Tag: Song Premiere

WATCH: Liz Simmons, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”

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Artist: Liz Simmons
Hometown: Brattleboro, Vermont
Song: “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”
Album: Poets
Release Date: August 4, 2020 (single)
Label: Morgana Music

In Their Words: “I have known Sandy Denny’s ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’ (written circa 1967) since I was a teen and I’ve always loved it. It has that elusive poetic appeal in that it manages to say so much with very few words. There’s not much needed to preface it, as it speaks for itself so well in Sandy’s beautiful lyrics. I was raised steeped in the music of the folk revival, roots, and ’60s and ’70s rock ‘n’ roll, so it feels very fitting to have Pete Grant (Grateful Dead, the Incredible String Band) lend his beautiful pedal steel playing to my arrangement of this fittingly timeless song.” — Liz Simmons

Photo credit: Sid Ceaser

LISTEN: Peter Himmelman, “Truth Proffered in a Hard Time”

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Artist: Peter Himmelman
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “Truth Proffered in a Hard Time”
Album: Press On
Release Date: July 31, 2020
Label: Himmasongs/Six Degrees

In Their Words: “I wrote this just before dinner. I knew my wife was going to be waiting for me in about twenty minutes, therefore I had exactly seventeen minutes to get something down and another three to get back in the house. It would seem that kind of pressure might inhibit the birth of a song, particularly one like this, which is so inherently strange. But sometimes it’s quite the opposite. The time limit often pushes aside the intellect and allows the — whatever you might call it: the subconscious mind, the dreamer’s mind — to take over. I got it all done in that short space, even the melody that comes after each verse. I think we had rice, black beans, and fried eggs that night.” — Peter Himmelman

Photo credit: Jim Vasquez

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

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

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