Tag: Video premiere

WATCH: Alexa Wildish, “The Well”

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Artist: Alexa Wildish
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The Well”
Album: Alexa Wildish

In Their Words: “‘The Well’ was originally written years ago, then released in 2020 on my eponymous EP, and it was not until this year that I fully lived its meaning. This video was filmed in Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. The pristine beauty and undeniably loud earth presence helped me to see myself more lucidly than ever before. It seems as if the surrounding volcanic energy erupted from me all that I was unwilling and too afraid to see, and then the water offered me grace in return in its loving reflection. The footage was captured over a few days of adventuring and playing with the elements. We collected video during a torrential downpour, parts of it at 5 in the morning when no one was on the lake other than a few local fishers, and the rest tucked away in the deep parts of the forest. My gratitude for this land and the way it brought me back home to myself will forever be imprinted on my heart.” — Alexa Wildish

Photo credit: Jacob Blumberg

WATCH: Del Barber, “Nothing Left to Find”

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Artist: Del Barber
Hometown: Inglis, Manitoba
Song: “Nothing Left to Find”
Album: Stray Dogs: Collected B-Sides Volume One
Release Date: August 20, 2021
Label: acronym Records

In Their Words: “Stray Dogs is a result of over 10 years of writing and recording music. When the pandemic began I was lost, scared about the future and in the depths of an unprecedented creative slump. I built a studio out of an old shed on my farm in an attempt to force myself to try and write songs. Every day I’d go out there in the mornings and struggle to get one line that I liked or one chord progression that was inspired. I wasn’t getting anywhere and it was my first taste of the fabled ‘writer’s block.’ Instead of writing new material like I had intended, I began to delight in the process of looking back. ‘Nothing Left To Find’ was one song I kept coming back to. I had so many versions of it in my files, it begged to be finished. After cutting a dozen of the verses I had written, it’s now a short and sweet song that really ties the tonal landscape of Stray Dogs together.” — Del Barber

Photo credit: Haylan Jackson

WATCH: Jesse Lynn Madera, “Revel”

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Artist: Jesse Lynn Madera
Hometown: LA and Nashville
Song: “Revel”
Release Date: July 23, 2021

In Their Words: “Writing ‘Revel’ changed the way I approach songwriting. It made me understand more about the opportunity we have as artists to positively impact a person’s day. I’ve written a lot of sad, emotional songs, and I’ve seen that those can be therapeutic. Knowing someone is getting cheered up, cheered on, inspired, by listening to one of my songs is pretty mind-blowing. I try to be a source of light for the people close to me, and this is the first time I’ve really been able to tap into that with my songwriting. ‘Revel’ was written around the holidays in 2020, in a living room that was still vibrating with all the good times we’ve had. I needed ‘Revel.’ I needed a reminder of all the light that follows darkness. Being human is rollercoaster enough without a pandemic to further complicate the experience. We’ve all suffered through our share, and hopefully we’ve all experienced the sun coming up over the horizon of despair. This will be no exception. The glow shall return, and we’ll all be reveling in it.” — Jesse Lynn Madera

Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

WATCH: Darin & Brooke Aldridge, “Once in a While”

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Artist: Darin & Brooke Aldridge
Hometown: Cherryville, North Carolina
Song: “Once in a While”
Album: This Life We’re Livin’
Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Billy Blue Records

In Their Words: “Shane Nicholson’s writing has always showcased such meaning and depth, yet its simplicity always tells a story that we feel is so relatable to everyone. In every aspect of our music our hope is that it makes you smile… even more than ‘Once in a While.'” — Brooke Aldridge

Photo credit: Kim Brantley

WATCH: Luke LeBlanc, “Same Blues”

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Artist: Luke LeBlanc
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “Same Blues”
Album: Only Human
Release Date: July 9, 2021

In Their Words: “It was October 2018 and I’d just moved to Nashville. I didn’t know I’d only live there six months, but as proud as I was to have been born and raised in North Minneapolis, I knew I had to explore the Nashville music scene: the songs, the stories, the mystique. It had been a long day, but I had to make my first move. So I called Roy August. I had met Roy about six years prior when I was 16 and visiting Nashville for the first time, playing an open mic near Music Row. Now in his 80s, Roy had co-written the Oak Ridge Boys’ “Fancy Free,” their first #1 on the Billboard country chart back in 1981. He happened to be in the audience and he loved my music. We kept in touch every so often through Facebook.

“Roy told me to meet him at the Hardee’s for brunch in Lebanon, Tennessee, just northeast of Nashville. We didn’t have a goal in mind, just to catch up and say hello. At the end of our conversation, he pulled out a folded piece of paper and told me it was something he’d been working on. ‘See what you can do; we’ll co-write it.’ I went home and wrote the rest of the lyrics, changed some, added others, and put music to it. With regards to the video, we tried to capture what the song is about: the tug between the status quo and what you’re currently doing versus that thing you really want to do. It portrays someone who has ‘fooled himself into working all day,’ knowing that deep down, the ‘fever won’t die young.’ Cody Hansen at Exist Media filmed and edited the video and John Cleve Richardson appears in the video playing piano.” — Luke LeBlanc

Photo credit: Exist Media

WATCH: Misty River, “Walk Me to the River”

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Artist: Misty River
Hometown: London, England
Song: “Walk Me to the River”
Album: Promises
Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: The Workshop

In Their Words: “Sometimes I think the desire for fundamental change is very like a river; at times its hardly there at all, yet at other times when it’s in full flow it can take your breath away with its ferocity and speed, promising new adventures and transformation. I wrote this song at a time of great change in my personal life. I was questioning if I was to take a leap, who would come along and who would be left behind. I’m a great believer in the power and strength of community and how that helps us to be become more resilient, even during times of great adversity. I am so grateful for the amazing people and new friends I have made on this new musical journey.” — Carmen Phelan, Misty River

Photo credit: Arthur René Walwin
This video is presented by British Underground, filmed at Real World studios by Northern Cowboys Films

WATCH: Ramblin’ Ricky Tate, “Drifting”

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Artist: Ramblin’ Ricky Tate
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama
Song: “Drifting”
Release Date: July 30, 2021

In Their Words: “Everyone has lost a love or felt homesick, I’d bet a lot of those people have reached for a whiskey glass a time or two as well. ‘Drifting’ is a tune I wrote about just that. This song is about having hope for better days to come when you feel down. Recorded and filmed field recording style on location in a 140-year-old building, this song has a natural reverb unlike anything you will hear in a studio. I put my heart into this song and I love how the video turned out and I’m honored to share it with y’all.” — Ramblin’ Ricky Tate

Photo credit: Jordan Hudecz

WATCH: Malena Cadiz, “Motel Evangeline”

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Artist: Malena Cadiz
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Motel Evangeline”
Album: Chasing Smoke
Release Date: July 16, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Motel Evangeline’ was inspired by a motel on the coast of Quebec, all about loss and memory, about returning alone to a place that was once meaningful to a relationship. The verses touch on that beautiful, arrogant feeling of youth, that maybe these moments can last forever. ‘Wandering stars in the parking lot / All you lose is all you got / Oh we got lots of time.’ The chorus reminisces about swimming way out past the breakers, wishing the other person was still there. For the video the director Audrey McGee and I were inspired by plant masks and the work of Phyllis Galembo. We used dried flowers to create the ‘creature’ and the tulle as an ephemeral character, like memory difficult to grasp and always transforming.” — Malena Cadiz

Photo credit: Audrey McGee

WATCH: Erik Stucky, “Heaven Only Knows”

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Artist: Erik Stucky
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Heaven Only Knows”
Album: Good Vibrations
Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Binasaur Records

In Their Words: “This song is one of my favorites on the album. It brings a bit of depth and intensity to the concept of Good Vibrations. Specifically, there are things we can do with our time to improve this situation: ‘Heaven only knows what is possible, if we love ourselves like we are capable.’ This has a bit of a double meaning in that love for others is only possible to the extent that we love our individual selves. We are all one, and when we further love our individual self we simultaneously extend that love for the greater whole… humanity, the world, the universe, the never-ending consciousness. Amen.” — Erik Stucky

Photo credit: Chad Krash

WATCH: Scythian, “Buddy Holly”

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Artist: Scythian
Hometown: Front Royal, Virginia
Song: “Buddy Holly” (Weezer cover)
Album: Quaranstream: The Album
Release Date: July 8, 2021
Label: Aerotone Records

In Their Words: “‘Buddy Holly’ was a product of a rabbit trail (no pun intended) while the four of us were practicing for our ill-fated 2020 Roots and Stones CD release tour. We were talking about some adjustments needed in the set when Dan started playing a couple chords, which were the same progression as ‘Buddy Holly.’ We then joked that it would make a rippin’ bluegrass tune, and left it at that. Next thing we knew it was mid 2020 and we had started these online shows that racked up about 30k+ viewers every other week called ‘Quaranstreams.’ We literally survived that whole year off of the amazing goodwill of our fans supporting us and tipping us while we played. The shows were kind of like a reverse SNL, lots of music, and a couple skits featuring a variety of recurring characters, so we thought that this would be a great place to experiment with writing and recording songs to release for our amazing fans.

“We remembered that we wanted to give this song a try, and ended up recording it all in about a day. After it was mixed and mastered, we were racking our brains with how to present this on the stream since we had limited time and wanted to do the song justice, so we took inspiration from the original Spike Jonze-directed video and just added crocheted puppets. We spent a good hour or so cutting out cardboard instruments and making mic stands out of Q-tips, then literally shot the whole thing in about two hours with an iPhone. When we released the video on our live stream for the first time, people were losing their minds, and kept requesting us to play the video every chance they could get. People wanted it so badly that they watched the whole four-hour stream again, just to screen capture the video and bootleg it to other Scythian fans.” — Ethan Dean

Photo credit: Brendan McLean