Tag: premiere

LISTEN: Michael McArthur, “Warmer Months” (Take 3, Acoustic)

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Artist: Michael McArthur
Hometown: Lakeland, Florida
Song: “Warmer Months” (Take 3, Acoustic)
Album: How to Fall In Love EP
Release Date: August 14, 2020
Label: Dark River Records

In Their Words: “I started almost every show last year with this song for two reasons: One, it’s great for warming up the voice and hands. Often, I didn’t have the chance to do so before walking out to center stage. And two, people have always responded so well to it. It has that ‘draw you close’ quality, like a good hug.” — Michael McArthur

Photo credit: Michael Flores

LISTEN: Laura Rabell, “This Stone”

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Artist: Laura Rabell
Hometowns: Pensacola, FL & Charlotte, NC; now in Nashville
Song: “This Stone”
Album: Immortal
Release Date: July 31, 2020

In Their Words: “‘This Stone’ turned out to be prophetic. It foreshadowed some important emotional truths I ended up having to face. And I’ll be damned if the Pfaltzgraff wedding china I inherited from my grandmother didn’t literally start cracking and falling apart! Be careful what you write, I guess… ‘This Stone’ is about really trying to make something work, but coming to the realization that it never will. That you can keep on being miserable or make a change. It’s a song about walking away. After all was said and done and the recording was finished, my husband and I had survived an incredibly stressful and tumultuous year thanks to my cancer diagnosis, which inevitably spilled over into our marriage. But this song gave me a precious gift — it was an outlet for all those feelings that were deep beneath the surface.” — Laura Rabell

Photo credit: Daniel Coston

LISTEN: Cary Morin, “Valley of the Chiefs”

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Artist: Cary Morin
Hometown: Lives in Fort Collins, Colorado; from Great Falls, Montana
Song: “Valley of the Chiefs”
Album: Dockside Saints
Release Date: August 7, 2020

In Their Words: “A true story told by my great grandmother at my Crow naming ceremony when I was about four years old. It tells of when she was a teenager and was kidnapped by a neighboring tribe. When women were kidnapped back then, they were destined to a life of servitude. She and her friends escape the warriors and are able to steal their horses and ride back home. The moral of the story from my great-grandmother to me was that there is nothing in life that you cannot overcome. I believe she was giving me this story to teach me perseverance in the face of any obstacles in my life. The story is familiar to me for my whole life.

“I wrote it as a memory of my life and my culture. I’ve written songs about the Crow side of my family for years. Not many of them were ever published until recently in my career. Earlier in my life, I probably thought that sharing these stories and family history was too personal. It would be interesting to ask other Crow people what their specific naming ceremony stories are. There are many… Now, I feel it is important to share this history and continue the oral history of my people. I’ve always wanted to hear this song with a different presentation. I had previously recorded it as a solo tune. I wanted a presentation with sweeping melodic lines.” — Cary Morin

Photo credit: Reggie Ruth Barrett

WATCH: Stephen Mougin, “The Song That I Call Home”

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Artist: Stephen Mougin
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The Song That I Call Home”
Album: Ordinary Soul
Release Date: July 31, 2020
Label: Dark Shadow Recording

In Their Words: “I discovered years ago, like many of my peers, I only really feel like myself when I’m onstage, in the studio, writing songs, or somehow involved in the creation of music. The normal world seems wild, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable until I have the chance to get back inside a song. Erin McDermott and I shared that sentiment back when we wrote ‘The Song That I Call Home’ as an homage to our muse: ‘Lyrical directions for an ordinary soul/ Look past my imperfections while the music makes me whole.’ It’s always a blast to have Sam Bush and Ned Luberecki in the same place, both musically and comically! This was an extra treat, as it’s the first music video I’ve released as an artist AND it includes my wife, Jana. I’m proud of our DSR Video team for their hard work, especially since I had to be on the ‘wrong’ side of the camera for much of this shoot!” — Stephen Mougin

Photo credit: Elliot Lopes

LISTEN: The Texas Gentlemen, “Skyway Streetcar”

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Artist: The Texas Gentlemen
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Song: “Skyway Streetcar”
Album: Floor It!!!
Release Date: July 17, 2020
Label: New West Records

In Their Words: “‘Skyway Streetcar’ is the first song Dan Creamer and I ever wrote together. It is still one of my favorites to play. It’s really the best example of our writing and lyrical trade-off style and vibe. Lyrically, we kinda looked at it as a way to live life to the fullest and get around doin’ so. Basically, a spacecraft of sorts you can use to get the best out of life.

“We had all just moved into a big house south of Dallas on Mona Lane. Later referred to often as ‘Mona.’ We were in the middle of cultivating Beatles songs and various other favorite covers to fill in for Daniel’s brother, who had to bail on a weekly residency at the Sundown at Granada. In the midst of this, we unknowingly started a band that was bound to be more than just a cover band. The musical chemistry that was building between Dan and I flowed into our own song ideas. With ‘Skyway Streetcar,’ I had the music all recorded in demo form, but one night we were laughing about what a casanova one of our pals and bandmates was at the time. That’s what inspired the line, ‘I’ve got a friend, goes from town to town, knocking ‘em up setting ‘em down, he used to really get around.’ The lyrics just grew from there.

“We had a studio in Mona and that is where the song was originally recorded just directly after writing it. For the next several years we continued to play it live. We had used that song as a jumping-off point to feel out any given studio. So this song technically was recorded about five times as we recorded in different studios before we ever took it to Echo Lab and did the final version with Matt Pence.” — Nik Lee of The Texas Gentlemen

Photo credit: Barbara FG

LISTEN: Joshua Hyslop, “Let It Rain”

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Artist: Joshua Hyslop
Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia
Song: “Let It Rain”
Album: Ash & Stone
Release Date: September 11, 2020
Label: Nettwerk

In Their Words: “We recorded ‘Let it Rain’ in Vancouver, BC, at Afterlife Studios. I was lucky enough to work with some truly amazing musicians including John Raham, Darren Parris, Chris Gestrin, Paul Rigby, and Matt Kelly. We had so much fun. It was a great reminder of how powerfully music can communicate, how it can heal, and how much that means to me. ‘Let it Rain’ is a song about mental health. I often deal with depression and one of the ways it manifests in my life is an overwhelming feeling of numbness. I’m trying to be more positive in those moments, recognizing that I can’t avoid the storms but also trying hard to stay present and remain hopeful through them.” — Joshua Hyslop

Photo credit: Devon Scott Wong

LISTEN: Mike Barnett, “Righteous Bell” (Featuring Sarah Jarosz)

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Artist: Mike Barnett
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Righteous Bell” (featuring Sarah Jarosz)
Album: + 1
Release Date: September 11, 2020
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “I wrote this just before the 2016 presidential election. Looking back, there is much work to be done before any ‘righteous bell’ is rung. The juxtaposition of the propelling, changing instrumental and the grounding, unchanging vocal melody creates a sort of galvanizing tension that hopefully inspires the listener to take action — voting, conversing, learning, protesting, etc. Just like in an old-time jam, the vocal melody and lyric fuels the fiddles and banjos, and everyone feeds off each other’s energy. Sarah Jarosz’s powerful singing and driving clawhammer banjo brought this song to life.” — Mike Barnett

Photo credit: Stacie Huckeba

LISTEN: India Ramey, “Montgomery Behind Me”

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Artist: India Ramey
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Montgomery Behind Me”
Album: Shallow Graves
Release Date: September 4, 2020

In Their Words: “‘Montgomery Behind Me’ is somewhat autobiographical. I got married young, the first time. My first husband (who is a nice man) was from a ‘good family’ in Montgomery. I was not, so I was a square peg in a round hole. I just never fit, not with him, not with anyone there. I felt guilty for not being happy and not making everyone else happy. Eventually I had to accept that my time there was an exercise in futility. I also had to muster the courage to accept who I am and be not just OK with it, but be happy about it. When I would think about leaving, I had this vision of me heading down that long, flat highway with the small Montgomery skyline behind me and never looking back. Above and beyond the personal stuff, this song is a refusal to people-please and an acceptance and liberation of one’s true self.” — India Ramey

India Ramey · Montgomery Behind Me

Photo credit: Stacie Huckeba

LISTEN: Kris Delmhorst, “The Horses”

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Artist: Kris Delmhorst
Hometown: Buckland, Massachusetts
Song: “The Horses”
Album: Long Day in the Milky Way
Release Date: August 14, 2020
Label: CEN/The Orchard

In Their Words: “For me, Rickie Lee Jones represents artistic fearlessness and uncompromising freedom. Her work always offers the inspiration to take risks and reach farther. She’s a deep musician and a serious student of song — I love her covers records so much — but she’s also a free-range seeker, unhindered by the boundaries of genre. There’s such curiosity, joy, humor, and deep compassion running through all of her music.

“I don’t generally include covers on my albums, but while we were in the studio for this one we caught a version of ‘The Horses,’ and it ended up feeling like it belonged. I love how it resonates with the record’s themes, persistence and struggle and hope. And I love the idea of RLJ’s presence gracing the proceedings like an honored guest, a patron saint.” — Kris Delmhorst

Photo credit: Brittany Powers

LISTEN: William Matheny, “Mind for Leaving”

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Artist: William Matheny
Hometown: Morgantown, West Virginia
Song: “Mind for Leaving”
Album: Split 7″ single with Frontier Folk Nebraska
Release Date: July 11, 2020
Label: Soul Step

In Their Words: “‘Mind for Leaving’ was written and recorded in January, which feels like approximately 800 years ago at this point. In between tour dates, we holed up in a cabin outside of Point Pleasant, West Virginia (home of the Mothman, Shawnee leader Hokoleskwa and Mister Bee Potato Chips). No one was socially distancing yet, but given the set and setting, it felt like we got an early jump on it. Like most Januarys, I remember the days being brief, gray and severe. I finished the song while the mics were getting placed and we arranged and tracked it that same afternoon. It was just the way my band and I like to work: quickly, without distractions and, hopefully, no cell phone service.” — William Matheny

Photo credit: Max Nolte