Artist: Sweetwater String Band
Hometown: Mammoth Lakes, CA
Song: “Window”
Album: At Night
Release Date: September 29, 2017
In Their Words: “When the night air starts to cool in the early fall, many people like to leave their bedroom windows open at night and let the cool air in. You never know what kind of spirits and creatures may be entering the window, as you drift to sleep at night and appearing in your dreams. That’s what this song embodies.” — Scott Roberts
Photo credit: Dave Huebner
Artist: Masontown
Hometown: Denver, CO
Song: “Rainy Day”
Album: In This Time
Release Date: October 13, 2017
In Their Words: “I wrote this song late one evening while dealing with some leftover emotions from a unexpected breakup. Just when you think you are over someone, it can take only the slightest reminder to flood you with loneliness and take you back to what once was. To capture the mixed emotions of healing, I played with the concept of having long notes that soar above a quick, nervous tempo, giving an unsettling feeling of longing. We are so grateful to have guest artist George Guthrie’s driving banjo on this track.” — Natalie Padilla
Photo credit: Russ Dixon
Artist: The Grascals
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Album: Before Breakfast
Release Date: September 1, 2017
Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “It’s really my favorite album we have ever done. It’s more natural. The recording process was so easy; everything just flowed. It’s like we went in and everyone did their thing and this is what came out. I think we took the same approach as the last album, but this material separates it from the previous release. Nothing was preconceived — we just chose the songs we liked and it turned into a little different mix than ever before. Vocally, we’re gotten much stronger. We’ve had time to sing together, and all the little details, like phrasing, have become better. We’ve naturally evolved vocally by having time to really get to know each other as singers, and John is such a strong vocalist that El and I can sing strong, too. He’s inspired us.” — Terry Smith
Artist: Old Salt Union
Hometown: Belleville, IL
Album: Old Salt Union
Release Date: August 4, 2017
Label: Compass Records
In Their Words: “Old Salt Union is the most honest representation of our band to date. With the help of the amazing Alison Brown, we were finally able to capture the energy of our live shows, dig deeper into our musical arrangements, and showcase our pop sensibility. This project has been a long time coming and we are proud of it. This is Old Salt Union.” — Jesse Farrar
Artist: Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons with Phil Wiggins
Hometown: Seattle, WA / Washington, DC
Album: A Black & Tan Ball
Release Date: July 28, 2017
In Their Words: “A Black & Tan Ball is the result of years of friendship that began as apprenticeship. We first met Phil Wiggins in 2013 at the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival, where we studied his harmonica style and approach to blues and jazz. In the following years, we developed a friendship and would perform together whenever we passed through Phil’s hometown of Washington, DC. This blossomed into an opportunity to tour Europe together which, in turn, spurred us to make a record. The album is the result of that friendship, our commitment to celebrating the wide range of American styles available to any songster, and the joy of sharing those musical styles across generations. ” — Ben Hunter
Photo credit: Jim Meyers
Artist: Twisted Pine
Hometown: Boston, MA
Album: Twisted Pine
Release Date: July 14, 2017
Label: Signature Sounds
In Their Words: “With this album, we dove head-first into writing our own original music and, in the process, we learned a lot about ourselves as individual writers and as a band. The four of us come from completely different musical backgrounds, and it was satisfying to hear those personal influences coming out on the record. There’s pop, there’s funk, there are fiddle tunes, and there’s some very personal and heartfelt songwriting.
This band first formed around a shared love of bluegrass and we still love playing bluegrass together. We weren’t consciously trying to move in any particular musical direction; the sound arose organically and feels natural and right to us. It’s fitting and exciting to have our debut record out on Signature Sounds, as in a lot of ways it follows in the footsteps of bands we really admire like Crooked Still and Joy Kills Sorrow.” — Dan Bui
Artist: Lonesome River Band
Hometown: Floyd, VA
Album: Mayhayley’s House
Release Date: June 23, 2017
Label: Mountain Home Music Co.
In Their Words: “Continuing a series of projects of doing songs that we love, Mayhayley’s House is a set of songs that we collected from our favorite writers. Bordering on acoustic country with an Appalachian feel, we hope everyone will enjoy hearing these as much as we enjoyed doing them.” — Sammy Shelor
Artist: Scroggins & Rose
Hometown: Denver, CO / San Francisco, CA
Song: “Eagle’s Nest”
Album: GRANA
Release Date: May 23, 2017
In Their Words: “This was one of the first tunes that Alisa and I worked up as a duo. I had written this long before we started playing together and had a full band in mind for it. After playing it a few times and feeling how easy it was for us to play textures over each other’s interpretations, I knew we’d have no problem filling up the same space, sonically, even without a whole band.” — Tristan Scroggins
Artist: Pert Near Sandstone
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
Song: “Getaway”
Album: Discovery of Honey
Label: Pert Near Music
In Their Words: “When we had our initial talk about the video, J said to make the visuals crazy and fun, and we agreed the song has a sense of humor about it and a pace that’s energetic and kind of wild. So I wanted to come up with a concept that was visually interesting and kept in line with the personality of music. I’ve always loved old, lo-fi special effects, so I decided to build a car in my studio and do projection and play with the idea of this character having an adventure right in his own garage in a cardboard car he made himself. I think it captures J’s goofy, rowdy nature, but also the thrill of driving fast and going on a wild ride.” — Nicole Brending, video director
Photo credit: Jayme Halbritter
Artist: The Gage Brothers
Hometown: Akron, OH
Song: “All You Are”
Album: The Gage Brothers
Release Date: May 5, 2017
In Their Words: “A song about the gradual end to a love full of doubt, fear, and perceived flaws, it touches on the idea of taking more than what is given and the harm that can follow.” — Zach Gage
Photo credit: Ernie Joy
