Tag: premiere

WATCH: Scythian, “Buddy Holly”

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Artist: Scythian
Hometown: Front Royal, Virginia
Song: “Buddy Holly” (Weezer cover)
Album: Quaranstream: The Album
Release Date: July 8, 2021
Label: Aerotone Records

In Their Words: “‘Buddy Holly’ was a product of a rabbit trail (no pun intended) while the four of us were practicing for our ill-fated 2020 Roots and Stones CD release tour. We were talking about some adjustments needed in the set when Dan started playing a couple chords, which were the same progression as ‘Buddy Holly.’ We then joked that it would make a rippin’ bluegrass tune, and left it at that. Next thing we knew it was mid 2020 and we had started these online shows that racked up about 30k+ viewers every other week called ‘Quaranstreams.’ We literally survived that whole year off of the amazing goodwill of our fans supporting us and tipping us while we played. The shows were kind of like a reverse SNL, lots of music, and a couple skits featuring a variety of recurring characters, so we thought that this would be a great place to experiment with writing and recording songs to release for our amazing fans.

“We remembered that we wanted to give this song a try, and ended up recording it all in about a day. After it was mixed and mastered, we were racking our brains with how to present this on the stream since we had limited time and wanted to do the song justice, so we took inspiration from the original Spike Jonze-directed video and just added crocheted puppets. We spent a good hour or so cutting out cardboard instruments and making mic stands out of Q-tips, then literally shot the whole thing in about two hours with an iPhone. When we released the video on our live stream for the first time, people were losing their minds, and kept requesting us to play the video every chance they could get. People wanted it so badly that they watched the whole four-hour stream again, just to screen capture the video and bootleg it to other Scythian fans.” — Ethan Dean

Photo credit: Brendan McLean

LISTEN: Margo Cilker, “Tehachapi”

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Artist: Margo Cilker
Hometown: Enterprise, Oregon
Song: “Tehachapi”
Album: Pohorylle (produced by Sera Cahoone)
Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Fluff and Gravy Records / Loose Music

In Their Words: “‘Tehachapi’ wasn’t born an exuberant song, but it certainly became one. In my live shows it’s the ace up my sleeve — the song I’m careful not to play too early in the set, lest the audience wait all night expecting another like it. At some point during recording Sera called me, laughing into her phone, saying she put a wild sound on ‘Tehachapi’ and that I was gonna love it. She was right on both counts. Tracking accordion as the foundation of the song just made it too easy to go full Crescent City. One of the most vivid memories I have of making Pohorylle is the memory of watching Sera overdub floor toms to make that instrumental of ‘Tehachapi’ really pop. I can genuinely say it seemed like she was having fun, and as a singer-songwriter, that’s all you can ask for. When I cover a song it’s because for a moment in time, that song is the most sacred thing in my life. ‘Willin” was that to me, so I guess it lives in my soul and came out to play on this number.” — Margo Cilker

Photo credit: Matthew W. Kennelly

WATCH: Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, “New York”

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Artist: Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina
Song: “New York”
Label: Organic Records

In Their Words: “I always get ideas for videos when I’m listening to mixes in the car. My 20-month-old daughter really took a shine to this song one day while I was listening and started demanding it every time we got in the car… over and over and over. So I had a lot of time to visualize the story. It’s a song I wrote about leaving the house that I grew up in, and kind of saying goodbye to that younger version of myself. Our friend Gretchen Kauffman did such a great job as little Amanda! We had a really fun time.” — Amanda Anne Platt

Photo credit: Sandlin Gaither

LISTEN: Tylor & the Train Robbers, “Lemonade”

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Artist: Tylor & the Train Robbers
Hometown: Boise, Idaho
Song: “Lemonade”
Album: Non-Typical Find (produced by Cody Braun of Reckless Kelly)
Release Date: July 9, 2021

In Their Words: “Everyone has heard the saying ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ I wanted to use that sentiment as the theme of this song without actually saying it and dig into the idea that when you don’t find a way to bring some good out of the bad, you’re just stuck with the same old lemons. When I’m writing about characters, I like to try to make them feel as real as possible, so I often end up using people I know as inspiration. This one started with the first character that the protagonist encounters, who was based on my grandfather (The Storyteller from our last album). He was a hard-working man who spent his weekends hunting in the hills with his hound dogs and was back at work in the mill come Monday. He was also very fond of bluegrass music so as an additional nod to him we brought in a little of the bluegrass sound featuring a banjo solo.” — Tylor Ketchum, Tylor & the Train Robbers

Photo credit: Maggie Grace Photography

WATCH: Gabriel Kelley, “Hard in America”

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Artist: Gabriel Kelley
Hometown: Nashville, Tennesee
Song: “Hard in America”
Release Date: July 2, 2021
Label: Epidemic Sound

In Their Words: “‘Hard in America’ was written as a reflection of the commonality between us all as Americans, both within our hardships and our joys. As we have spent the last almost two years dealing with an almost unmanageable amount of hardship and uncertainty, my goal with this song was to find some form of hope and solace in spaces that remind us we are all the same, all one family in unison. I sat down alone at the piano early one morning towards the end of quarantine with not even the slightest hint of an idea of a song. I just sat down to feel the keys for a little while… to discover what I was feeling underneath. Early mornings with instruments somehow always take me on that journey.

“After being off the road for so long, I had become less tied to my own rooted identity as this traveling/touring artist. This slower pace of life had almost forced me, in a way, to reconnect myself to a deeper aspect of who I was and still am. I went further and further into this common space of the simple human condition. We all need love, we all need hope, we all need a little grace. We all need a smile from time to time. This song fell out in about the time it took to play it down. That’s only happened a few times in my life and when they do they are special to me. It’s like it had been marinating in me without my knowing for the last year and a half and then just jumped out. It’s always been very easy for me to connect with my own material but something about this song made me feel connected to everyone in this beautiful and crooked country.” — Gabriel Kelley

Photo credit: Sunny Davis

LISTEN: Pat Byrne, “I Woulda Done It for You”

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Artist: Pat Byrne
Hometown: Borris, County Carlow, Ireland
Song: “I Woulda Done It for You”
Album: Into the Light
Release Date: July 9, 2021

In Their Words: “‘I Woulda Done It for You’ is fun, quirky and upbeat, belying the tragic lyrics. The central character is dealing with the immediate aftermath of a breakup, listing all the crazy things he would have done for his recently estranged partner — and a final plea for one more chance. This song is a co-write with Miles Zuniga of the band Fastball. We met shortly after I moved to Austin and immediately hit it off. Like most songwriters, I was guarded about my work and tended to think none of it was good enough. I had written like ten or eleven verses, too many. After having the song in my notebook for years, it took Miles five minutes to hone the verses and gift me with a chorus. I learned a lot from the experience and am so lucky to have mentors like Miles.” — Pat Byrne

Photo credit: Samantha Della Fave

WATCH: Rachel Sumner, “Lose My Love”

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Artist: Rachel Sumner
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Lose My Love”

In Their Words: “A lot of the songs I write are carefully crafted over long stretches of weeks, months, and even years. ‘Lose My Love,’ however, was one of those songs that came to me fully formed in an instant. I was in the shower when I started singing the chorus and realized there was a little film noir playing in my mind underneath it. I rushed out, wrote it down, and let my imaginary movie guide the verses. At the time I was one of the writers and lead singers of the bluegrass band Twisted Pine, so we recorded and included it on our eponymous album released in 2017. After parting ways with the group in 2019, I decided to reclaim and rearrange this song for my live solo shows where it’s become a favorite of mine to play amid the trove of new songs that I’ve been working on for my debut LP — more on that soon, so stay tuned!!” — Rachel Sumner

Photo credit: Hannah Cohen

LISTEN: Joe Troop, “Purdy Little Rainbows”

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Artist: Joe Troop
Hometown: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Song: “Purdy Little Rainbows”
Album: Borrowed Time
Release Date: August 20, 2021
Label: Free Dirt Records

In Their Words: “What we now know as ‘Pride’ began at Stonewall in an uprising of New York City LGBTQ people of color demanding the acknowledgement of their human dignity. But in today’s woke rat race for clout, middle-class theatrics flood the echo chamber, and marginalization has become a precious commodity for the privileged. The movement has been convoluted by capitalism to the benefit of corporations and the middle-class opportunist.

“Bourgeois antics coupled with McPride have glorified the contemporary queer, urban experience. Where does this leave rural queers — the groundhogs? In rural areas, LGBTQ people are still duking it out in the arena of backcountry politics, where anonymity is impossible and pride isn’t an asset that gets you ahead in life.

“Pork chop queens and pawn shop trash are down in the trenches. They don’t get to live in a wealthy hyperwoke bubble. They aren’t lauded for virtue signaling on social media. And many times they have to hide their identities just to exist. I wrote this song for them, all the little groundhogs, valiantly waddling far and wide amongst the trappers. For all the purdy little rainbows shining in dark places.” — Joe Troop

Photo credit: Kendall Atwater

WATCH: Erik Shicotte, “Flint”

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Artist: Erik Shicotte
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Song: “Flint”
Album: Miss’ry Pacific EP
Release Date: July 16, 2021
Label: Black Country Rock

In Their Words: “Sprawled along the medicine of a two-lane highway, ‘Flint’ came as the soundtrack to my own cinematic heartbreak and the wandering repercussions of ineffective escapism. Drawn over a steady stalwart 4/4 roll, the desperate defiance of a yearning heart plays out over a defining romance cut short, and the humming tires that follow. This is a song about hurtin’ and runnin’ out from under the inescapable and sometimes inexplicable wanting that often comes from the naiveté and hopefulness of a spark. The instrumentation is deafeningly present, and I even let myself chug out a simple pseudo-lead on the Telecaster. If ever there were to be a movie made about me being all sad and pissed off, this is the song that would accompany the southwestern sunrise and cigarette breath as I drive into the golden ether.” — Erik Shicotte

Photo credit: Destiny Frack

LISTEN: The Brothers Comatose, “Too Many Places”

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Artist: The Brothers Comatose
Hometown: San Francisco, California
Song: “Too Many Places”
Release Date: July 2, 2021
Label: Swamp Jam Records

In Their Words: “This song was a big collaboration with the whole band. It started with a set of lyrics from our tour manager, Joe Pacini, and morphed into a story of a man fighting an internal battle between the road he believed he was destined for and a more domestic life with a woman he loves. It’s a constant push and pull and a common thread with most touring musicians we know. How does one balance a home life and life on the road? It’s a delicate dance that requires a lot of give and take in a relationship and for those that have figured it out, we applaud you! Tell us your secrets!” — The Brothers Comatose

Photo credit: Giant Eye