Tag: premiere

LISTEN: Thin Lear, “Your Family”

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Artist: Thin Lear
Hometown: Queens, New York
Song: “Your Family”
Album: Wooden Cave
Release Date: July 24, 2020
Label: EggHunt Records

In Their Words: “There are certain songs that I need to emotionally warm myself up for before I play them live. I’ll work myself into a particular frame of mind in order to emote properly. But this one is different. With this song, I can pick the opening chord, and suddenly I’m transported back to where I was when I wrote it. It just takes hold of me, and it’s always a pretty cathartic experience.

“The song was written for a family member who was at the end of a long life, and he simply wanted to rejoin his partner in whatever it is that exists beyond here. I think, out of every song I’ve written, this one is probably the most misunderstood. People might hear it and think it’s purely a song of despair, but I really don’t see it in that way. It’s certainly sad, but in the very last stanza, there’s a loving energy there that’s embracing this person at their end.

“When we were recording the song in the studio, with the string quartet and the whole group, I could tell some of the players were getting a bit emotional by the end of it (myself included). And I remember afterwards, some of us were talking about the respective loved ones we’d been thinking about as we were playing. It was a wonderful experience. We only did two takes of it, and this was the first one. It just arrived when we needed it to.” — Thin Lear

Photo credit: Shervin Lainez

LISTEN: Sam Rae, “Strangest Thing”

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Artist: Sam Rae
Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina
Song: “Strangest Thing”
Album: Ten Thousand Years
Release Date: August 7, 2020

In Their Words: “The two words life and death live under the same roof, but if they were a texture or a rhythm they would be much different, both with their own groove. The content of this song sifts through my thoughts on life and death and present thought, which weave in and out of the record. ‘Strangest Thing’ is a gesture, like the tipping of one’s hat, prompting us to pull our eyes and minds out from behind the blindfold and remember what’s important.” — Sam Rae

Photo credit: Sophia Lou

WATCH: Cinder Well, “Queen of the Earth, Child of the Skies”

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Artist: Cinder Well
Hometown: Santa Cruz, California, but now Ennis, Ireland
Song: “Queen of the Earth, Child of the Skies”
Album: No Summer
Release Date: July 24, 2020
Label: Free Dirt Records

In Their Words: “This tune is an American version of an Irish set dance called ‘The Blackbird.’ I derived my own interpretation from a 1947 field recording of West Virginian fiddler Eden Hammons. Hammons used an interesting fiddle tuning, DDAD, which I also used here. Erynn Marshall draws the connection between the American and Irish versions of this tune in her book Music in the Air Somewhere: The Shifting Borders of West Virginia’s Fiddle and Song Traditions.

“Being from America and living in Ireland, I have been really interested in fiddle tunes that are found in both traditions. When I found this tune, I set out to reimagine it, led by this idea that if this tune has been making its way around the world for hundreds of years, why not keep interpreting it? I aimed to do this with all the songs, both original and traditional on No Summer, to get to the core of them and express them in the most relevant and honest way possible.

“This video was shot in the back room of Lucas’s bar in Ennis, Ireland, amongst empty tables, but where, in a different time, you have a nice quiet pint next to a fire.” — Cinder Well

Photo credit: Jim Ghedi

LISTEN: Ted Russell Kamp, “Stick With Me”

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Artist: Ted Russell Kamp
Hometown: Originally Hartsdale, New York; now many, many years in Los Angeles
Song: “Stick With Me”
Album: Down in the Den
Release Date: July 24, 2020
Label: PoMo Records

In Their Words: “This is a classic folk song I wrote that was inspired by the music of Nanci Griffith and John Prine. I wrote most of it on my own and then finished it with a good friend and very respected Nashville songwriter Dylan Altman. At the time, we were writing for the same Music Row publisher in Nashville so we did a lot of writing together.

“I married my college sweetheart, but met her just at the tail end of college. Before we knew each other, she had taken a summer-long road trip from New York to Seattle and back with her ex-boyfriend. He didn’t treat her all that well on the trip and later broke her heart. She was very cautious with wanting to start a budding relationship with me when I started falling for her and this song was based on the feelings for her I had at the time. She was running from life and I was trying to find her, comfort her, and let her know I was the one for her. It focuses on the running and our very human attempts to comfort the people we love and our wishes to work through barriers of insecurity and loneliness. Especially in crazy times like these, being compassionate and loving and creating deeper relationships is our way to a better life.

“I recorded this song while I was on tour in Europe six or seven years ago. (It’s one of the oldest songs on the record). The basic tracks were done on a day in between gigs in Finland, and the band on the recording is the band I still play with every time I go back to Finland to tour: Tommi Viksten and Tokela on guitar and Janne Haavisto on drums and percussion. All of these players are deeply respected and talented in their own country and they are on par with some of the best musicians I’ve ever played with. We cut the track live at E Studio in Helsinki. I then sang my final vocal take and added Hammond organ later that day. When I got home to the US, I asked my friend, Eric Heywood (Son Volt, Ray LaMontagne, the Pretenders) to play pedal steel and that’s the recording.” — Ted Russell Kamp

Photo credit: Karman Kruschke

LISTEN: Ciera Julia, “Even So”

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Artist: Ciera Julia
Hometown: Avalon, New Jersey
Song: “Even So”
Album: Who We Are
Release Date: July 24, 2020
Label: Lazare Music Inc.

In Their Words: “‘Even So’ holds a special place in my heart. I co-wrote this song with my good friend, Sheila Solomon, during a time of massive change in my life. I had just moved to Nashville, gotten out of a long-term relationship, and there were a lot of things I was missing. I will always love Boston, but when I graduated college it was time to close that chapter and move onto the next. They say, ‘If you love something, let it go,’ and it’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. This song reflects my acceptance and the path to healing. Sometimes things just don’t go as planned, but I like to think it’s for a reason; in this case it was. Nashville has given me so much and I have my past to thank for leading me here.” — Ciera Julia

Photo courtesy of the artist

LISTEN: The Two Tracks, “All Women Are Healers”

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Artist: The Two Tracks
Hometown: Sheridan, Wyoming
Song: “All Women Are Healers”
Album: Cheers to Solitude
Release Date: August 14, 2020

In Their Words: “‘All Women Are Healers’ was inspired by the title of a natural healing book that has been in my collection for years. The song speaks as a supportive women’s anthem highlighting the importance of women in the world. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to work with Will Kimbrough producing this record and Sean Sullivan engineering at The Butcher Shoppe in Nashville, just months before the studio was forced to close their doors because the property is being redeveloped. The history in that room was thick. We recorded our past two albums there and would have recorded every future one in that studio — it was such a low-key comfortable atmosphere to create in. I also appreciate Will for connecting us with an incredible woman for the mixing phase of the album, Trina Shoemaker. She is one of the best in the Americana industry right now and it is refreshing to see women in these often male-dominated roles. It’s good to see the current progressive shifts in awareness of the social standards and prejudices women still deal with across the world.” — Julie Szewc, The Two Tracks

Photo credit: Dean Owens

LISTEN: Andrea von Kampen, “Hard Times Come Again No More”

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Artist: Andrea von Kampen
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
Song: “Hard Times Come Again No More”
Album: From the original motion picture Molto Bella
Release Date: July 17, 2020 (Single)

In Their Words: “‘Hard Times Come Again No More’ is an American parlor song written by Stephen Foster that dates back to 1854. I had never heard of this song when I was asked to write the soundtrack for the film, Molto Bella. I knew that I wanted the soundtrack to be a combination of original songs and old folk tunes and when I came across the lyrics of this song, I knew they would fit well with what the characters in the film were going through. Little did I know that the lyrics would also be quite meaningful in the time we are currently living in. Much has changed since we shot this film in Italy and yet, the song is almost more meaningful now. The lyrics look forward to a time when hard times will end and the song also speaks to the hope while we go through hard times, we are in this together.” — Andrea von Kampen

Photo credit: Letura Idigima

WATCH: Buddy & Julie Miller, “Let It Rain”

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Artist: Buddy & Julie Miller
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Let It Rain” (with Steve Earle and The McCrary Sisters)
Release Date: July 17, 2020
Label: New West Records

In Their Words: “Our Black brothers and sisters have suffered so long. Their dehumanizing journey began 400 years ago. They lived lives of slaves and now of being distrusted by the law of the land, treated as ‘lesser than,’ been in danger from the stranger, danger from the law. Parents’ hearts are so worried, distraught, and broken. So much suffering and sorrow, discrimination, dehumanization, and hurt, and disappointment. This should all hurt our hearts too. It will if we have one. A beautiful revelation has been jump started in the middle of a pandemic, no less. This is my song of solidarity. And it’s my heart crying with their hearts. Let the revolution live.” — Julie Miller

Photo credit: Kate York

WATCH: Mark Stoffel, “Shadowbands”

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Artist: Mark Stoffel
Hometown: My birthplace and original hometown is Munich, Germany. My adopted hometown is Murphysboro, Illinois
Song: “Shadowbands”
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “This tune came to me relatively quickly while warming up for a show in Auburn, Alabama, in 2017. It also happened to be in the year of the wondrous transcontinental total solar eclipse and my chosen home near Murphysboro, Illinois, lay smack in the middle of the path. It seemed just right to name the tune after an amazing phenomenon associated with a total eclipse: ‘Shadowbands.’ (Google it.) My hobby astronomy friends assure me that the tune actually captures the mystique of shadow bands!

“The musicians, which I am honored to call very close friends of mine, all live scattered around the world, so we produced this video in an extreme socially-distanced fashion: Ross Sermons shot his bass part near Hobart, Tasmania. Niall Murphy, fiddle, posed for his part in South Armagh, Northern Ireland; and Gina Furtado, banjo, picked her scenic spot near her hometown of Winchester, Virginia. Josh, the guitarist, and I captured our parts in Alto Pass, Illinois. It was a lot of fun to put together, both the recording and the video. I hope it shows. Cheers, everybody!” — Mark Stoffel

Photo credit: Mary Stoffel

WATCH: Waylon Payne, “All the Trouble”

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Artist: Waylon Payne
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “All the Trouble”
Album: Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher & Me
Release Date: Sept. 11, 2020
Label: Carnival Recording Company/Empire

In Their Words: “I had just made the jump in November and moved back to Nashville [from Los Angeles] in 2015. The house I had rented was cool, but I had no sooner signed the lease before my friend Lee Ann asked me to join her on a writing weekend up in the Hamptons. I had not been there in many years, but Adam Wright and I flew to somewhere and met the bus and woke up on Long Island. There was a chill in the air and there was a good feeling going.

“Lee Ann Womack has been my friend for many years. I hold her and her family — Frank, Aubrie, and Anna — as my family and it has always been that way. She had set us up in a huge mansion with stellar views and fireplaces in each room. An added bonus came from a foul-mouthed top chef named Sylvia, who continually supplied (or plied) us with delicious five-course meals — every meal. The evenings were often wrapped with a hot toddy, full of bourbon and butter. We were there for almost a week and the songs started flowing. Adam, Lee Ann, and I wrote a song called ‘All the Trouble’ and another song called ‘Pictures.’ We also wrote some other songs with the band and Ethan Ballinger. The week felt like a success, and we all returned to Nashville just before the Thanksgiving holiday…” (Read more below.)

“…Later, Frank asked if I would like to go with them to Houston to record Lee Ann’s new album. He also asked if I would play guitar on the session. I am a lot of things, but no one has ever really referred to me as a guitar player. [My dog] Petey and I loaded up in a rental car and took off to Houston. The session was electric, and it was amazing to be there with my extended family to make music. Later, when the album came out, I had four songs on it. A few months later, I was sitting in the audience and nominated with Lee Ann and Adam for a Grammy. We didn’t win, and I didn’t mind that we lost to Brandi Carlile.

“As we were cutting this album, I had not planned on including ‘All the Trouble’ until Frank and Eric Masse suggested I give it a shot. I am proud to say it is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Thank you Lee Ann for including me on this fun journey!” — Waylon Payne

Photo credit: Bridgette Aikens