Tag: premiere

WATCH: Charly Lowry & The Heart Collectors, “Navigating to Hope”

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Artist: Charly Lowry & The Heart Collectors
Hometown: Charly Lowry: Pembroke, North Carolina; The Heart Collectors: Hinterland Byron Bay, NSW, Australia
Song: “Navigating to Hope” from Folk Alliance‘s Artists In (Their) Residence program
Release Date: June 1, 2021

In Their Words: “It’s safe to say this global ordeal has proven that no one being has all of the answers; we are all navigating this plane the best way we know how. The Heart Collectors and I find ourselves on opposite sides of planet Earth, navigating to hope. We likened our experiences during this time to being aboard a ship, fighting against Poseidon’s watery fists and underneath dark, ominous skies. We do so with the understanding that we are in this together, and instead of accepting the defeat of a sinking ship, we remain steadfast in our voyage to find our lighthouse, our beacon of hope. This type of imagery was key in the songwriting process and aided us in delivering a message for the downtrodden. Whatever your case may be, we encourage you to seek your peace first, and then move your vessel onward and forward to hope for a new day, season, or way of being.” — Charly Lowry

“Coming together in collaboration from all points on the earth is an extraordinary experience, and one that makes our world so much bigger. Hearing and being present to the stories of people and cultures from one side of the world to another made us see how we literally are all in this together, we have all suffered this at once. Not in our life time has a global experience like this ever been the case, and it brings everything to a level. Things that seemed important became unimportant. The heartbreak of individuals suffering has a profound way of naturally breaking us open to be so much more capable than the usual way of dealing with existence. Finding each other and joining in this online type of creative common room has been the unifying strength to move forward, one step at a time.” — The Heart Collectors

Photo credit: Courtesy of Folk Alliance, Charly Lowry, and the Heart Collectors

WATCH: Dana Sipos, “Breathing Barrel”

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Artist: Dana Sipos
Hometown: Hamilton, ON (currently residing in Victoria, BC)
Song: “Breathing Barrel”
Album: The Astral Plane
Release Date: June 25, 2021
Label: Roaring Girl Records

In Their Words: “‘Breathing Barrel’ is ultimately a meditation on being at peace with the present moment. Written immediately upon returning home to the city from a music residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts, deep in the foothills of the Rockies, this song is an attempt to integrate a very powerful experience into the more mundane, everyday life. I was trying to trick or convince myself to ‘be July in the wintertime’ — ‘July’ being the Banff Centre in the middle of a bleak Toronto winter, trying to buoy myself and bring back that feeling of abundance and ripe possibility. So in visiting many landscapes, changing seasons, and fleeting moments while focusing on staying present, ‘Breathing Barrel’ turned into a bit of a dreamscape.

“The video was created by Victoria musician Trevor Lang, with dozens of high-resolution scans of vintage magazine cutouts, finely tuned to line up with the rhythm of the song. The pairing of vintage magazine cutouts with the text made to look as though it was coloured in by hand and was intended to mirror the warm and analog textural quality of the recording, the feeling of paper and pencil. The slightly unusual frame rate of this video (eight frames-per-second as opposed to the typical stop-motion animation of either six or 12 frames-per-second) was intended to give the video a familiar but unique rhythm akin to the drum machine featured throughout the song.” — Dana Sipos

Photo credit: Chris Dufour

LISTEN: Kyle LaLone, “Learning How to Love”

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Artist: Kyle LaLone
Hometown: Watertown, New York; living in Los Angeles
Single: “Learning How to Love”
Album: Looking for the Good
Album Release Date: June 25, 2021

In Their Words: “I wrote this song starting with the title, which is how I begin most songs now. I was thinking about the earliest relationships I had been in and how I would say ‘I love you’ but had no idea what that actually meant. In the last few years I feel like I’ve gotten a better understanding of how to be a good partner, how to really show up for someone in a relationship, and that it is something I will continue to improve on. As for the music, I was going for a classic, sweet-sounding country vibe that I thought would fit well with the tender sentiment of the lyrics. And having Michaela Anne, who is a wonderful singer-songwriter, add those beautiful harmonies was the icing on top of the cake.” — Kyle LaLone

Photo courtesy of Kyle LaLone

LISTEN: Mara Connor, “Old Man”

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Artist: Mara Connor
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Old Man” (Neil Young cover)
Album: Decades EP
Release Date: May 20, 2021
Label: Side Hustle Records

In Their Words: “I recorded this with Jon Estes in Nashville at the same age Neil Young was when he wrote it (’24 and there’s so much more’) about a caretaker who lived on his ranch. When I first heard the song I was struck by the empathy exhibited by such a young songwriter. I’m also impressed by his economy of language, how in so few words he conveys so much: that as humans, we’re more alike than we are different, and at our core, we all just want to be loved. It’s an affirmation that if we took the time to really look into each other’s eyes and see the humanity there, the world would be far better for it. Can you imagine an insightful folk rock song about an elderly ranch foreman charting on the Billboard Hot 100 today? Me neither, and that’s a shame.” — Mara Connor

Photo credit: Schuyler Howie

LISTEN: Graber Gryass, “Your Body’s Border”

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Artist: Graber Gryass
Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee
Song: “Your Body’s Border”
Album: Spaceman’s Wonderbox
Release Date: May 21, 2021
Label: Outer Orbits

In Their Words: “‘Your Body’s Border’ is a meditation on boundaries in song. From the pensive bouzouki that opens the tune to the first couplet, ‘you’re as old as the crow, fresh as an embryo,’ one can tell this song isn’t supposed to make linear sense and acts more like poetry than storytelling. The voyage is one of discovery — and the discovery is about the joys of being in love, working through stereotypes and clichés (‘if you get sweet and sour with me’), the lengths we go to find love, the transitory nature of national identity, and the repurposing of influence (notice the John Donne homage, ‘my love, my new found land’). Fiddle, banjo, mandolin, two guitars, bouzouki, and upright all play it cool, rather than hot as expected, letting the song take center stage.” — Graber Gryass

Photo credit: Eric Brice Swartz

LISTEN: Eli Lev, “As It Is”

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Artist: Eli Lev
Hometown: Silver Spring, Maryland
Song: “As It Is”
Album: True North
Release Date: June 25, 2021

In Their Words: “‘As It Is’ started to reveal itself halfway through a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat I went on near the Florida coast at the beginning of the year. I experienced silent sunrises over the ocean and brilliant sunsets over the bay that brought on infinite color variations and led me to a unique insight that everything is changing while staying exactly ‘as it is’ in every moment. The melody and words for the song started coming to me very quickly after that, but I couldn’t use my phone or guitar to record them because of the guidelines of the retreat! I only got the chance to write down the lyrics five days later once the retreat concluded, which allowed for some very interesting melodic elements to develop and resulted in one of my most unique songs to date.” — Eli Lev

Photo credit: Taylor Rigg

LISTEN: The Grascals, “Thankful”

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Artist: The Grascals
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Thankful”
Release Date: May 21, 2021
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “The lyrics to our new single are a powerful and wonderful reminder of just how much we all have to be thankful for, and especially now more than ever! I think this song really touched all of our hearts, which made it an easy choice to record, and we’re so glad that the writers — Daryl Mosley and Rick Lang — brought it to The Grascals. ‘Thankful’ makes you pause and reflect on the truly important things in life and where our blessings come from, and I hope all of the listeners will really focus on the words of this song. I know it has helped me keep a brighter disposition while not being able to travel and see my music family and friends — and you just can’t help but smile when you hear it. The Grascals truly are ‘Thankful’!” — John Bryan, singer/guitarist, The Grascals

Photo credit: Kim Lancaster Brantley

LISTEN: Shannon McNally, “This Time”

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Artist: Shannon McNally
Hometown: Long Island, New York
Song: “This Time”
Album: The Waylon Sessions
Release Date: May 28, 2021
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “‘This Time’ was written by Waylon. He didn’t write all of his songs. In fact, he probably didn’t write most of them, but the ones he did write were his best. I believe he was talking about a personal relationship with a lover, but as I sing it, I think of it as my relationship to the music business and my personal struggles with it as a woman and an artist. I particularly love the Wurlitzer intro and how the kick drum and acoustic guitar come in sounding like a sunny day. All of Waylon’s grooves remind me of horse gaits. This one is a full canter and the harmonica is the river running beside it. This song is the high point or key to me getting into the headspace that permits me to sing the rest of the album. For me there is relief in its directness. It’s my favorite song on the album.” — Shannon McNally

Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

LISTEN: The Reverend Shawn Amos, “Baby Please Don’t Go”

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Artist: The Reverend Shawn Amos
Hometown: California immigrant, Texas resident
Song: “Baby Please Don’t Go”
Album: The Cause of It All
Release Date: May 21, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ is quintessential blues. Ours is an amalgam of various versions, and closest to Muddy Waters’. This is another example of us bringing blues back the parlors of the 1920s and ‘30s. What if Muddy Waters was more of a contemporary of Scott Joplin than Little Walter? It’s proof the blues dresses up nicely while keeping its outsider status.” — The Reverend Shawn Amos

Photo credit: Fred Siegel

LISTEN: Sean McConnell, “Price of Love”

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Artist: Sean McConnell
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Price of Love”
Album: A Horrible Beautiful Dream
Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Soundly Music

In Their Words: “‘Price of Love’ is a direct result of a conversation I had with my mother on the phone one day while was driving on tour. I was missing my wife and little girl back at home. We talked about the price your heart pays for giving itself fully to someone. It’s scary, you know? Scary that something could happen to them. That something will eventually happen to all of us. But yet, most of us decide to risk that. To take the jump. To give up your heart completely. It’s heavy shit.” — Sean McConnell

Photo credit: Alexa King