’t make it. The important part is don’t forget what music does for you. It can make you sad, it can make you happy, it can remind you of a better time. With The Rose Of Aces, we started to catch a flow. We set the songs to the wind. And slowly the figure emerged from the block of clay.” – Joe Firstman

Photo Courtesy of ATO Records

WATCH: David James Allen, “Holly” (Live Performance)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: David James Allen
Hometown: Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada
Song: “Holly”
Album: By The Summertime
Release Date: June 9, 2023
Label: Littleknown Records

In Their Words: “‘Holly’ is a song of drugs, dingey bars, old relationships, and backward priorities. Ultimately, it’s a song about losing an important part of your life to backward priorities, self-destruction, or naiveté, and growing up and confronting yourself in the passage of time. It’s about coming to terms with yourself and what it is you’ve lost, and reflecting on it with regret, sorrow, some nostalgia about it, but also having insight and maturity — a ‘grown-ass-ness’ of realizing things are better off now then they were then.

“In this song, the character is a songwriter who constantly prioritized every relationship they’ve been in after they hit a little success, but it sooner or later backfires. I wanted to write a song about tackling work/life balance and social-party/life balance, and in this case, it’s about a songwriter, because that’s something I know well. I feel like so many different people prioritize and occupy their minds with their work or social lives over personal relationships or family, a decision that may not always be intentional. But it does have a big impact on the ones who are left in the wake of that decision. I’m pretty self-aware of this type of work mindset because I can be a bit of a workaholic with my songwriting and creative work. I get obsessed easily — especially when I’m in the flow. I wear a lot of work hats and now being a new father and family man, I find myself regularly seeking ways to encourage a healthier balance. The social nightlife isn’t as much of a concern to me these days, I tend to enjoy being a bit of a homebody.” – David James Allen

Photo Credit: Dawson Bunnett

WATCH: Cup O’Joe, “Weathered & Worn”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Cup O’Joe
Hometown: County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Song: “Weathered & Worn”
Album: Why Live Without
Release Date: June 16, 2023

In Their Words: “All of us in the band take much inspiration from the areas we have grown up in, especially us three siblings who had spent most of our life in County Armagh, which is labelled the Orchard County of Ireland. So, there really had to be a song on this new album featuring our awe and love of trees.

“This song was written from the viewpoint of someone who is asking how this huge tree outside his window continues to stand firm and grow strong amidst the storms and the many years it has seen come and go. They are glad that its branches have sheltered their grandkids, and likely their great grandkids, but there is still a restlessness, an uneasiness, that someday, they, and it will stand no more. ‘But when I’m gone, we’ll still cry out together shouting, just waiting for the day of truth.’ The quietness and questions go hand in hand, to point us to the greater picture — that we can live in the hope that all things will be made new.” – Tabitha Benedict

Photo Credit: Katie Loughrin Photography 

WATCH: Joh Chase, “Another Lover”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Joh Chase
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Another Lover”
Release Date: June 12, 2023
Label: Kill Rock Stars

In Their Words: “This song began in a writing retreat in Washington State back in 2017 and has had many iterations. This version is the ‘acoustic version’ I recorded and mixed at home in the corner of my living room during insomniatic COVID lock-down nights; [it] speaks of the visceral remorse we feel after nurturing and then losing relationships and just wanting to take it all back.” – Joh Chase

Photo Credit: Lexi Bonin

WATCH: Sarah Morris, “Ruthless”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Sarah Morris
Hometown: Shoreview, Minnesota
Song: “Ruthless”
Album: Here’s To You
Release Date: May 5, 2023

In Their Words: “‘Ruthless’ was a writing prompt in the summer of 2019. My initial response was the opening line, ‘Your calloused fingers, my calloused heart, I bet you earned your lack of feeling by working hard …’ My husband has calloused hands from building a cabin for our family, I have earned my own calloused fingers from guitar strings over the years – it was an easy image to grab on to. So often my songwriting takes me to deeply domestic moments and this song felt removed from that in a way that was so fun to write (and now to sing). I’ve written many songs about kindness; offering one another healing, a soft place to fall – it was fun to explore the other nooks and crannies of human emotion and character.

“On a late winter run I was listening to the masters of the album and when ‘Ruthless’ came on, I saw all these images – the two people, the sink, the dark background, a sense of kaleidoscope. As soon as I landed back at home, I emailed the amazing team of Sarah and Erik Elstan to ask if they were up to collaborating on a video again. On a blustery April day, we hid in a Minneapolis studio with Michael Gay, some great vintage pieces courtesy of Seven Suns Vintage out of Eau Claire, and shot the video. What a gift to find people who you can share a tangle of run-induced ideas with, and then they create something so fantastic!” – Sarah Morris

Photo Credit: Emily Isakson

WATCH: Jacob Sharp, “Other Side”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Jacob Sharp
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Other Side” (feat. Aoife O’Donovan)
Release Date: May 26, 2023

In Their Words: “I wrote this song in early 2020 when I was finally still enough to wrap my head around some of my emotions buried deepest. This one’s about a friend losing a battle with addiction, what I wish I had said more, and what I’ve been trying to say to all my people since. For me, music is for making and sharing with people. It’s why I love bands and being in Mipso. I talked myself out of releasing my own music so many times over the past few years, but when I realized it made for a good opportunity to collaborate with dear friends for the first time, it started to feel alright. I got the band of my dreams together and we recorded this one, mostly in separate locations in 2021.

“There is an amazing winemaker, Jude Zasadski, who is my neighbor in Mt. Washington – it’s a little oasis in the heart of Los Angeles – and he is someone who constantly inspires me. I love that dude so much. When I got the final mix for this tune, he was one of the first people I shared it with and he had an immediate vision for how we could show some of the fuzzier sides of memory whilst memorializing the preciousness of time and those moments when you feel your feelings again. We strolled around the neighborhood, got burgers and milkshakes, and then set up a projector in our friend’s garage. And one of my favorite filmmakers, Brady Lawrence, has been a friend for over a decade. His art always gets to emotional depth quickly and he was the perfect person to edit this video.” – Jacob Sharp

Photo Credit: Cate Parker
Video Credit: Jude Zasadski (director and videographer) and Brady Lawrence (editor)

WATCH: Selwyn Birchwood, “Exorcist”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Selwyn Birchwood
Hometown: Orlando, Florida
Song: “Exorcist”
Album: Exorcist
Release Date: June 9, 2023
Label: Alligator Records

In Their Words:  “‘Exorcist’ is the most vivid song on this album. It is meant to evoke and stir your emotions as you listen. The music video allowed me to paint the rest of the song’s story and picture visually. I have spent the last four weeks working on and editing this video to create an immersive cinematic experience and I couldn’t be happier with the final product. This is my masterpiece!” – Selwyn Birchwood

Photo Credit: Marilyn Stringer