Tag: premiere

LISTEN: Joyann Parker, “What Did You Expect”

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Artist: Joyann Parker
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “What Did You Expect”
Album: Out of the Dark
Release Date: Feb 12, 2021
Label: Hopeless Romantics Records

In Their Words: “This song is a cheeky response to an experience that my musical partner, Mark Lamoine, relayed to me once about his daughter, who was then around 9 years old. The story goes something like this: Mark’s daughter was invited to play soccer with some boys in the neighborhood. When she went out to the park to play, they then decided against playing with her, saying they ‘didn’t want to play with a GIRL.’ She ran into the house, crying and very upset, of course. Her mother, seeing her in distress, asked what happened and when she found out, got down on one knee in front of her daughter and said something to the effect of, ‘Get used to it, Honey, men lie.’ This was great inspiration for a song for me, so I took it, twisted it so the female narrator was the villain in a relationship and being dishonest with her partner about her intentions, saying, ‘Well, what did you expect?'” — Joyann Parker

Photo credit: Jeannine Marie Photography

WATCH: Tejon Street Corner Thieves, “Deal Rag”

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Artist: Tejon Street Corner Thieves
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Song: “Deal Rag”
Album: Stolen Goods
Release Date: May 7, 2021
Label: Liars Club

In Their Words: “‘The Deal Rag’ had been a staple in our band since day one. It’s upbeat and fun as hell to play! It’s about when deals go wrong and you end up in a bad situation. Something we’re all too familiar with. We love the ragtime swing and the and the washboard solo rips. This is the first song we decided to put on Stolen Goods. It really sets the pace for the whole album.” — Connor O’Neal, Tejon Street Corner Thieves

Photo credit: Mountain Trout Photography

LISTEN: Mike Barnett, “Hybrid Hoss”

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Artist: Mike Barnett
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Hybrid Hoss”
Album: + 1
Release Date: March 19, 2021
Label: Compass Records

Editor’s Note: Fiddle player Mike Barnett’s collaborative album, + 1, was slated for a late summer 2020 release, but plans were derailed when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at his home in Nashville in July. He underwent two successful surgeries and an initial round of rehabilitation in Atlanta, and will soon begin intensive rehabilitation in Chicago. There, accompanied by his wife, fiddler Annalise Ohse, he will work to “reconnect his brain to his fingers.” In the midst of continuing his recovery, Barnett is very excited about getting the music on + 1 to the fans and community that have offered him so much support. Go to Mike Barnett’s GoFundMe page to contribute to his recovery fund.

In Their Words: “Here’s a good old Bill Monroe classic… oh wait, except for the ‘A’ part. I put one note per ping pong ball and played lottery bingo for that part… just kidding, though it might sound that way. I sometimes enjoy taking tunes outside the box, but still maintain some semblance of where it came from. This is a hybrid of ‘outside’ and ‘in’ based on Bill Monroe’s ‘Wheel Hoss.’ Grounding this in the tradition of banjo/fiddle seemed appropriate. Cory Walker’s instincts and diverse musical pallet make him one of very few people who could tackle this.” — Mike Barnett

Photo credit: Stacie Huckeba

LISTEN: Fort Frances, “Fits and Starts”

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Artist: Fort Frances
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Song: “Fits and Starts”
Release date: February 5, 2020

In Their Words: “The past year has been stuck on pause. Before the pandemic, time traveled on a superhighway at a million miles an hour, but since March, we’ve all been in a traffic jam. There have been plenty of huge challenges in that standstill, but the break from a consistent surge of momentum has actually been good in some respects. It’s been a chance to reflect and recognize that we’ve all been fooling ourselves as we speed through life seeking somewhere new. ‘Fits and Starts’ is a song about making the concept of time meaningless so that it feels okay to keep holding that pause button.” — David McMillin, Fort Frances

Photo credit: Esther Sullivan

WATCH: David Huckfelt, “Hidden Made Known”

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Artist: David Huckfelt
Hometown: Spencer, Iowa
Song: “Hidden Made Known”
Album: Room Enough, Time Enough
Release Date: February 26, 2021
Label: Gambler’s Dharma Records/Fluff & Gray Records

In Their Words: “‘Hidden Made Known’ is about having faith in the basic intelligence of the universe, and what to do next when you lose it. From Wounded Knee to Sault Ste. Marie, tenderness is on the run, ‘Here be monsters’ all over your Google maps, even your sure things fall through. Meanwhile, sparks of the dharma shoot out from little children, lakes and rivers all day long, saying ‘Be gentle.’ Don’t see many of these long-form poem-songs these days, we don’t seem to have the attention for them — but every line felt like it could be another song. Walk out of doors, slip through a crack in the live stream feed, find a glitch in the system and mine it until things feel wild again.” — David Huckfelt

Photo credit: Charlie Stout

LISTEN: Jon Stickley Trio, “Future Ghost”

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Artist: Jon Stickley Trio
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina
Song: “Future Ghost”
Release Date: February 5, 2021
Label: Organic Records

In Their Words: “‘Future Ghost’ was written during the beginning of the pandemic, shortly after finding out I was going to be a father. I was having so many conflicting feelings, and a little difficulty sorting them all out. I ended up thinking a lot about the cycle of life and how impermanent everything is. At one point I thought I saw a ghost in the hallway, and it looked like me. Somehow, the idea that I could someday be a ghost, haunting this house, gave me a great sense of comfort and motivation to make the most of my time. This song ended up really capturing that energy.” — Jon Stickley

Photo credit: Sandlin Gaither

LISTEN: Dale Ann Bradley, “Yellow Creek”

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Artist: Dale Ann Bradley
Hometown: Middlesboro, Kentucky
Song: “Yellow Creek”
Album: Things She Couldn’t Get Over
Release Date: February 5, 2021
Label: Pinecastle Records

In Their Words: “The songs on this album, to me, are how I want to express some of the things I’ve learned in this life. And it’s that we are individuals that each derive from all regions with different stories, but ‘the struggle’ is one that we all have in common. We ALL struggle, so hopefully these songs are overall a ‘walking in someone else’s shoes’ experience and may bring a realization, which is that we all fall short of the glory of The Lord. ‘Yellow Creek’ is such a poetic tribute to all the Native Americans who traveled on the Trail of Tears. It’s such a thorough depiction of that dark time.” — Dale Ann Bradley

Photo courtesy of Pinecastle Records

LISTEN: Jaelee Roberts, “Something You Didn’t Count On”

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Artist: Jaelee Roberts
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Something You Didn’t Count On”
Release Date: February 5, 2021
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “‘Something You Didn’t Count On’ is about anything that happens in life unexpectedly. The main theme is about love coming out of nowhere, but it really has so many underlying meanings, and that’s why I love the song so much. The melody and lyrics came to Theo MacMillan and I pretty quickly and, interestingly, the storyline comes from either the male or female perspective. I think my favorite line in the song is ‘you don’t always look for what you find’ which is the focus of what the song is all about!” — Jaelee Roberts

Photo credit: Before Charleston Photography

WATCH: Rod Abernethy, “My Father Was a Quiet Man”

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Artist: Rod Abernethy
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Song: “My Father Was a Quiet Man”
Album: Normal Isn’t Normal Anymore
Release Date: February 5, 2021

In Their Words: “About two years ago around the holidays, I had a dream that my dad called me and we were talking on the wall-hanging, rotary dial phone in the kitchen. He was talking up a storm, like a teenager… funny thing was he never really talked that much in real life. We had a great talk on the phone that night and he asked me how I was doing and how the family was getting along. It was so unlike him to be so upbeat, asking me about things — I’ll never forget that dream.” — Rod Abernethy

Photo credit: Neilson Hubbard

LISTEN: Karen Matheson, “Glory Demon”

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Artist: Karen Matheson
Hometown: Oban, Argyll, Scotland
Song: “Glory Demon”
Album: Still Time
Release Date: February 12, 2021
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “‘The Glory Demon’ is a phrase taken from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It means war. It’s essentially an anti-war song, about how we never seem to learn and how it just goes on and on (life and afterlife) endlessly repeating itself. I thought also about how the phrase might fit the hubris, megalomania and idiocy of certain politicians.” — Karen Matheson

Photo courtesy of Compass Records