Tag: premiere

LISTEN: FRETLAND, “Must’ve Been Wild”

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Artist: FRETLAND
Hometown: Snohomish, Washington
Song: “Must’ve Been Wild”
Album: Fretland
Release Date: May 22, 2020
Label: Tone Tree Music

In Their Words: “We all know how it feels to love someone who doesn’t love us back. To be the friend, to pine from afar. I wanted to capture a love triangle where the characters were earnest in wanting what was best for each other. Of course they all deeply want to be seen and loved in return, but when they recognize that same struggle in each other they are moved to be a good friend and have compassion. To love someone and know they might never love you the same way is so beautiful and heartbreaking to me. That’s true love.” — Hillary Grace Fretland

Photo credit: Jake Hanson

LISTEN: Seamus Egan, “Two Little Ducks”

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Artist: Seamus Egan
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Song: “Two Little Ducks”
Album: Early Bright
Release Date: January 17, 2020
Label: THL Records

In Their Words: “This mandolin-driven track is inspired by my love of Baroque music. I spent many hours as a teenager sitting in the front room of the great Irish musician and folklorist Mick Moloney’s house in Philadelphia, listening to mandolin concertos and trying to learn them by ear. I was never very successful in that endeavor, but my love of Baroque, and in particular, mandolin music endured.

“This track is also a nod, in its own way, to an old De Dannan track called ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba to Galway,’ from their 1983 album, Song For Ireland. This was their interpretation of the Handel piece, The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Hearing that track was a watershed moment for me. It opened my ears to what could be possible with Irish music. It was like getting permission to look outside the tradition and see what you could find and bring back with you. It was incredibly liberating. Joining on this track is Kyle Sanna on guitar and Owen Marshall on bouzouki.” — Seamus Egan

LISTEN: James Steinle, “Back Out on the Road”

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Artist: James Steinle
Hometown: Pleasanton, Texas
Song: “Back Out on the Road”
Album: What I Came Here For
Release Date: February 7, 2020
Label: Shotgun House Records

In Their Words: “‘Back Out on the Road’ is about putting a face on in a relationship — and how one day the final straw breaks the camel’s back and you’re off to the races. One of the topics I visit a bunch on this record is the idea of being unhappy in a relationship and having the hunch it won’t work out in the long run, competing with a personality type that makes it hard to see people hurt. And so the vicious, drawn-out cycle begins. It always makes matters worse.” — James Steinle

Photo credit: Juliet McConkey

LISTEN: Thunder and Rain, “Two Ships”

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Artist: Thunder and Rain
Hometown: Golden, Colorado
Song: “Two Ships”
Album: Passing in the Night
Release Date: January 3, 2020

In Their Words: “I wrote a poem based off the old saying ‘two ships passing in the night.’ It seemed to perfectly sum up a fragile but fun relationship I was in at the time. When we started arranging it as a band, we cranked up the speed and started passing speedy licks between the dobro and mandolin. Being one of the grassiest songs on our record, we had our engineer, Aaron Youngberg, rip some banjo on it. This song sets the tone of the record, describing the moments in relationships that are meaningful but don’t last very long.” — Erinn Peet Lukes, Thunder and Rain

Photo credit: Scott McCormick, McCormick Photos and Design

WATCH: Scott Mulvahill, “Say I Love You”

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Artist: Scott Mulvahill
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Say I Love You” (Single)
Label: Soundly Music/West Sterling

In Their Words: “‘You don’t trust anyone, got a mouth like a loaded gun’ is one of my favorite first lines that I’ve ever written. And to me, ‘Say I Love You’ is all about the lyric — it’s about our ability to love and choose each other even though we’re so flawed. I came up with a draft of this song and then finished it in stages with Ben Shive and Beth Nielsen Chapman, and they really made it deeper and ring more true. To let the words come through, I kept this arrangement simple — it’s just my voice, my guitar, and a beautiful string arrangement by Maestro Lightford.” — Scott Mulvahill

Photo Credit: Lindsey Patkos

LISTEN: Daniel Donato, “Always Been a Lover (Stripped)”

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Artist: Daniel Donato
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Always Been a Lover (Stripped)”
Release Date: December 17, 2019

In Their Words: “Something that I’ve always been tested with as a musician is the fact that I’m very dynamic-based, so depending on the song, I’m letting loose in different ways and I’m holding back in different ways. This was a great opportunity to take this song and fulfill it in an acoustic manner. You know, it goes back to that old Nashville trope, ‘Can you boil it down to an acoustic version and still satisfy?’ And I absolutely feel that it does. It’s like it passed the test.” — Daniel Donato

Photo Credit: Saverio Donato #cosmiccountry

WATCH: Aaron Bibelhauser & Relic, “Loving You Again”

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Artist: Aaron Bibelhauser & Relic
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Song: “Loving You Again”
Album: Lovin’ & Leavin’: A Bluegrass Tribute to Mickey Clark
Single Release: December 13, 2019

In Their Words: “After the passing of Kentucky songwriter Mickey Clark, I decided to produce a collaborative bluegrass album centered around some my favorite songs from his catalog, in particular his lovin’ and leavin’ songs — that was the way he would describe them. ‘Loving You Again’ is an emotional expression of this timeless dichotomy. Poignant lines like ‘There’s ramble written on my boots, there’s a map in my guitar’ capture the human longing to wander, while the resolving lyrics fly in the face of that free-spiritedness: ‘When I look into your eyes, I know I won’t go far.’ Recording this track with my twin brother Adam and our band Relic seemed like an incredibly special way to honor our old friend. We’ve been making music together with this band for over a decade and when we get the chance to share our take on such a special song, it seems our journey has only just begun.” — Aaron Bibelhauser

Photo credit: Winston Garthwaite
Video by Chris Witzke

LISTEN: B. Knox, “The Fault Lies”

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Artist Name: B. Knox
Hometown: Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Song: “The Fault Lies”
Album: Heartbreak and Landscape
Release Date: Early 2020

In Their Words: “It’s hard to feel any sense of permanence when the seasons are constantly changing. I love the interplay between landscape, weather, and emotion. I think most of what I write reflects that, in one way or another. I tried to lean heavily on barren images and vast amounts of space: the distance between things. Emotions, like the seasons, are things we all experience, but they are also extremely individual. Here in Canada, we have a lot of open space and vastly different seasons. In a way, that’s what both connects and isolates us.” — B. Knox

Photo credit: Baldwin

LISTEN: Jennah Barry, “Pink Grey Blue”

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Artist: Jennah Barry
Hometown: Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Song: “Pink Grey Blue”
Album: Holiday
Release Date: March 27, 2020
Label: Forward Music Group

In Their Words: “‘Pink Grey Blue’ is about my deep and lasting body dysmorphia. The song speaks from the perspective of a voice in my head trying to convince me to look at myself with gentle eyes.” — Jennah Barry

Photo credit: Kira Curtis

LISTEN: Ben Krakauer, “Heart Lake”

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Artist: Ben Krakauer
Hometown: Black Mountain, North Carolina
Song: “Heart Lake”
Album: Heart Lake
Release Date: December 17, 2019
Label: Blue Hens Music

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Heart Lake,’ along with the rest of the tunes on this album, with these particular musicians in mind. ‘Heart Lake’ was my attempt at a fiddle tune, which morphed into something different by the time I finished writing it. Like John Hartford’s string band records, it shifts in texture every 16 or 32 bars. It’s named for one of my favorite places, near Mt. Shasta, California. Featuring Duncan Wickel on fiddle, Nick Falk on drums, and Dan Klingsberg on bass.” — Ben Krakauer

Photo credit: Laura Ogburn