Tag: premiere

WATCH: Henhouse Prowlers, “Lead and Iron”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Henhouse Prowlers
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Song: “Lead and Iron”
Album: Lead and Iron
Release Date: May 26, 2023 (single)
Label: Dark Shadow Recording

In Their Words: “I wrote this song from the perspective of a parent who has lost a child in a school shooting. I found myself thinking about the quote that no parent should have to bury their child. That quote always hit me hard and I couldn’t imagine the pain of losing a child, especially from a school shooting, a place meant for peace and learning. I wrote this one at the end of last summer, I wonder if it was a way for myself to mentally preparing for the next school year and the potential of another deadly shooting (the potential which seems to come true every year).” – Jake Howard, mandolin

“I realized what this song was about halfway through listening to it on a rough demo Jake sent us in October last year and it immediately gave me chills. There’s something about the perspective of it all that continues to rock me when we are rehearsing it. That line about ‘first words spoken and tying shoes’ hits hard.” – Ben Wright, banjo

Photo Credit: Stephen Mougin

WATCH: Nina de Vitry, “Open”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Nina de Vitry
Hometown: Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; based in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Open”
Album: What You Feel Is Real
Release Date: August 25, 2023

In Their Words: “At its core, ‘Open’ is intended to coax listeners out of their shells. My personal experience creating the song and video parallels this message, as I found myself expanding out of my own comfort zone both as a musician and a visual artist in the creation process.

“‘Open’ builds from lonely, sparse verses to layered vocal harmonies and string parts, pleading with listeners to step out of isolation and towards connection. I originally intended to completely hire out the arrangements, but it soon became apparent to me that it was personally meaningful to arrange the harmony violin solo and the vocal harmonies (with background string pads by composer/arranger Duncan Wickel). Using my own voice as a violinist and harmony singer enhanced my creative confidence, and the ensuing world of strings and vocals elevated the expansive openness that I aimed to create.

“In the visual representation of ‘Open,’ a flower opens and the black and white illustration eventually turns into a full watercolor painting. The experience of making the video was cathartic, and reconnected me to a part of myself that I thought I had lost. Though I had always loved to draw as a child, I found that I had closed myself off to this creative outlet as an adult. Producing this song and video has helped me to expand my definition of what I do as an artist, and open myself to new artistic possibilities. It is my hope that pairing the song with this visual can appeal to the childlike wonder in all of us, and that it might inspire viewers to open themselves up to the world in a new way.” — Nina de Vitry

Photo Credit: Joseph Ross Photography

LISTEN: Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs, “Give It Up”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Laney Lou and The Bird Dogs
Hometown: Bozeman, Montana
Song: “Give It Up”
Album: Coyote
Release Date: May 26, 2023 (single);  June 2, 2023 (album)

In Their Words: “The song ‘Give It Up’ came together in a matter of minutes, like it was just waiting for the right time to be written. I sat down at the piano one day and started playing the main melody of the verse. Words flowed immediately and the subject of the song became clear once I started singing the chorus line, ‘I can’t give it up.’

“This song dives into the incessant questions that last with you years after a relationship ends. You can turn over every stone beating yourself up for past actions, but ultimately you have to own your decisions. The phrase ‘I can’t give it up’ is repeated over and over through the song, feeling exasperated and victorious at the same time, like an earnest declaration to actually give it up and move on.

“Instrumentally the song mimics the ups and downs that you feel when processing a relationship. The quiet parts picked by our banjo player, Matt Demarais, are reflective and delicate, but the song reaches an apex when our fiddle player, Brian Kassay, explodes into a solo after the haunting bridge. I like to think that this song is a final chapter in a long battle to let something go, and the repeated chorus lines are a cathartic way for the narrator to do so.” — Lena Schiffer, Vocals/Guitar

Photo Credit: John Troy Photography

WATCH: Jess Klein, “Never Gonna Break Me”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Jess Klein
Hometown: Hillsborough, NC
Song: “Never Gonna Break Me”
Album: When We Rise
Release Date: September 15, 2023 (album); May 19, 2023 (single)
Label: Motherlode Records

In Their Words: “When I was 14, I fooled around with a boy. I had a huge crush on him and I naively thought something special was happening. But when we got back to school on Monday, he made fun of me to his friends and the whole school was laughing at me. I tried to laugh along with them, to save face, but in retrospect, that’s pretty f-ed up.
“Looking back, I think this might have been the moment where I first realized the importance of telling my own story, in my own voice. Because in that boy’s version, I was a joke. But in my version, I have the backing of millions of girls and women who have had to put up with some form of this BS. I’m empowered and I can offer that empowerment to all the other women who’ve been shamed. If my work empowers someone, I feel like am doing the job I came into this life to do.”  – Jess Klein

Photo Credit: Mike June

LISTEN: Dallas Burrow, “River Town”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Dallas Burrow
Hometown: New Braunfels, TX
Song: “River Town”
Album: Blood Brothers
Release Date: June 16, 2023
Label: Soundly Music

In Their Words: “The record kicks off with the true story of my youth in small town Texas; the leaving, and the coming back to start a family, all with an outlaw country back beat, dressed up with fiddle, organ, and electric guitar, and producer Jonathan Tyler singing harmonies. The hill country of the Lone Star State,  and my hometown in particular, is a community that revolves around its rivers, lakes, and swimming holes, offering folks, and especially kids growing up there, an eternally timeless pastime. Even still, I have always been a bit of a free spirit, and as a young man I felt like the town wasn’t quite big enough for my taste. After getting in a little trouble, doing a lot of traveling, fast living, and soul searching, and finally meeting my wife and starting to settle down a little, in the end, I realized just what a beautiful area it was to live in after all, and the perfect place for us to raise a kid.” – Dallas Burrow

Photo Credit: Madison Taylor

WATCH: R.L. Boyce, “Coal Black Mattie”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: R.L. Boyce
Hometown: Como, Mississippi
Song: “Coal Black Mattie”
Album: Tell Everybody! 21st Century Juke Joint Blues
Release Date: August 11, 2023
Label: Easy Eye Sound

In Their Words: “I first heard Fred McDowell play [this Ranie Burnette song] when I was a teenager and it’s been one of my favorites ever since. There’s a lot of people that have done that song, but everybody got their own way of doing it, and I got my own way of doing it that don’t nobody else do. It’s one of them [songs] you can put whatever you want to in it.

“When I got there in the studio, they asked if I wanted to go over anything first. I said, ‘There ain’t nothing to go over. Let’s just sit down and get to it. I’ll play whatever comes to me.’ It’s always good to work with Kenny [Brown] and Eric Deaton. They from down my way, you know. [Dan Auerbach is] a cool dude and treated me very nice. I’m glad he asked me to come up to Nashville. He knows his blues, and once we started playing, he hung there with us pretty good.” – R.L. Boyce

Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins

LISTEN: Julie Williams, “Big Blue House”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Julie Williams
Hometown: Tampa, FL
Song: “Big Blue House”
Album: Julie Williams EP
Release Date: May 12, 2023 (single); June 2, 2023 (EP)

In Their Words: “‘Big Blue House’ is a song about racism and violence through the eyes of a six-year-old girl, who is told by her father that she can’t play outside with the other kids, but she doesn’t know why. Originally written as a poem, the story came to me after reading the news of Keyon Harrold Jr., a teenager who was assaulted by a white woman who thought that he stole her cell phone. It made me think of the conversations that parents of color have to have with their children — that you might be a child, but some people in the world will see you as a threat. I knew that this story was special and that I had to bring it to life with my friend and one of my songwriting inspirations, Brittney Spencer. I brought her the poem written on scraps of white notebook paper and together we created the song that you can hear now.

“What really brought the magic was working with Nicole Neely — an amazing violinist and composer who arranged the strings and brought together an all-female lineup of players, including Monique and Chauntee Ross of the SistaStrings and Josée Weigland-Klein, to record the strings. Together with Gabriel and Gideon Klein’s production and Rodlin Pierre’s mixing magic, the song and stories came to life.

“I originally planned to release ‘Big Blue House’ with the rest of my EP that comes out on June 2, but after the recent Covenant Shooting, the expulsion of the Tennessee Three, and the continued news of gun violence and political inaction, I felt called to release the song and its message into this world. I wrote this song over two years ago, and it is heartbreakingly still relevant.”

Photo credit: Mackenzie Ryan

WATCH: John Scott Sherrill, “Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: John Scott Sherrill
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons”
Album: Copper Tears
Release Date: October 15, 2021
Label: Lobo Libre

In Their Words: “People often ask me how long it takes me to write a song, and some songs I can write in a couple of hours. But ‘Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons’ took 17 years to write. I got the inspiration when I was taking a bus back in my college years to Illinois from New Hampshire. It took seven days, so I was sleeping as we drove, and waking up at all hours of the day, not knowing where I was. I woke up one morning, looked out the window of the bus, and saw all these men standing around, trying to hold their maps in the wind. I thought they must have plans to do something with that cornfield. I made a note in my notebook and left it until years later, when I found the notebook in my mother’s attic. I opened it up and saw my notations and thought that idea was worth writing about.” — John Scott Sherrill

Photo credit: Rich Guglielmo

LISTEN: Jane Bruce, “Best of Me”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Jane Bruce
Hometown: Ogden, Utah
Song: “Best of Me”
Album: My Bed
Release Date: February 11, 2022

In Their Words: “This song really flowed out of me. I find it (too) easy to write and sing about my insecurities and the pieces of myself that I don’t love, but I felt that writing a song that clearly laid out those things in the hopes that it might make someone love me more was an interesting twist on a ‘pining-for-you’ love song and an exploration of the ways we present ourselves to the people we desire. Growing up in Utah I felt constantly aware of my different-ness and keenly attuned to all the things that made me unlovable, or wrong. With time I have come to realize that these so-called shortcomings are human and that my deep-seated fears of disappointing others come from a place of empathy, not weakness.” — Jane Bruce

Photo credit: Angelina Castillo

LISTEN: Rodes, “So Well”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Rodes
Hometown: Durham, North Carolina
Song: “So Well”
Album: All of My Friends
Release Date: October 22, 2021

In Their Words: “‘So Well’ was an idea that came to me on the drive home from work one night, that was then fleshed out on a guitar the next day. I was nearing the end of a tumultuous professional relationship and feeling frustrated and powerless. I think there are elements of it that can be interpreted as a breakup song, and in some ways it is. Ultimately, it’s a song about power imbalance and not having the right tools or access to bring someone to justice.

“We tried out a couple different arrangements for ‘So Well,’ but ultimately decided on one that centered on rhythmic acoustic guitar and a straightforward drum beat. I had the slide guitar line in my head, but I couldn’t quite translate it to the guitar while keeping it in tune. Ryan (Johnson, formerly of American Aquarium) stepped in and laid down a beautiful lead part that really anchors the whole song. I think he captured the mournful and resigned spirit of it perfectly.” — Rodes

Photo credit: Chris Frisina