Tag: premiere

WATCH: Kyle Donovan, “Be a Boy”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Kyle Donovan
Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
Song: “Be a Boy”
Album: Then and Now
Release Date: August 30, 2019

In Their Words: There’s a tender sadness that comes along with existential questions; maybe it’s because we’ll never have the answers that we seek. This song is an exploration of those feelings through a retrospective narrative, looking back at a younger version of myself. There’s truth in the song — in that my parents were amazingly supportive and encouraged my curiosity, while also pushing me to enjoy the simplicity of youth. But it also embellishes life’s most difficult moments — to make plain the difficulty of grappling with life, death, and meaning at a young age. My intention in performing and releasing this song is to connect listeners to their own experiences of these deep questions and to remind them of their own innocence at one time or another.” — Kyle Donovan

Photo credit: Gabrielle Halle

LISTEN: Dallas Burrow, “Leaving Colorado”

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Artist: Dallas Burrow
Hometown: New Braunfels, Texas
Song: “Leaving Colorado”
Album: Southern Wind
Release Date: September 20, 2019
Label: Subliminal Hyminal

In Their Words: “I had been on a dry spell for a while, and then out of the blue, I wrote ‘Southern Wind’ (the album’s title track) and ‘Leaving Colorado’ in two days, back to back. While the first was more of a wholesome account of building a family, ‘Leaving Colorado’ on the other hand scratched an itch for adventure and mischief, through the eyes of the mythical wandering frontiersman, in a story that could have just as easily have taken place in the 1800s or today. It’s the timeless tale of love, love lost, adultery, betrayal, murder, and mayhem — soaked in whiskey and smelling of sixgun smoke that is always alive and well in the imagination of the Wild West.” — Dallas Burrow

Photo credit: Lyza Renee

LISTEN: The Grascals, “Drivin’ My Life Away”

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Artist: The Grascals
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Drivin’ My Life Away”
Album: Straighten the Curves
Release Date: August 30, 2019
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “This is one of my favorite country songs from the 1980s. I always wanted to cut it in a bluegrass band because it lends itself well to that style. It’s upbeat, powerful, and tons of fun. ‘Drivin’ My Life Away’ has that funk and groove about it. It’s one of those songs that as soon as you start singing it, people know exactly what it is. It’s infectious.” — Singer and guitarist Chris Davis

Photo credit: Kim Lancaster Brantley

LISTEN: Hot Club of Cowtown, “My Candy”

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Artist: Hot Club of Cowtown
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “My Candy”
Album: Wild Kingdom
Release Date: September 27, 2019
Label: Gold Strike

In Their Words: “‘My Candy’ was inspired by a Coleman Hawkins chord progression that we adapted. I wrote a melody to it that was originally meant for a slower, more sentimental song idea. We cut a rough version and I realized we were not going to be thrilled to play it live, because it was too slow and I wanted something more upbeat. So we picked up the tempo and I wrote a twin part on it. We do it on guitar and violin live, but for the album I twinned it myself on fiddle.

“As for the words, I just assumed this song already existed — an expression of love and appreciation through a candy vocabulary. But in researching different vintage candies, I found that there in fact was no such song that I could find, which was a thrilling discovery. So the idea was to combine these vintage candies, bring them to life as distinct characters, and blend them into this Tin Pan Alley-style melody and changes.

“After I wrote the words I later found out later that ‘jelly bean’ is an actual term that, according to Wikipedia, in the United States “during the 1910s and early 1920s, a “Jellybean” or “Jelly-Bean” was a young man who dressed stylishly but had little else to recommend him, similar to the older terms dandy and fop. F. Scott Fitzgerald published a story about such a character, “The Jelly-Bean,” during 1920.’ Perfect!” — Elana James (singer/songwriter/fiddle player)

Photo credit: Ryan Saul

WATCH: The Chuck Wagon Gang, “Somebody’s Boy”

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Artist: The Chuck Wagon Gang
Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee
Song: “Somebody’s Boy”
Album: No Depression In Heaven, The Gospel Songs of The Carter Family
Release Date: August 30, 2019
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words:: “The Carter Family began singing about the same time frame as the Chuck Wagon Gang. Both groups shared not only the last name Carter but a very similar style of singing. We felt it would be an honor to put together an album that would pay tribute to their gospel songs. Filming this video at the Carter Family Fold was such an amazing experience. There was something so special about being out there in the humble, yet beautiful location where it all began for the Carter Family.

“The song ‘Somebody’s Boy’ is actually not considered a gospel song, but is more what the old-timers call a heart song. Its message is one that speaks to the desires of a mother’s heart for her wayward son, and, though it dates back to 1894, is as relevant today as when it was penned. The Chuck Wagon Gang has recorded other heart songs over the years, like ‘Church in the Wildwood.’ Our hope is that ‘Somebody’s Boy’ will become as meaningful for our fans!” — Shaye Smith (the alto singer who is also the granddaughter of The Chuck Wagon Gang’s original alto singer)

Photo credit: Sandlin Gaither

LISTEN: Justin Wade Tam, “Colors of My Mind”

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Artist: Justin Wade Tam
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Colors of My Mind”
Album: A Place to Land (EP)
Release Date: October 25, 2019
Label: Tone Tree

In Their Words: “‘Colors of My Mind’ is in part about how a consistent space can foster creativity and peace. For me, that place is my living room, where I’ve been writing songs for nearly 13 years. It’s a quiet, contemplative room with natural light that shifts nicely throughout the seasons. I’ve written the better part of five albums within those four walls, so I wanted to capture it musically. My friend Jordan Lehning produced this song beautifully and insisted that we record it live. You can hear the reflections of the live studio in the recording, which to me sounds very reminiscent of my living room and the peace of simply sitting quietly and creating.” — Justin Wade Tam

Photo credit: Jacq Justice

LISTEN: Katie Dahl, “Oh Minnesota”

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Artist: Katie Dahl
Hometown: Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin (Door County)
Song: “Oh Minnesota”
Album: Wildwood
Release Date: September 13, 2019
Label: Leaky Boat Records

In Their Words: “I live in Wisconsin now, but I grew up in Minnesota. And for me, the deep-down tug of Minnesota never really goes away, along with so many memories of elementary school and adolescence and family vacations and first loves. When I was a kid in Minnesota, you’d wear your boots on the school bus and bring your shoes along in your backpack, and if you forgot your shoes at home, you’d have to wear your clumpy boots all day, and the school halls would get all full of salt and mud. A lot of little details like that mysteriously found their way into this song.

“I started writing ‘Oh Minnesota’ a few days before I went to Nashville to record my new album, Wildwood, and I was surprised to find myself writing about Minnesota, because I thought this album was about Door County, Wisconsin, where I live now. And it is, in a way: I think ‘Oh Minnesota’ is exploring to what extent we can ever really leave where we came from.” — Katie Dahl

Photo credit: Kelly Avenson

WATCH: Jeremy Garrett, “I Can’t Lay Your Lovin’ Down”

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Artist: Jeremy Garrett
Hometown: Loveland, Colorado
Song: “I Can’t Lay Your Lovin’ Down”
Album: Circles
Label: Organic Records

In Their Words: “‘I Can’t Lay Your Lovin’ Down’ was a song that I co-wrote with Jon Weisberger and Josh Shilling. I just loved the vibe of the tune and how it fit with my style, so I decided to record it on my upcoming solo release, Circles. I blend guitar, mandolin and fiddle with a looper to create this arrangement for the song. Conner Pannell shot the video for me and I love how he captured this song. All of it was shot in the studio, partly while tracking and in-between takes.” — Jeremy Garrett

Photo credit: J.Mimna Photography

LISTEN: Jason Tyler Burton, “Fires of ’88”

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Artist name: Jason Tyler Burton
Hometown: Pinedale, Wyoming
Song: “Fires of ’88”
Album: Kentuckian
Release Date: August 26, 2019

In Their Words: “I worked seasonal jobs for a while as a park ranger and climbing guide. I was living out of a minivan, and that transient lifestyle is appealing in so many ways. When you get tired of someplace or some job, you just go find the next one. So this song is about moving on, letting go, and welcoming change. It’s also about not running from your past or trying to reinvent yourself by moving away, because, in my experience, that doesn’t work.” — Jason Tyler Burton

Photo credit: Erica Chambers

WATCH: Nick Panken, “In the Manner That It Came”

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Artist: Nick Panken (of Spirit Family Reunion)
Hometown: Accord, New York
Song: “In The Manner That It Came”
Album: Consequential Breach

In Their Words: “I wrote this song while I was working as a gardener in lower Manhattan, transplanting flowers from little plastic pots to those small plots of soil that interrupt the pavement. Songs tend to come to me after I’ve spent some time examining my thoughts and then they start to fade into more abstract notions. Gardening presents a lot of time for this kind of activity, and this is the best work I did at that job.

“The chorus seems to be built with salvaged parts from a couple of old gospel songs sung by Mississippi John Hurt and Joseph Spence. As someone who doesn’t intend to preach about spiritual matters, I want the conclusions in my songs to be both vague and meaningful, and ‘receive it in the manner that it came’ felt appropriate along the lines of ‘the answer is blowin’ in the wind.’ The final line I wrote to finish the song was ‘we come so far to be so far gone.'” — Nick Panken

Westerly Sound Archives: Nick Panken “In the Manner That it Came” from Sean W Spellman on Vimeo.

About the video series: The Westerly Sound Archives are a series of videos and recordings by artist/musician Sean W Spellman in which he has invited friends and acquaintances into his spacious studio in Westerly, Rhode Island, for quick, off-the-cuff performances. Spellman has curated a music series, festival, and independent label that crosses the paths of his contemporaries in both the music and visual art community.