Tag: Song Premiere

LISTEN: Steel Blossoms, “Kentucky’s Never Been This Far”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Steel Blossoms
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Kentucky’s Never Been This Far”
Album: Steel Blossoms
Release Date: April 26, 2019
Label: Billy Jam Records

In Their Words: “‘Kentucky’s Never Been This Far” is the first song we ever recorded that we didn’t write. The second we heard it, we looked at each other and said, ‘We need this song.’ We both travel so much and are constantly away from our loved ones, that sometimes 100 miles feels like a million miles away. This song is so beautifully written and what Jerry did with the instrumentation is just amazing. We are so lucky to have it on our album.” –Steel Blossoms

Photo credit: Stacie Huckeba

LISTEN: Izabel Crane, “Spring Fed River”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Izabel Crane
Hometown: Springfield, Missouri
Song: “Spring Fed River”
Album: Spring Fed River b/w Creature (single)
Release Date: April 26, 2019

In Their Words: “I watched someone whom I loved very much walk into a tributary of the James River and walk back to me with a completely serene face. Like the water had washed his soul. It was weird and it made me think of the black-and-white photographs I have of my grandmother’s baptism. A pastor, with a white cloth pressed against her nose, pushing her into the river. I like thinking that there is some sort of magic to the rivers and creeks around here, that the water can fix a soul when it’s hurting.” — Liz Carney (aka Izabel Crane)

Photo credit: Cole Simmons

LISTEN: Grizzly Goat, “Time”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Grizzly Goat
Hometown: Provo, Utah
Song: “Time”
Release Date: April 19, 2019

In Their Words: “Too often we overload ourselves with tasks, reducing relationships to checklist items, and wearing our business like a badge of honor. We excuse our behaviors with phrases like ‘I don’t have time’ and never allow ourselves to be still, scrolling on our phones whenever there is a momentary pause. Our culture has sold us on the lie that the more we work and the more we own, the happier we will be; and we say, ‘To hell with that.’ When we recorded this song, we we made a purpose-driven decision not to rush but to take as much time as necessary to perfect the recording. How else could we have claimed the song was a genuine reflection of our values?” — Grizzly Goat

Photo Credit: Ryan Carter

LISTEN: Andy Hedges, “Song of the Cuckoo”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Andy Hedges
Hometown: Lubbock, Texas
Song: “Song of the Cuckoo”
Album: Shadow of a Cowboy
Release Date: April 16, 2019

In Their Words: “I first heard the name Billy Faier in Ramblin’ Jack Elliott’s song ‘912 Greens’ about an epic road trip he and some friends made across the Southern United States. I met Billy after playing a show in Alpine, Texas, immediately recognizing his name from ‘912 Greens.’ Billy was born in Brooklyn, spent most of his life based in Woodstock, but always wanted to live in the desert so as an old man he moved to Marathon, Texas. Billy had traveled with Ramblin’ Jack and Woody Guthrie on Woody’s last trip across the US. He was the first person to interview Dylan on the radio. He taught a song to Dave Van Ronk and Pete Seeger once said that he was the best banjo player he had ever heard. Billy and I became fast friends and had some great adventures together. When he passed a few years ago, I ended up with his beautiful old guitar. I played Billy’s guitar on this recording of his song and it seemed fitting to tag it with a line from ‘912 Greens,’ the song that connected me to Billy in the first place: ‘Did you ever stand and shiver just because you were lookin’ at a river?'” — Andy Hedges

Photo credit: David Tau

LISTEN: Jontavious Willis, “Take Me to the Country”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Jontavious Willis
Hometown: Greenville, Georgia
Song: “Take Me to the Country”
Album: Spectacular Class
Release Date: April 5, 2019
Label: Kind of Blue Music

In Their Words: “The past 22 years of my life and the places I’ve seen are what inspired this song. No matter where I go in the world, I can’t wait to go back to the country. For me, that special place is a rural southern town in Georgia where I grew up. It’s such a quiet and calm place, and somewhere I crave when I’m far from it. I hope you enjoy and follow me to to the country.” –Jontavious Willis

Photo credit: Jeremy Cowart

LISTEN: Pinto Bennett, “I Needed a Lot”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Pinto Bennett
Hometown: Boise, Idaho
Song: “I Needed a Lot”
Album: The Last Saturday Night
Release Date: April 5, 2019

In Their Words: “I was the man so I needed a lot. I needed a lot of women. A lot of booze. A lot of everything. It’s a happy way to say you messed up.” — Pinto Bennett

LISTEN: David Quinn, “Grassy Trails”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: David Quinn
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Song: “Grassy Trails”
Album: Wanderin’ Fool
Release Date: April 5, 2019

In Their Words: “‘Grassy Trails’ was a lot of fun to record. It was right in everyone’s wheelhouse stylistically. Dave Roe and Jimmy Lester really were the perfect guys for this track. They set the pace for the rhythm and Jon Estes came in and laid down some nice pedal steel. If you listen close, Jimmy Lester plays my favorite bell pattern in that second chorus. This song has taken a few different shapes since I wrote it but it is one I always play at every show. I know it’s cliché to say this but I have loved trains since I was a kid and always dreamt about riding the rails. I use to go out and sit next to the tracks when I was younger and just watch the trains go by up close. That’s really where the song came from. I grew up reading Jack Kerouac and other beat writers and hearing about their adventures on trains. Those stories always stuck with me and created a feeling I have been chasing ever since. It seemed fit to put it on this record, Wanderin’ Fool.” — David Quinn

Photo credit: Jess Myers

LISTEN: Kelly Augustine, “Seeds of Hope”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Kelly Augustine
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “Seeds of Hope”
Album: Light in the Lowlands
Release Date: April 5, 2019

In Their Words: “I was under the gun! When I got to the studio, my producer, Wes Sharon, dropped one of the songs I thought we were going to put on the record. I was playing him a bunch of other stuff I’d been working on, and when I played this one for him — I had a verse and chorus — he stopped me and said, ‘I like it — go finish it.’ So, that’s what I did. I’d been struggling with the song for a while and wasn’t sure where it wanted to go. I was surprised at how much I liked it when it finally came together.

“Some people we meet change us. I met somebody like that. We walked the road together for a time, holding each other up. I am who I am today in large part because of him. As [it] happens, we went our separate ways. But that doesn’t lessen the beauty or strength of his impact on my life. He planted seeds in my life that have bloomed into flowers, and, for that, I am forever grateful.” — Kelly Augustine

Photo credit: Scott McCormick

LISTEN: Tyler Ramsey, “Evening Country”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Tyler Ramsey
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina
Song: “Evening Country”
Album: For the Morning
Release Date: April 5, 2019
Label: Fantasy Records

In Their Words: “A couple of years ago my band and I started messing around with some of my older and more pared-down songs and trying to bring them into a band setting. ‘Evening Kitchen’ was a song that I had written for the Band of Horses record Infinite Arms and when we did that record it stood out because it was in contrast with the rest of the album and really bare bones. A lot of that album was lushly produced and I thought having the song recorded with a single acoustic guitar and vocals would help balance things. It worked well in the sequence of that album and led to a lot of the more intimate moments in our live shows and the direction we headed in for the live Ryman acoustic album.

“This version, called ‘Evening Country,’ was a way to reimagine the song and a chance to put it into a new frame with some truly amazing musicians. It was recorded in Louisville, Kentucky, with Seth Kauffman (Floating Action), Kevin Ratterman (Lalaland Studio, My Morning Jacket, Ray Lamontagne), and I doing the basic tracking. Seth had worked with pedal steel guitarist Russ Pahl before and we were able to get him to play on it (I still jump up and down when I hear his playing!). And the goosebump-inducing harmony vocals were sung by Molly Parden and Thad Cockrell and recorded at the Fleetwood Shack in Nashville by my old friend Bill Reynolds (former Band of Horses bassist). The opportunity to revisit this song in the way that we did has given it a new energy for me as well as new meaning.

“A wild memory of this song: years ago we were playing at Bonnaroo after Infinite Arms had been released. We finished our set and climbed down off the stage and our manager came up and told us to go back up and play a couple more songs because Bruce Springsteen had come onto our side stage to watch us play just as we were walking off. We ran back up and ended up playing ‘Evening Kitchen’ last, and all I could think about the whole time was that there was Bruce Springsteen standing fifteen feet away from me and watching us play this song I’d written — don’t f*ck it up! We made it through and headed back down off the stage and there he was with that Bruce Springsteen smile and handshakes all around. Our monitor man Jon Cronin told me afterwards that he heard Bruce say ‘That’s a good song!’ That’s enough for me!” — Tyler Ramsey

Photo credit: Jameykay and Arlie

LISTEN: The Get Ahead, “Faint Outline”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: The Get Ahead
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Song: “Faint Outline”
Album: Deepest Light
Release Date: April 26, 2019
Label: Jullian Records

In Their Words: “‘Faint Outline’ is straight from what I think of as some of my most vivid sensory childhood memories. Approaching the Rocky Mountains across Western Kansas in an old panel van, alley light coming through the bedroom window playing shadows on the ceiling above the top bunk. We think we have our memories, distinct and concrete, but how malleable and practiced do they become? The Echoplex guitar was inspired by the Hannah Montana Karaoke machine I was playing my Tele through while writing the song.” — Nathan Earle, The Get Ahead

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Hearth PR