Tag: Song Premiere

LISTEN: Violet Bell, “Juliana”

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Artist: Violet Bell
Hometown: Durham, North Carolina
Song: “Juliana”
Album: Honey in My Heart
Release Date: October 11, 2019
Label: Rainbow Woman

In Their Words: “In the shiny world of social media, it’s easy to get stuck comparing yourself to other people’s perfect images. The truth is, hard times are part of any process. ‘Juliana’ is a song about the power of practice and sticking with your dreams when the going gets tough. The interplay between fiddle and organ give this tune a funky exuberant feel, and Carter Minor on harmonica brings a rowdy vibe that reminds us of Blues Traveler. As silly as it sounds, ‘Juliana’ was directly inspired by an online yoga instructor (Juliana at Boho Beautiful) who has kept our spines in line over 350+ tour dates in the past three years. Inspiration strikes where it will — somewhere between downward dog and baby cobra, this song wrote itself!” — Violet Bell

Photo credit: Kendall Bailey

LISTEN: Del Barber, “Patient Man”

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Artist: Del Barber
Hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Song: “Patient Man”
Album: Easy Keeper
Release Date: September 20, 2019
Label: Acronym Records

In Their Words: “Love is about finding someone you’re willing to wait for. This is a simple song that tells the story of two people finding love at a dance in small town western Manitoba. It’s half confessional and always geographical. One of my worst qualities is my utter lack of patience, I’ve looked everywhere for it and it always seems to elude me. There are only two things in this world that seem to consistently draw out my best qualities: The landscape of western Manitoba and my wife. Tainted with the notion that you are who you are because of where you’re from, and that love is also literally tied somehow to place or geography. This song is a result of fiddling with good memories and attempting to write from [my] own perspective again. I try not to write love songs, but sometimes they just slip out. This is one of those — and I just couldn’t ignore it.” — Del Barber

Photo credit: Will Bergmann

LISTEN: Janiva Magness, “Someday Never Comes”

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Artist: Janiva Magness
Hometown: Born in Detroit, Los Angeles is home now.
Song: “Someday Never Comes”
Album: Change in the Weather – Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty
Release Date: September 13, 2019
Label: Blue Élan Records

In Their Words: “This song spoke to me from line one. ‘Momma’ or ‘Dada’ was not my first word oddly, but ‘Why?’ So that explains a lot about me and the need to understand what was happening in life. I believe this track speaks to us all in so many ways. I know now, I am not alone in the quest to understand. Young people grow up too fast with too few answers, many just trying to survive in the face of much confusion. I still believe that the truth, if we can find it, will set us all free.” — Janiva Magness

Photo credit: Paul Moore

LISTEN: JP Harris, “Early Morning Rain” (Feat. Erin Rae)

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Artist: JP Harris
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Early Morning Rain” (feat. Erin Rae)
Album: Why Don’t We Duet In The Road (Again)
Release Date: September 13, 2019
Label: Demolition & Removal

In Their Words: “This one was really interesting to record. Erin and I have been close friends for a good while now, and sang this years ago at a residency together at her suggestion. It has a very different production style than anything I’ve recorded before and forced me to vocally explore a gentler approach and range. Erin has this ethereal, soft-yet-commanding air about her singing, and is a generally calming person to be around, so it was really just playing ‘follow the leader’ to sing alongside her. She’s definitely going to be known as one of the greatest folk singers of our generation one day and it’s a huge honor to release a song with her.” — JP Harris

“I was so excited JP asked me to be part of Why Don’t We Duet In the Road (Again). I’ve listened repeatedly to him and Kristina Murray’s version of ‘Golden Ring’ and Kelsey Waldon’s version of ‘If I Were a Carpenter’ so much in the last year. JP has also just been such a good friend and supporter of me over the years, and I love getting to match my lil’ voice with his. I grew up on the Ian & Sylvia version of this song and love the Gordon Lightfoot spin on it, too. Love how it turned out.” — Erin Rae

Photo credit: Giles Clement

LISTEN: Karen & the Sorrows, “It Ain’t Me”

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Artist: Karen & The Sorrows
Hometown: New York City
Song: “It Ain’t Me”
Album: Guaranteed Broken Heart
Release Date: October 18, 2019

In Their Words: “I like to say The Sorrows are a full-service heartbreak band. I write songs for all kinds of sad situations! This one is for when your ex first starts seeing someone new, and you can’t stop wondering if they’ll love that new person in all the ways they couldn’t love you.

It also belongs to a genre I often write that I would describe as what-the-country-rock-band-plays-late-at-night-after-everyone-else-left-and-the-bartender-is-mopping-up songs. I’d put a lot of my favorite Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers songs in this imaginary genre too, because to do it right, you need a truly lonesome-sounding Wurlitzer. And nobody does lonesome Wurly like the Heartbreaker’s Benmont Tench! I was definitely hoping to channel a little bit of the Heartbreakers’ twangy, tough despair on this one.” — Karen Pittelman

Photo credit: Leah James

LISTEN: Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley, “Born With The Blues”

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Artist: Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Born With The Blues”
Album: World Full of Blues
Release Date: October 4, 2019
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “This was a song that we wrote with a good friend of ours, Bobby Starnes, a few years ago and from the moment we finished it we just knew we had to record it on our next album. It always reminds me of a Clint Eastwood Western movie or something … and the percussion and horn section solidify that. This song has been a high point in our set list for a year or so now, as it always gives us some room to improvise and stretch out musically. That’s exactly how we recorded it also … totally live and totally ‘in the moment.’ We thought this was the perfect song to kick off our new album and we hope you all dig it!” — Rob & Trey

Photo credit: Stacie Huckeba

LISTEN: Fireside Collective, “She Was an Angel”

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Artist: Fireside Collective
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina
Song: “She Was an Angel”
Release Date: September 6, 2019 (single)
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “‘She Was an Angel’ is a song about losing someone you love and seeing them fall into a bad crowd. On the surface, it deals with the emotional repercussions of watching someone sliding down a troubled path. It also explores the feelings of being rejected and left behind, while also hoping for some intervention or circumstance where the one who’s leaving realizes they are on a dark path and turns it around. The music begins as a contemporary bluegrass song which takes a sudden journey into unknown territory during the bridge. The bridge is supposed to serve as the symbolic struggle of the lost lover, and eventually culminates in the realization that it’s time to move on.” — Jesse Iaquinto, vocalist and mandolinist

Photo credit: Heather Hambor

LISTEN: Terri Hendrix, “I Hear Your Song”

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Artist: Terri Hendrix
Hometown: San Marcos, Texas
Song: “I Hear Your Song”
Album: Talk to a Human
Release Date: September 6, 2019

In Their Words: “I first got this idea for ‘I Hear Your Song’ after seeing the animated film Happy Feet. The movie is about the importance of discovering one’s own ‘heart song,’ to attract true love and happiness. But when when Lloyd Maines lost his mother, it took a darker tone. I wrote the chorus for him. I wanted her back. She was a light on this planet and I missed her, too. I finished the verse ‘we see things we can’t unsee’ after I lost my sister. I wanted my last image of her to be of her smiling. If you’ve lost someone, you know what I mean.

“The song is sweet on record, but all in all the subject matter was pretty heartbreaking at that time. Still is. Because of epilepsy, I need someone to drive me from time to time. That’s the verse where someone will ‘take the wheel.’ In the end, I wanted someone to hear my song. And I wanted to listen to theirs. To connect through the shared experience of profound loss. And heal.” — Terri Hendrix

Photo Credit: Kim Maguire

LISTEN: Bill Scorzari, “Treat Me Kind”

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Artist: Bill Scorzari
Hometown: Huntington, New York
Song: “Treat Me Kind”
Album: Now I’m Free
Release Date: September 20, 2019

In Their Words: “Knowing I had a good number of sad/slow songs for this record, I set out to write some uptempo songs to balance things out, and ‘Treat Me Kind’ is the first one that came to me. I could feel some of the old 1970s ‘country rock’ (Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels Band…) influences from my youth welling up and flowing out and that made writing this song a whole lot of fun. Brent Burke played Dobro on my last record, Through These Waves (2017), and I asked him to come back and play some more for the 2019 album, Now I’m Free. That’s him warming up before the song starts. When the band kicks in, it’s me on acoustic guitar and vocals, Will Kimbrough on slide and electric guitar, Juan Solórzano on electric guitar, Michael Rinne on electric bass, and producer Neilson Hubbard on drums.” — Bill Scorzari

Photo credit: Lauren Johoda

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