Artist: Will Beeley
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
Song: “Been a Drifter”
Album: Highways & Heart Attacks
Label: Tompkins Square
In Their Words: “I wrote this with an old friend of mine named Bob Smith. Bob did extra work in the movies back in the ’50s, mainly Westerns. We were comparing our life stories and decided we were both graduates from the school of hard knocks. As I remember, the song pretty much wrote itself.” — Will Beeley
Photo credit: Jesse Fisher
Artist: Matt Harlan
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Song: “K&W” (featuring Kelley Mickwee)
Album: Best Beasts
Release Date: July 12, 2019
Label: Eight 30 Records
In Their Words: “‘K&W’ is about two addict truck drivers in a relationship. One’s a drinker and one’s into heavier stuff. Whatever your poison, it can be easy to settle into self-destructive behavior when you’re traveling all the time and missing home and each other. Theirs is a modern day Romeo and Juliet tale. Boy meets girl and falls in love, but it’s their jobs and habits keeping them apart instead of their families. He assumes the worst about her before she can truly break his heart herself and ends it all.” — Matt Harlan
Photo credit: Brian T. Atkinson
Artists: Jesse Terry & Alex Wong
Hometown: Stonington, Connecticut (Jesse); Nashville, TN (Alex)
Song: “Landfall”
Album: Kivalina
Release Date: June 14, 2019 (single); September 2019 (Kivalina EP)
In Their Words: “When we set out to tell this story, we wanted people who listened to the album from beginning to end to feel like they were watching a movie… and we wanted ‘Landfall’ to feel like our establishing shot… As a song, it’s a birds eye view of our own introduction to the story of the village of Kivalina and how climate change was affecting so many in their situation. The chorus came out of our own ignorance of the scope of the issue… who would believe such a crazy thing could be happening right now?” — Alex Wong
Photo credit: Jess Terry
Artist: Zoe & Cloyd
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina
Song: “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down”
Album: I Am Your Neighbor
Release Date: June 14, 2019 (single); Fall 2019 (album)
Label: Organic Records
In Their Words: “‘Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down’ is a traditional African American spiritual that we learned from a solo field recording of Frank Proffitt from 1965. Proffitt claimed to have learned the song from a black banjo player named Dave Thompson, also from the Sugar Grove area of northwestern North Carolina. It is a simple yet powerful musical statement, and Natalya’s stark, solo vocal mirrors the sound of many old-time source recordings that we love. The lyrics are haunting and hypnotic and our version features flat-picked guitar and bowed upright bass coupled with the more ‘old-time’ elements of cross-tuned fiddle and clawhammer banjo. There is a timelessness to this song that contributes to its survival. Every generation has its Satan. — John Cloyd Miller
Photo credit: Sandlin Gaither
Artist: Ariana Gillis
Hometown: Vineland, Ontario, Canada
Song: “The Maze”
Album: The Maze
Release Date: June 14, 2019
In Their Words: “‘The Maze’ is based upon the Greek myth of the Minotaur in the labyrinth. The hero, Theseus, needs to find his way back out and he does so with the help of a ball of thread. The song deals with the questions, ‘What are we most afraid of? Are these fears real or are they just imagined?’ The ribbon in the song is the thread that guides us through dark and frightening times in our lives. By facing our fears head-on we develop a strength and courage that we never had before.That’s what ‘The Maze’ means to me.” — Ariana Gillis
Photo credit: David Gillis
Artist: Breaking Grass
Hometown: Booneville, Mississippi
Song: “Old Pharr Mounds”
Album: COLD
Release Date: June 21, 2019
Label: Mountain Fever Records
In Their Words: “‘Old Pharr Mounds’ was written about a large group of Native American burial mounds near my home in Northeast Mississippi. It’s rumored that this area is home to a Bigfoot-like creature that has been seen in the joining slough. I’ve been told about it all my life, and to my knowledge, film crews and college groups have even visited trying to capture video and sound recordings of it. It’s our local legend and makes for a fun story. I hope you all enjoy ‘Old Pharr Mounds.'” — Cody Farrar, Breaking Grass
Photo credit: Kady Carter Photography
Artist: Clare Bowen
Hometown: South Coast, New South Wales, Australia
Song: “Tide Rolls In” (featuring Buddy Miller)
Album: Clare Bowen
Release Date: July 12, 2019
Label: BMG
In Their Words: “‘Tide Rolls In’ is about people and things that seemed like a good idea at the time. We’ve all put our love in the wrong place at some point — my romantic career before I met my sweet, wonderful husband Brandon was a proverbial train wreck, with napalm on top. Brandon and I have the most incredible love story that people ask me about all the time, and I want everyone to know that we didn’t just find each other immediately. It started with self love, for both of us. If you’ve made dreadful romantic choices in the past, you’re not damaged goods, like I thought I was — you are a beautiful, unique creature who deserves to be loved so very much. Especially by your own heart.” — Clare Bowen
Photo Courtesy of Activist Artist Management
Artist: Michael Paul Lawson
Hometown: Norfolk, Virginia
Song: “Memories and Throttle”
Album: Some Fights You’ll Never Win
Release Date: July 12, 2019
In Their Words: “Driving has always been a kind of therapy for me. It’s where I do a lot of personal reflection and allow myself to sink into thoughts and feelings that I need to work through. Around the time I wrote ‘Memories and Throttle,’ I was trying pretty hard to win back the affections of someone that was pretty resolute in their position. I would get in the car and a thousand different scenes would play out in my head, each one ultimately leading to the same outcome. But even when I’m in a better place and not longing for some lost love, I still find myself going back through past relationships when I’m on the road. It’s a nostalgia trigger, and it’s addicting.” — Michael Paul Lawson
Photo credit: Rico Marcelo
Artist: Whitey Johnson (aka Gary Nicholson)
Hometown: Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Song: “If It’s Really Gotta Be This Way”
Album: More Days Like This
Release Date: June 7, 2019
Label: Blue Corn Music
In Their Words: “‘If It’s Really Gotta Be This Way’ was co-written with Donnie Fritts and Arthur Alexander. One of Donnie’s treasured memories is of being present at the studio above the drugstore in Florence, Alabama, when Arthur walked in snapping his fingers and singing ‘You Better Move On.’ I was thrilled to have the opportunity to write and play on a new record by one of the greatest singer-songwriters of his time, revered and covered by Beatles, Stones, Dylan, and many more. It was so sad when Arthur passed before he could tour for the record. I played his last show with him, and we did our song. It’s so great to finally record my own version. I’m forever grateful to my dear friend Donnie Fritts for getting us together.” — Whitey Johnson
Photo credit: Stacie Huckaba
Artist: The Iveys
Hometown: El Paso, Texas
Song: “Whatever Comes”
Album: Colors of Honey
Release Date: June 7, 2019
In Their Words: “This song was a work of love. ‘Whatever Comes’ came to me as an idea I had of a parent talking to their child and telling them to not listen to any negativity from others, to not ever doubt themselves, and to believe with all their heart that they can, and will, accomplish great things in life. My co-writer and sister, Jenna Ivey, deserves a lot of credit for bringing this song to where it is now. I almost gave up on it at one point! But she is a great lyricist, and as we talked through the song, she reminded me that parents want their children to grow up strong, to climb mountains, take on challenges, and face the fears…whatever comes. After all, there’s no such thing as a dream too big.” — Arlen Ivey
Photo credit: Fernie Ceniceros
