Tag: premiere

LISTEN: Adeline Stringband, “Hickory”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Adeline Stringband (L to R: Chris Coole, Mark Kilianski, John Showman, Adrian Gross, Sam Allison)
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Song: “Hickory”
Album: Adeline
Release Date: July 23, 2021

In Their Words: “This session was definitely one of the loosest, most off-the-cuff, and most creative I’ve been a part of, and I’d hazard to say the same is true for the other guys. Smack dab in the middle of the pandemic — when none of us had really seen anyone besides immediate family for about a year — we holed up in a cabin in the woods and recorded old time tunes for three days and three nights. Seeing as it was -20º and there was a blizzard outside the whole time, there was nothing to do but pick tunes and roll the tape, and that’s exactly what we did. We learned “Hickory” from the great fiddler Earl White, and you can really hear the group interplay on this track.” — Adrian Gross

Photo credit: Chris Coole

LISTEN: Ava Earl, “New Light”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Ava Earl
Hometown: Girdwood, Alaska
Song: “New Light”
Album: The Roses
Release Date: July 23, 2021

In Their Words: “‘New Light’ was one of the first love songs I wrote. It’s about the early time in a relationship where you keep finding little things that change the way you see a person (hopefully good things)! This song is also a little existential — it deals with the wonder and mystery of the universe as well as that of love. When you meet someone that you feel so deeply connected to, it feels like there must be a reason you were brought together, and yet rationally, I don’t believe that there is. I’m not sure I’ll ever know exactly if there’s a greater meaning to life, but for me this song is about being okay with that, and always finding a new way to look at beautiful things.” — Ava Earl

Photo credit: Shannon Earl

LISTEN: Kashena Sampson, “Hello Darkness”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Kashena Sampson
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Song: “Hello Darkness”
Album: Time Machine
Release Date: September 10, 2021
Label: New Moon Records

In Their Words: “This is a cover song by the Dutch rock band, Shocking Blue. I asked my best friend if she could choose one song for me to cover which one would she choose, it was this. I love Shocking Blue and I think it’s a great song and I connect to the lyrics, especially with what I was going through at that time in my life. To me, this song carries the message of yearning for someone who you cannot be with. It goes along with what a lot of the songs on this record are about. My struggles with codependency, fantasizing in relationships and thinking someone outside of me was the answer to my problems. It is a very heavy feeling when you think that someone else can fix you and you find out that they are not the answer. A good portion of the songs on this record are about a relationship I had with someone I cared for very much, who had gotten into some trouble and was incarcerated. I went into rescue mode and believed I had to save them in order to be ok.” — Kashena Sampson

Photo credit: Laura Partain

LISTEN: Chris J Norwood, “Good Guy With a Gun”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Chris J Norwood
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Song: “Good Guy With a Gun”
Album: I Am Not Cool
Release Date: August 20, 2021
Label: State Fair Records

In Their Words: “I struggled with whether or not to include this song on the album. I’d already written several songs about my father’s suicide that appeared on my last album, so I worried that I was rehashing something lyrically that I’d already covered. But I realized that losing a parent at a young age is always going to be a part of me. It’s part of my story. It’s tangled all in my roots. And it’s good for me on a personal/spiritual/emotional level to keep talking about it, writing songs about it, and singing about it. Truth be told, we as a country need to talk more openly about suicide. Especially as it relates to the gun debate and gun culture. This song also happens to be one of my kids’ favorite songs off the new album. They love the music, and they’re too young to understand all the nuance in the lyrics. The only part they really like singing is, ‘Daddy was a good guy, and always did the best he could. He’d do anything to protect the ones he loved.’ And honestly, that’s how I chose to remember my father.” — Chris J Norwood

Photo credit: Alyssa Leigh Cates

WATCH: Ramblin’ Ricky Tate, “Drifting”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Ramblin’ Ricky Tate
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama
Song: “Drifting”
Release Date: July 30, 2021

In Their Words: “Everyone has lost a love or felt homesick, I’d bet a lot of those people have reached for a whiskey glass a time or two as well. ‘Drifting’ is a tune I wrote about just that. This song is about having hope for better days to come when you feel down. Recorded and filmed field recording style on location in a 140-year-old building, this song has a natural reverb unlike anything you will hear in a studio. I put my heart into this song and I love how the video turned out and I’m honored to share it with y’all.” — Ramblin’ Ricky Tate

Photo credit: Jordan Hudecz

WATCH: Malena Cadiz, “Motel Evangeline”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Malena Cadiz
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Motel Evangeline”
Album: Chasing Smoke
Release Date: July 16, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Motel Evangeline’ was inspired by a motel on the coast of Quebec, all about loss and memory, about returning alone to a place that was once meaningful to a relationship. The verses touch on that beautiful, arrogant feeling of youth, that maybe these moments can last forever. ‘Wandering stars in the parking lot / All you lose is all you got / Oh we got lots of time.’ The chorus reminisces about swimming way out past the breakers, wishing the other person was still there. For the video the director Audrey McGee and I were inspired by plant masks and the work of Phyllis Galembo. We used dried flowers to create the ‘creature’ and the tulle as an ephemeral character, like memory difficult to grasp and always transforming.” — Malena Cadiz

Photo credit: Audrey McGee

WATCH: Erik Stucky, “Heaven Only Knows”

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Artist: Erik Stucky
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Heaven Only Knows”
Album: Good Vibrations
Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Binasaur Records

In Their Words: “This song is one of my favorites on the album. It brings a bit of depth and intensity to the concept of Good Vibrations. Specifically, there are things we can do with our time to improve this situation: ‘Heaven only knows what is possible, if we love ourselves like we are capable.’ This has a bit of a double meaning in that love for others is only possible to the extent that we love our individual selves. We are all one, and when we further love our individual self we simultaneously extend that love for the greater whole… humanity, the world, the universe, the never-ending consciousness. Amen.” — Erik Stucky

Photo credit: Chad Krash

LISTEN: Jackson Melnick, “John the Revelator”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Jackson Melnick
Hometown: Crested Butte, Colorado
Song: “John the Revelator”
Album: Abilene
Release Date: September 24, 2021

In Their Words: “Apocalypse isn’t to be confused with tragedy. Apocalypse is seeing something in truth, and the pain that might come from having the blinders pulled off. The Book of Revelation, where the characters in this song first emerged, is worth looking at. Or, if you are like me, you can listen to Blind Willie Johnson play slide guitar and sing ‘John the Revelator’ and read the Bible as a chaser. I was struck that the traditional blues song was never adapted to bluegrass music; the theme of the song fit so well, along with the haunting chorus. Perhaps it never was brought into the pantheon due to a kind of musical red-lining in the past, but for those who really know, bluegrass is rooted in Black music and the blues — Arnold Shultz, Bill Monroe’s musical mentor, is only one well-known example. The traditional song’s lyrics didn’t translate melodically well to bluegrass, so I invented some new ones that fit with an apocalyptic narrative — my apocalyptic narrative — which I think is a little more optimistic. I hope Mr. Monroe’s ghost enjoys this song.

“When I worked the song out over a traditional bluegrass progression, it really became one of the most electric bluegrass songs I had ever heard. Alex Leach, a well-regarded banjoist and songwriter himself, and Christopher Henry, the premier Monroe style mandolinist and producer of the new album (notably in Peter Rowan’s Band for a long while now), both helped to bring to the song the tones that make it feel like a classic. Christopher is somebody who knows Mr. Monroe’s language with perfect fluency, the improvisational spirit of it rather than a note for note reflection of Mr. Monroe’s picking. Alex Leach played in what became of the Clinch Mountain Boys. Christopher and I asked him to be on it as a nod to Dr. Stanley, and he lets it rip. I felt something strange and new writing this song, with the narrative of it being an apocalyptic story, but somehow on the rejoicing side of that story. True believers, or I think anyone with real spiritual faith, will relate to the uplifting quality of the song. Singing through the apocalypse — whatever apocalypse you might encounter — it is quite the spiritual test of real faith and true eternal life, and one I hope to emanate.” — Jackson Melnick

Photo credit: Bellamy Brewster

LISTEN: Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs, “Up For Air”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs
Hometown: Bozeman, Montana
Song: “Up For Air”
Album: Through the Smoke
Release Date: July 30, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Up For Air’ is a song about going through tough times, but also knowing that you’re in the exact place you’re meant to be. Sometimes it can be hard to accept that things are the way they are and your only job is to surrender. The lyrics for this song came quickly, but composing it as a full band took a while. We tried many different tempos and vibes for the song over the course of a year and finally landed on an upbeat and happy vibe in the studio. Ultimately the song is saying that whatever you’re going through, things will work out if you take a deep breath and come up for air every once in a while.” — Lena Schiffer, Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs

Photo credit: Loni Carr

LISTEN: Cameron Knowler, “Done Gone”

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Artist: Cameron Knowler
Hometown: Yuma, Arizona & Houston, Texas
Song: “Done Gone”
Album: Places of Consequence
Release Date: July 16, 2021
Label: American Dreams

In Their Words: “‘Done Gone’ exists as a mission statement for the album: examining early fiddle music etymologically, rendering it meditatively, with a slow tempo and low tuning. In some ways, this is meant to problematize the history of flatpicked guitar, wherein guitarists learn fiddle tunes from other guitarists as opposed to fiddlers. This version borrows from a number of early fiddle sources while paying homage to my hero, Norman Blake, whose guitar playing is a broad synthesis of early country music, while pushing far beyond the scope of the genre’s canon. Recorded on a late ’30s plywood guitar, I hope the listener is directed toward the inconsistent and unwieldy qualities of the instrument, a factor that shapes the performance just as much as my sources. This track is in conversation with an Easter egg found on the record.” — Cameron Knowler

Photo credit: Laura Lee Blackburn