Artist:Bonnie & Taylor Sims Hometown: Longmont, Colorado Song: “Texas Again” Album:Bonnie & Taylor Sims Release Date: September 15, 2023 Label: BonTay Enterprises
In Their Words: “‘Texas Again’ started out to be an epic, Grapes of Wrath-esque story of the Sims family, but it soon turned into a love story for the motherland. The diversity of Texas geography has always been in my heart and you can see it all – if you’re willing to drive 18 hours. I love Colorado, but nostalgia is a helluva drug and Texas will be forever home… it will get these ashes when it’s done.” – Taylor Sims
Artist:Mark Wilkinson Hometown: Sydney, Australia Song: “Taking Our Time” Album:Golden Afternoons Release Date: July 7, 2023 Label: Nettwerk Music Group
In Their Words: “I co-wrote this track with Ben Cramer from Old Sea Brigade. We wanted to write a song that carried a sense of nostalgia mixed with an optimism about the future. The song is essentially about how our lives are constantly evolving and about learning to adapt and let go of the past. It’s almost like a quiet pep talk to yourself to stop chasing history and start embracing what’s in front of you. Memories can be beautiful things, but spending too much time looking back can stop you creating something new. For me, the track is a recognition or realization of that, as it moves from reflective thoughts in the verses to a point of resolution in the bridge, culminating with the line, ‘I won’t fall into the shadows of what I intend to leave behind.'” – Mark Wilkinson
Artist:My Brother’s Keeper Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio Song: “The Edge of the River” Album:Field Guide Release Date: July 6, 2023 (vide0); May 26, 2023 (album) Label: Robust Records
In Their Words: “‘The Edge of the River’ is a lively song that combines elements of bluegrass, folk rock, and quartet gospel. The river in the song is a simple metaphor of feeling stuck and lost in a personal journey. The song was recorded at Neon Cactus Studio in Cedar Grove, Indiana, and it opens our latest album, Field Guide, released on Robust Records. The music video was directed by Joseph Cox (Average Joe Films), who was instrumental in bringing our ‘music video meets indie film’ vision to life. The hilarious ‘Harmonica Man’ was played by Judah D’Amico.” – Benjamin Luckhaupt
Artist:Leon Creek Hometown: Los Angeles, California Song: “High Hopes” Release Date: June 28, 2023
In Their Words: “The origins of Leon Creek as a band stems from our love of story songs in the country tradition. ‘High Hopes’ incorporates this approach, creating a song that is our ode to perseverance. We got the band together in the studio and cut this to capture the energy of our live show blending newly-mined honky-tonk influences with our singer Chris Pierce’s powerful soul vocals.” – Leon Creek (Chris Pierce, Matthew Stevens, and Erik Janson)
Artist:Bibelhauser Brothers Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky Song: “Place In The Sun” Album:Close Harmony Release Date: June 15, 2023
In Their Words: “In the past few years, Louisville, Kentucky has been shaken to its core, amid a global pandemic, racial inequity, gun violence, and the fallout surrounding the death of Breonna Taylor. Our hometown, seemingly a microcosm of the country at large, has struggled with social justice and a level of political unrest not seen since the 1960s. During a time when it felt impossible to find bits of optimism on social media I stumbled upon a video from way back in 1969. It was an epic duet with Stevie Wonder and Tom Jones singing ‘Place In The Sun.’ In the video, the two superstars traded off singing powerful lead vocals, then switched back and fourth singing harmony parts. This reminded me of how Aaron and I have traded singing parts on many of our songs over the years. The lyrics gave me hope that we might soon find ourselves moving to a better place, and the image of Stevie & Tom singing together at the height of the civil rights movement was beyond inspiring. I knew right away, this was a song we should sing together, and I hope our interpretation of it moves and inspires a new generation.” – Adam Bibelhauser
Photo credit: Winston Garthwaite Video credit: Brennan Clark
Artist:Larry & Joe Hometown: Durham, North Carolina Song: “Linda Barinas”
In Their Words: “’Linda Barinas’ is a song so well known that most Venezuelans can sing along.
“Eladio Ramón Tarife composed ‘Linda Barinas’ to honor his homeland, Barinas. It’s part of the Llano region and where this style of music, llanera, originated.
“The typical música llanera rendition would include harp, cuatro, maracas, bass and vocals, which makes our harp and banjo version quite unorthodox. Nonetheless, many Venezuelan traditional musicians have taken note of how seamlessly the five-string banjo melds with their instrumentation.
“Though Venezuela and Appalachia are thousands of miles apart, our folk traditions aren’t so different, and the sounds of our strings come together like old friends. Who would’ve thought?” – Joe Troop
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin Song: “The Fool” (Live from Cash Cabin) Album:Siren Songs Release Date: April 21, 2023 Label: Grand Phony (US) / Rootsy (EU)
In Their Words: “Joseph Cash filmed and photographed us throughout the sessions for Siren Songs, which was recorded at the historic Cash Cabin. From Merle to Snoop Dogg to Dolly Parton, this sacred space has had many visitors and I hoped to tap into some of that DNA they left behind. ‘The Fool’ is the first song I wrote in an open D tuning. I stumbled upon it while toying with an Irish folk song during lockdown, finding that it offered a whole new canvas to write songs from. It produced a full and vibrant sound in my lap that guided me through writing this record. As I figured out the new shapes up and down the neck of the guitar, I wrote lyrics for ‘The Fool’ from the perspective of a sage, old romantic who’s giving advice to a younger version of himself.” – Trapper Schoepp
Artist:Rachael Kilgour Hometown: Duluth, Minnesota Song: “Dad Worked Hard” Album:My Father Loved Me (produced by Rose Cousins) Release Date: September 22, 2023
In Their Words: “My dad was an ordinary working man: trustworthy and stubborn with calloused hands and an unwieldy appetite. Work as a builder left him exhausted at the end of each day — he fell asleep reading bedtime stories, watching the hockey game, and even eating his own dinner. Thanks to his work ethic and my mother’s careful spending, I had a happy and safe childhood; one purposefully focused on relationships and cooperation in lieu of material success.
“In the final years of his life, dementia forced my dad to rely on others the way we had relied on him, even as he struggled to the end to maintain his independence. His last chapter left me thinking a lot about how we value life and labor. No one could look at my dad’s life and say he didn’t try hard enough, could they? And yet there we were making choices about his care from a place of financial limitation.
“I want to live in a world where every father, every human, can be afforded the very best of care in times of need, no matter who they are or where they went to school or what their particular talents were. Surely we are each worthy.” – Rachael Kilgour
Artist:Cordovas Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Fallen Angels of Rock ‘n’ Roll” Album:The Rose Of Aces Release Date: June 14, 2023 (song); August 11, 2023 (album) Label: ATO Records
In Their Words: “This is a song about the friends back in the day who didn’t make it. The important part is don’t forget what music does for you. It can make you sad, it can make you happy, it can remind you of a better time. With The Rose Of Aces, we started to catch a flow. We set the songs to the wind. And slowly the figure emerged from the block of clay.” – Joe Firstman
Artist:David James Allen Hometown: Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada Song: “Holly” Album:By The Summertime Release Date: June 9, 2023 Label: Littleknown Records
In Their Words: “‘Holly’ is a song of drugs, dingey bars, old relationships, and backward priorities. Ultimately, it’s a song about losing an important part of your life to backward priorities, self-destruction, or naiveté, and growing up and confronting yourself in the passage of time. It’s about coming to terms with yourself and what it is you’ve lost, and reflecting on it with regret, sorrow, some nostalgia about it, but also having insight and maturity — a ‘grown-ass-ness’ of realizing things are better off now then they were then.
“In this song, the character is a songwriter who constantly prioritized every relationship they’ve been in after they hit a little success, but it sooner or later backfires. I wanted to write a song about tackling work/life balance and social-party/life balance, and in this case, it’s about a songwriter, because that’s something I know well. I feel like so many different people prioritize and occupy their minds with their work or social lives over personal relationships or family, a decision that may not always be intentional. But it does have a big impact on the ones who are left in the wake of that decision. I’m pretty self-aware of this type of work mindset because I can be a bit of a workaholic with my songwriting and creative work. I get obsessed easily — especially when I’m in the flow. I wear a lot of work hats and now being a new father and family man, I find myself regularly seeking ways to encourage a healthier balance. The social nightlife isn’t as much of a concern to me these days, I tend to enjoy being a bit of a homebody.” – David James Allen
Photo Credit: Dawson Bunnett
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