Tag: premiere

WATCH: Garrison, Gordy, Hargreaves, Walsh, “Sports”

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Artist: Garrison, Gordy, Hargreaves, Walsh
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York/Denver, Colorado/Portland, Maine
Song: “Sports”
Album: Bluegrass and the Abstract Truth
Release Date: April 16, 2021

In Their Words: “Instrumental tunes are wonderfully subjective, like little movies whose narratives and meanings can transform and reflect the places they’ve seen. ‘Sports’ started as a little tune in my head riding the D train home from Manhattan to Brooklyn, and had its first public appearance on a local jazz gig. It followed me around, enjoyed some unveilings in the UK under a few different titles — I think I even took a fruitless audience survey to come up with a fitting appellation. When we went into the studio to record this group, its true title came to light and Joe, Alex, and Greg expressed its shifts of mood and character masterfully. We were so delighted to see our friend Danny Barnes’ take on what ‘Sports’ was communicating, and the video he made couldn’t have been a better fit for the mood of the piece.” — Grant Gordy

Photo credit: Dan Cardinal

LISTEN: June Star, “I Don’t Wanna Know”

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Artist: June Star
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Song: “I Don’t Wanna Know”
Album: How We See It Now
Release Date: April 16, 2021
Label: WhistlePig Records

In Their Words: “Human beings are messy emotional creatures. Sometimes when we struggle to communicate in relationships it’s because there’s the voice we speak with and that voice in our head. ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’ bounces between a professed love to another person and a confessed loneliness on the inside.” — Andrew Grimm, June Star

Photo credit: Shane Gardner

WATCH: The Ladles, “Pages”

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Artist: The Ladles
Hometown: New York, New York
Song: “Pages”
Album: Springville Sessions
Release Date: April 16, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Pages’ talks about the experience of reading through an old journal and being confronted with your past self. In each entry, all your hopes and good intentions, your mistakes and your blind spots are laid bare in equal measure. It’s not a particularly comfortable experience, because you have the benefit of perspective and you know how it all works out. That confused and misguided relationship does fall apart. You did say the wrong thing and will have to apologize for it. However, I found that reading my own words from that time helped me to offer myself more compassion and understanding. It was a reminder that at any given moment, we only know what we know, and we’re all doing the best we can.” — Katie Martucci, The Ladles (guitar, vocals)

Photo credit: Liz Maney

WATCH: The Sweet Lillies, “My Brother’s Hill”

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Artist: The Sweet Lillies
Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
Song: “My Brother’s Hill”
Album: Common Ground
Release Date: June 4, 2021
Label: Americana Vibes

In Their Words: “We selected ‘My Brother’s Hill’ because we were deeply inspired by the composition’s stunning vocal harmonies, beautiful and meaningful lyrics, and old-timey structure, especially the cross tuning of the violin. We felt with our instrumentation and devotion to harmony singing that it would be a fun challenge to recreate the song. We started performing the song in 2019. Our version was truly well-received, at which point we began to consider recording it. As luck would have it we ran into the song’s composer Oliver Bates Craven at Folk Alliance in 2020 and were able to ask his permission to record the song. Oliver was enthusiastic at the prospect of hearing his song recorded by us. This gave us the encouragement we needed to go ahead and show it to our producer Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth. Tim immediately and resoundingly said, ‘Yes, let’s do it!’ Having the approval from the songwriter and our producer, as well as the enthusiasm of the band, the decision was made to record ‘My Brother’s Hill.'” — Julie Gussaroff, The Sweet Lillies

Photo credit: Michael Weintrob

LISTEN: Miles Gannett, “Thunder River, Tumbling Down”

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Artist: Miles Gannett
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Song: “Thunder River, Tumbling Down”
Album: Meridian
Release Date: April 16, 2021

In Their Words: “I heard the melody and a few of the lyrics, including the lines ‘Thunder River, tumbling down; catch your babes before they drown’ in a dream, and I woke up and sang what I could remember into my phone. It kind of creeped me out, so it sat around for a couple years until I figured out where to go with the rest of the lyrics. It contains a lot of trippy apocalyptic imagery and I guess quasi-religious commentary. Musically, I was inspired by the vibe of some of my favorite late ’60s and early ’70s progressive bluegrass artists, especially Dillard & Clark, who combined bluegrass and psychedelic folk rock in a way that I think is really cool, and J.D. Crowe & the New South, who used drums and pedal steel on their Bluegrass Evolution album, which I love even if Tony Rice didn’t (ha ha). I was honored to have such great players on the record, who could help me achieve the sound I was searching for. Ron Stewart of the Seldom Scene played banjo on the track, which, along with Eric Selby’s drumming and Joe Martone’s bass, really propels the song and creates a solid foundation for Dave Hadley’s pedal steel and Sean P. Finn’s fiddle. I did my best to keep up on acoustic guitar!” — Miles Gannett

Photo credit: Chancey June Gannett

LISTEN: Jason Davis, “Modern Day Jezebel” (Feat. Dan Tyminski)

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Artist: Jason Davis
Hometown: Galax, Virginia
Song: “Modern Day Jezebel” (Feat. Dan Tyminski)
Release Date: April 13, 2021
Label: Mountain Fever Records

In Their Words: “I first got the demo of this tune four or five years ago from Daniel Salyer. I loved it the first time I heard it and knew I’d like to cut it for my next record. Luckily, nobody had put it out in the meantime. To me it’s a great modern bluegrass tune. I think it’s a cool way of telling the story of a love gone wrong and I really liked the chord progression and melody. Dan played guitar on the session and I was especially excited when he wanted to sing it. It was an honor to get to track with all the guys (and gal). They really knocked it out of the park on this one. They killed it!” — Jason Davis

Photo credit: Donn Jones

WATCH: Andrew Adkins, “This Old Knife”

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Artist: Andrew Adkins
Hometown: Fayetteville, West Virginia
Song: “This Old Knife”
Album: April in Your Eyes – A Tribute to the Songs of John Lilly
Release Date: April 16, 2021
Label: Diamond Ranch Records

In Their Words: “I’ve always admired John Lilly as a person and as a songwriter. The first or second time I saw him perform, he played ‘This Old Knife’ and I was in love. I literally stuck my hand in my pocket and held the knife that my father gave to me. When asked to be a part of this album, I knew exactly what song I wanted to sing, because I’ve sang it so many times since I first heard it that night.” — Andrew Adkins

Photo credit: Tara Fowler

WATCH: Nefesh Mountain, “Wanderlust”

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Artist: Nefesh Mountain
Hometown: Montclair, New Jersey
Song: “Wanderlust”
Album: Songs for the Sparrows
Release Date: June 11, 2021
Label: Eden Sky Records

In Their Words: “The idea for this song came from the Traveler’s Prayer — these age-old words that our ancestors have spoken for centuries. ‘Wanderlust’ and this new album are very much a celebration; about adventure and endurance and pushing through the difficult times. We’re looking at some painful things in these songs, but it always comes back to the idea of persevering and letting love be your fuel.” — Doni Zasloff, Nefesh Mountain

Photo credit: Lawrence Rickford

WATCH: Sonja Midtune, “Los Angeles”

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Artist: Sonja Midtune
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Los Angeles”
Album: Dreams Melt Away (EP)
Release Date: April 2, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Los Angeles’ is a song with multiple meanings. What starts as a love song quickly turns into an analogy about the relationship; pretty on the surface, but messy underneath, just like Los Angeles. It asks the question, ‘Are WE Los Angeles?’ and ends with me accepting L.A. as my home, but wow, I am lost here. The music video was shot by my boyfriend at all of my favorite unique L.A. spots that I’ve discovered through the years. He loves the song. 🙂 We had a blast!” — Sonja Midtune

Photo credit: Michelle Lanning

LISTEN: The Shootouts, “Saturday Night Town”

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Artist: The Shootouts
Hometown: Northeast Ohio
Song: “Saturday Night Town”
Album: Bullseye
Release Date: April 30, 2021
Label: Soundly Music

In Their Words: “It was inspired by a book I read about a historic small town in Ohio. Throughout the book there were stories of fun-loving locals who would cut loose at the end of a long week, referring to it as a ‘Saturday Night Town.’ I instantly knew that was meant to be a song title. We all come from, or know someone who comes from, a small town like this. Even if they end up leaving, it’s hard to get that out of your blood. I think we can all relate to a much-needed break at the end of a long week, no matter what town you call home.

“That same book inspired another track called ‘Rattlesnake Whiskey,’ which is also on Bullseye. Both of those songs were written in 2015, before The Shootouts began. They were some of the first original songs we performed live, and they quickly became fan favorites. They didn’t quite fit with the batch of tunes that became our debut album, Quick Draw, but they definitely felt like a perfect fit for Bullseye. Luckily, Chuck [Mead, producer] thought so too. I think we got the definitive versions, and I’m glad we finally got to record them both.

“Fun fact: We end almost every show with ‘Saturday Night Town’ and have almost since the inception of the band. It really allows the band to stretch out a bit and trade some tasty licks.” — Ryan Humbert, The Shootouts

Photo credit: Jamie Escola