Tag: Video premiere

WATCH: Kristy Cox, “Person of the Year”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Kristy Cox
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee, by way of Mount Barker, Australia
Song: “Person of the Year”
Album: Shades of Blue
Release Date: February 4, 2022
Label: Billy Blue Records

In Their Words: “‘Person of the Year’ is such a special song that pays tribute to nurses and doctors who work tirelessly to save others. The last 18 months have been especially hard on them. Jerry Salley and Bill Whyte brought tears to my eyes with their lyrics that ring so true and we wanted to bring that to life in this video, in a way that was respectful to those on the front line. The producer Steve Kinney and team did an amazing job completing that wish. I am so proud of this song and video.” — Kristy Cox

Photo credit: Katrina Burgoyne

WATCH: Lyle Lovett, “Teach Me About Love” (From ‘Austin City Limits,’ 1997)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Lyle Lovett
Hometown: Klein, Texas
Song: “Teach Me About Love”
Album: Mighty Fine: An Austin City Limits Tribute to Walter Hyatt
Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: Omnivore Recordings

Editor’s Note: This Lyle Lovett performance of Walter Hyatt’s “Teach Me About Love” was filmed in 1997 for Austin City Limits as part of a tribute to Hyatt, who was killed in a 1996 plane crash. Cut from the episode due to time constraints, the performance has been unseen until now, coinciding with the release of the full concert on CD and digital, titled Mighty Fine: An Austin City Limits Tribute to Walter Hyatt. Four unheard Hyatt recordings also appear on the album.

In Their Words: “Walter Hyatt is one of the most creative souls to come out of the Austin music scene in the past two decades. Although raised in Spartanburg, S.C., and spent his last years in Nashville, he represented the spirit of Austin. An artist of personal vision, original style and artistic integrity. During the late ‘70s and ‘80s, Uncle Walt’s Band developed a strong loyal following in Austin thanks to their expressive blend of music styles, songs that were street smart, energetic, honest, and inspirational to a lot of younger singer-songwriters like me. Walter Hyatt explored many styles – New Orleans jazz, country honky-tonk, with a bit of Elvis and course Bob Wills. His dry sense of humor made him very special in the eyes of fans and critics. His death was a personal loss for those of us who knew him, and for anyone who ever heard his music. This program is a celebration of extraordinary music by an extraordinary man with a gift for reaching hearts and minds of so many people.” — Lyle Lovett

WATCH: Tristan Scroggins, “Seneca Square Dance”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Tristan Scroggins
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Seneca Square Dance”
Album: One-Ring Circus
Release Date: October 15, 2021

In Their Words: “The Seneca are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario. Many were moved to Oklahoma after the War of 1812 which might explain why this tune has been traced to the Southwestern Missouri/Oklahoma area. I learned this tune from Molly Tuttle and we would play it together a lot. Its simple melody makes it easy to experiment with different harmonies and picking techniques. I had already experimented with a solo arrangement of this tune for mandolin, but when I started playing tenor banjo I was really excited about the possibilities that the extra sustain of the banjo presented. This particular arrangement utilizes crosspicking techniques to present melody and rhythm at the same time similar to three-finger banjo playing.” — Tristan Scroggins

Photo credit: Natia Cinco

WATCH: Unspoken Tradition, “Irons in the Fire”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Unspoken Tradition
Hometown: Cherryville, North Carolina
Song: “Irons in the Fire”
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “When Unspoken Tradition first started playing in an organized way, we came up with the slogan, ‘Working Class Bluegrass.’ We’ve all held full-time jobs the whole time we’ve been together and I think we’re all proud to be workers, providers, and family men. I also think it means we can all relate well to the message of ‘Irons in the Fire.’ To me, this song is about trying to find solace in the grind; being able to separate the headaches that come with hard work from the purpose and product it provides. This song reminds me of all the hard-working men and women in my family who came before me, who directly or indirectly affected my quality of life. Every time we perform this song, I can see their faces. Songwriters Aaron Bibelhauser and Steve Guenthner really outdid themselves with this song and I’m thankful we had an opportunity to record it. We shot the video in a blacksmith shop on the campus of Warren Wilson College. It was hot and the whole place looked, smelled, and felt like hard work, if work ever had those characteristics. It was the perfect spot to capture the theme of ‘Irons in the Fire’ and the energy there made us all dig into the recording process even more.” — Audie McGinnis, Unspoken Tradition (vocalist and guitarist)

Photo credit: Sandlin Gaither

WATCH: The Royal Hounds, “Pickin’ in the Graveyard”

Posted on by Editor

Artist name: The Royal Hounds
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Pickin’ in the Graveyard”
Album: Whole Lot of Nothin’
Release Date: October 15, 2021

In Their Words: “When I was learning to play bass, I used to go to a bluegrass festival called Old Timer’s Day. It was next to a graveyard. There were so many pickers that many groups would spill over into the graveyard and have pickin’ circles out there. I always loved the idea for a song called ‘Pickin’ in the Graveyard.’ Up the street from where I live is Spring Hill Cemetery. Lots of notables are buried there: Roy Acuff, Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Floyd Cramer, Kitty Wells, Hank Snow, and my favorite, John Hartford. I just love the notion that the ghosts of the musicians in this graveyard come out at night and have a grand pickin’ party. The final verse is kind of an homage to John Hartford. In the song, I say, ‘Lower me down in a Batman cloak/ we’ll all ride to heaven in a river boat.’ This is a reference to the fact that Hartford was accidentally buried in a Batman cloak and he had a lifelong fascination with river boats. He even had a license to sail them.” — Scott Hinds, The Royal Hounds

Photo credit: Bill Foster

WATCH: Phoebe Hunt, “Goin’ Gone” (Tribute to Nanci Griffith)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Phoebe Hunt featuring Tabitha Meeks and Makena Hartlin (the Pitch Pipes)
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Goin’ Gone”

In Their Words: “I was introduced to the Pitch Meeting in Nashville by my dear friend Makena Hartlin. She kept telling me to come out to Sonny’s on a Tuesday here in Nashville. I had been reluctant to go anywhere during the pandemic, but this August, I felt like it was time and the Pitch Meeting graciously featured me as their guest artist. It was really special to see what can happen when a group of supremely talented individuals come together to support one another. I felt heard, held, supported and lifted up. I hadn’t played in a live setting with a full band in a really long time and it really lifted my spirits. The next week, Makena and Tabitha Meeks invited me to be a featured guest in their Pitch Pipes female songwriter showcase. Again, I was blown away by the support from these beautiful women.

“Nanci Griffith passed the day before I met up with the Pitch Pipes. My husband and I had her album, The Last of the True Believers, on repeat in our home and I felt deeply connected to her voice, her writing and the covers she chose to sing. You can hear genuine tenderness in her voice. You can feel her spirit. So, I brought ‘Goin’ Gone’ to Makena and Tabitha and asked if they would be open to learning it and paying tribute to Nanci with me. It feels sacred to sing the songs she sang in her wake. As if we can keep the music and her memory alive simply by playing the songs she held close. We’ve lost many beautiful souls lately and it feels important to sing the songs of those who pass and keep their spirit alive through the music they left behind.” — Phoebe Hunt

Photo credit: Nate Luebbe

WATCH: Balsam Range, “Highway Side”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Balsam Range
Hometown: Haywood County, North Carolina
Song: “Highway Side”
Album: Moxie and Mettle
Release Date: September 17, 2021
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “‘Highway Side’ is one of my favorite songs on the new project both musically and lyrically. I think the video helps bring this great song to life. It also helps to fill a void we have all had in recent times with the lack of traveling and connecting with folks through live music. So jump on board with Balsam Range for a quick road trip!” — Buddy Melton, Balsam Range vocalist and fiddler

Photo credit: David Simchock

WATCH: Kat Wallace and David Sasso, “Somes Pond”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Kat Wallace and David Sasso
Hometown: New Haven, Connecticut
Song: “Somes Pond”
Album: Old Habits
Release Date: October 1, 2021

In Their Words: “David wrote this instrumental tune at a cabin on Somes Pond, Mount Desert Island, Maine, last summer. We recorded this track at Dimension Sound Studios in Boston with David on mandolin and octave mandolin and Kat on fiddle joined by Brittany Karlson on bass and Ariel Bernstein on drums. In rehearsal, this harmonically adventurous tune called for a ripping solo section, and Kat suggested inviting friends to contribute to a big party breakdown. After a sparse melodic beginning and solos by Kat, David, and Brittany, Ariel launches the track into a funky groove with solos from this all-star cast of featured guests: Max Allard (banjo), Joe K. Walsh (mandolin), Mark Kilianski (guitar), Mike Block (cello), Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddle), and Mike Marshall (mandocello). A few harmonic twists bring the tune home.

“‘Somes Pond’ is the third single from our second album, Old Habits, which evolves from the raw and transparent fiddle/mandolin duo feel of our first album, Stuff of Stars, into a full band sound with guitar, bass, drums, and pedal steel. Our album’s eclectic songs explore the cyclical nature of life, love, and loss, taking inspiration from the isolation and pain of the past year’s pandemic yet reaching to find beauty in the blemishes of the human experience.” — Kat Wallace and David Sasso

Photo credit: Naomi Libby

WATCH: Clinton Davis, “Curly Headed Woman”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Clinton Davis
Hometown: Carrollton, Kentucky
Song: “Curly Headed Woman”
Album: If I Live and I Don’t Get Killed
Release Date: September 10, 2021
Label: Tiki Parlour Recordings

In Their Words: “‘Curly Headed Woman’ is a rare version of one of the most common American folk songs: ‘The Hesitation Blues’ or ‘If the River Was Whisky’ as most people call it. My version is most directly inspired by a 1928 recording of Kentucky banjoist Dick Burnett and fiddler Leonard Rutherford. Their version contained some common folk lyrics — anyone with any exposure to folk and blues music has probably heard the line ‘If the river was whisky and I was a duck, I’d dive to the bottom and I’d never come up’ sung with a hedonistic, ‘let the good times roll’ kind of sentiment. But this version also held more unique lines about a curly-headed woman that had brought great pain and misfortune on the singer. And in that context, it occurred to me that the famous lyric about a river of whisky could also be a cry of pain. This thought became the center of my interpretation and my arrangement became a kind of dreamy balm. The video, shot on a beautiful spring day in an urban canyon of San Diego, features Erin Bower, who sang on the recording, and Aaron Brownwood.” — Clinton Davis

Photo credit: David Bragger

WATCH: Audrey Spillman, “Summertime”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Audrey Spillman
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Summertime”
Album: Neon Dream
Release Date: September 24, 2021
Label: Paper Star

In Their Words: “I’ve always loved ‘Summertime’ and the way it pulls you in emotionally through the lyric and melody. I wanted to create a swampy, dark, lullaby-esque sound that you could get lost in and somehow capture the way that song has always felt to me upon hearing it for the first time. Throughout my journey I’ve worked at trying to uncover my unique voice. I’ve always been drawn to the torch singers of the past and this song allowed me to further explore that style of emotive singing. Throughout the whole album, moments of my life are highlighted whether it be falling in love, having a child, or the loss of someone close to me. These songs give life to my most precious moments and memories.” — Audrey Spillman

Photo credit: Neilson Hubbard