Artist:Jackson+Sellers (Jade Jackson and Aubrie Sellers) Hometown: Los Angeles, CA and Nashville, TN Song: “Hush” Album:Breaking Point Release Date: October 22, 2021 Label: ANTI-
In Their Words: “I really loved [Aubrie Sellers’] voice and asked if she’d be interested in doing a co-write / duet. I wasn’t expecting a response but moments after I sent the message she responded with she’d love to. I knew the song would benefit from heavy female vocal harmonies, but working with Aubrie was such a boost. Collaborating with someone who’s so energetically strong, it gives you even more creativity and license to explore.” — Jade Jackson
Artist: Digging Roots Hometown: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Song: “Cut My Hair” Album:Zhawenim Release Date: 2022 Label: Ishkōdé Records
In Their Words: “‘Cut My Hair’ is a mishkiki (medicine) song about the Indian Residential School experience which is directly linked to genocide, colonialism, oppression, and the actions that this country is built upon. While our families were taken from their homes and sent to these horrible Canadian institutions, we were the last generation to not attend, but consequently suffer from over 100 years of generational effects. With the growing present findings of over 6,000 buried children at Residential Schools across Canada this song was written as an attempt to focus our energies in a positive and grounded direction. Where does one go when one’s people have suffered this much? It gets funnelled into belting out lyrics that feel meaningful and playing slide guitar until my bellbottoms quiver because the amplifier is cranked. We believe in the transformative power of music and its healing effects, this is our offering.” — Raven Kanatakta, Digging Roots
Artist:Fireside Collective Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina Song: “And the Rain Came Down” Release Date: September 24, 2021 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “A few years back, I was listening to a story on NPR about some of the intensifying storms that had been hitting the coastal regions of the Southeast. At one point, the host said ‘the rain came down, and the rain came down…’ and for some reason it stuck with me. I jotted it down in my notebook and started thinking of ways to use it in a song. It didn’t hit me until about a month into COVID, when there was still so much uncertainty and nobody really knew what was going to happen. It just so happened that I had recently begun reading the Old Testament from a historical/analytical perspective and the story of the Great Flood in Genesis seemed to resonate with our current times. I started thinking of the whole experience as a paradigm shifting event, much like the events of Genesis. There were so many parallels between the never-ending storms of Noah’s time and the sociopolitical events that took place during the first few months of the pandemic.
“Despite the song’s somber overtones and the uncertainty of the story, there is still a message of hope. The sailor in the song seems to understand that despite the endless storms and the rising waters, behind the clouds the light still shines. He keeps pushing on despite the challenges he faces with hopes of a brighter day. Many people in the music industry were forced to find silver linings and to push through the storms in the last year and a half. Fireside Collective has found many ways to reinvent ourselves and to use the situation to better ourselves. Even though we still face unprecedented challenges, we are fortunate to be able to still create music and find ways to share our art with the world. We are beyond thrilled to release ‘And the Rain Came Down’ and we are so delighted to be able to record new music. We know there are brighter days ahead and we have never appreciated the ability to play music for a living as much as we do right now.” — Jesse Iaquinto, Fireside Collective
Artist:Single Girl, Married Girl Hometown: Los Angeles, California Song: “Wreck Cut Loose” Album:Three Generations of Leaving Release Date: November 19, 2021 Label: Head Bitch Music
In Their Words: “I’ve always loved torch songs and big weepy ballads, especially country ones. ‘Wreck Cut Loose’ lets me belt and sing like the incomparable voices I grew up listening to and have tried to emulate countless times — Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Tammy Wynette, and Patsy Cline, but in a contemporary musical setting. We didn’t want to sound like an old country or pop vocal song, but the lineage should be obvious.
“Lyrically, it’s about something most people have gone through in their lives — a breakup, but Dan Morosi, our friend and former drummer, who wrote the song, manages to portray the emotional intensity we feel in the aftermath of being dumped through simple, direct language. It sort of fixates on mundane elements that belie the complex feelings being expressed and examined, all the while building to this heartbreaking crescendo.
“For the music video, we wanted a concept that was not gimmicky but a little tongue-in-cheek. It’s literally one shot once the music starts; I’m walking home from being dumped and encounter multiple friends along the way who try to cheer me up, when all I want to do is go home, be alone, and have a really good cry. It’s all to say that we need a little support in our lives during hard times, that we are stronger together. We hope the video feels like a big group hug.” — Chelsey Coy, Single Girl, Married Girl
Artist:Tammy Rogers & Thomm Jutz Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “I Surely Will Be Singing” Album:Surely Will Be Singing Release Date: September 21, 2021 Label: Mountain Fever Records
In their Words: “We wrote this song at the beginning of the pandemic. We both noticed how much more we paid attention to bird life when everything slowed down. We also talked about the fact that while music is a career choice, it is important to continuously find joy in making music, without the need for outside approval — like a bird that sings to himself, with no regard for applause. This is a hymn to nature, and to the spirit of human resilience in the face of adversity.” — Tammy Rogers & Thomm Jutz
Artist:Colin Linden Hometown: White Plains, New York; Toronto; Nashville since 1997 and as long as they let me. Song: “Honey on My Tongue” Album:bLOW Release Date: September 17, 2021 Label: Highway 20/Thirty Tigers
In Their Words: “Roots music and blues do speak to a lot of people right now. Much of the healing and release you get from listening to this music, the power and form of expression, has shown itself to be so vital in these times. It feels timeless because it’s such a raw nerve. I hope the memories of every soul who has loved and been loved are like honey on our tongues.” — Colin Linden
Artist:Rod Gator (aka Rod Melancon) Hometown: Wright, Louisiana Song: “Out Here in Echo Park” Album:For Louisiana Release Date: September 17, 2021 Label: Blue Élan Records
In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Out Here in Echo Park’ during my last year living in Echo Park. Every evening I’d walk five miles down to the L.A. River and sit along the bank. It was one of the most peaceful times of my life. During the walk I’d hear Spanish music playing from windows and watch the sun slowly set. East L.A. means a lot to me. It’s where I go in my mind when I feel overwhelmed. I picture myself sitting along the L.A. River. I miss Echo Park everyday. It’s the place where I finally began to feel comfortable in my own skin.” — Rod Gator
Artist:Tommy Castro Hometown: San Jose, California Song: “I Caught a Break” Album:Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town Release Date: September 17, 2021 Label: Alligator Records
In Their Words: “‘I Caught a Break’ is part of the story that is A Bluesman Came to Town. It came out of a writing session with Tom Hambridge and Richard Fleming. After much hard work and few setbacks the young man in the story finally has some success. It’s a classic rock ‘n’ roll tune. I can hear the influence of cats like Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, and maybe even a little Jimmy Vaughan on this. This was a fun track to play guitar and sing. It comes along in the story right when we needed a shift in tempo and groove.” — Tommy Castro
Artist:Alisa Amador Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “Burnt and Broken” Album:Narratives EP Release Date: September 17, 2021
In Their Words: “This song is about rape culture and toxic masculinity: ‘What a world we live in with its endless charms / Blinded lies keep winning over open arms / Sticks and stones and systems built to cause you harm.’ However, this song can be used as a lens with which to examine myriad systems of oppression. Violence stems from fear, and fear grows from a lack of understanding. ‘The bruise of words unspoken’ illustrates the pain caused by an absence of conversation around these violences. Systematic violence is designed to trick you and distract you (‘a ruse, a plume of smoke’) from the reality: ‘the truth is burnt and broken.’
“The arrangement of this song is intentionally spare, like the exposed framework of a house after a fire. It is a fitting metaphor for this song: a hard look at the violence of misogyny, as Kaiti Jones, Hayley Sabella, and I stand among the wreckage, singing with broken hearts, and hot anger pulsing through us. We had to record our vocals apart from one another, but every time I hear this song, I feel stronger and broken open at the same time. Their voices are so poignant on this song.” — Alisa Amador
Artist:The Barefoot Movement Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Back Behind the Wheel” Album:Pressing Onward Release Date: September 17, 2021 Label: Bonfire Music Group
In Their Words: “‘Back Behind the Wheel’ is basically a dialogue with myself where I’m expressing my fears and then bolstering myself up. This is a theme in a lot of my songs, and especially on this album. I am by nature a pretty hopeful person; even when I allow myself to feel the full weight of whatever I’m despairing over, somehow I just can’t let that part of me be the ultimate winner. So it’s that idea of letting yourself feel what you need to feel, but not allowing that to be the end of the journey. Because unless you just give up, the only way to move is forward. I wrote the song about my experiences in the music industry, but I think it’s a universal concept. The chorus says, ‘When it comes to this, I don’t know what it means to quit.’ The listener can allow the ‘this’ in the line to represent whatever matters to them!” — Noah Wall, The Barefoot Movement
Photo credit: Workshop Media
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