Tag: Video premiere

WATCH: Katie Oates, “Here in Gastonia”

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Artist: Katie Oates
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Song: “Here in Gastonia”
Album: We Go On: Si Kahn’s Songs of Hope in Hard Times
Release Date: January 29, 2021
Label: Hollow Reed Arts Recordings

In Their Words: “Filmed as a live performance on location at Loray Mill, ‘Here in Gastonia’ (written by Si Kahn) commemorates the 1929 textile strike in Gastonia, North Carolina. Containing historic and current-day footage of the mill and the strike, the music video is dedicated to textile worker and songwriter, Ella May Wiggins. Mother of 10 young children, Ella May used her songs to help union leaders organize and lobby congress for better wages and working conditions. The strike was met with violent suppression. 29-year-old Ella May was shot and killed while in a pickup truck with fellow workers on her way to a union meeting. The song and video remind us of the ongoing struggle for better lives and of the sacrifices people make in the fight for justice — past, present and future. We will continue their fight. We Go On.” — Katie Oates

Photo credit: Charlotte Star Room

WATCH: Stillhouse Junkies, “Mountains of New Mexico”

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Artist: Stillhouse Junkies
Hometown: Durango, Colorado
Song: “Mountains of New Mexico”
Album: Calamity

In Their Words: “‘Mountains of New Mexico’ is an old-school murder ballad about misunderstood victim vs. outlaw, but it’s also an ode to the great wildernesses of the American West and their ability, even in the Information Age, to humble us as they have since the beginning of time. And what better backdrop for this kind of tale than northern New Mexico’s Bisti Badlands, a sun-scarred, alien landscape of hoodoos, gullies, and maze-like washes. The August sun limited our video shoot schedule to early morning and sunset, and the light was nothing short of magical; the song’s windswept climax came to life in a way we had scarcely imagined. ‘Mountains of New Mexico’ is a reminder that trading one kind of trouble for another doesn’t always work in our favor.” — Cody Tinnin, Stillhouse Junkies

Photo credit: Renee Anna Cornue

WATCH: Jeff Cramer and The Wooden Sound, “Aimless Love”

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Artist: Jeff Cramer and The Wooden Sound (Emma Rose, Dylan McCarthy, Dave Pailet)
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “Aimless Love” (John Prine cover)
Album: The Shed Sessions
Release Date: November 20, 2020

In Their Words: “I dreamt up ‘the shed’ late last year — a backyard DIY project fueled by a desire to provide space and community within Colorado’s incredible songwriter scene — which, as luck would have it, I finished building at the end of February this year. During the pandemic, it has become my office and writing space, and it ultimately brought me to a vision for a video series of live-recorded new, old, and cover songs with my new band, The Wooden Sound. I’m excited to be releasing seven videos and tracks from the The Shed Sessions over the next two weeks, starting with a cover of John Prine’s ‘Aimless Love’ here.

“Aimless Love was my first John Prine record, and while it might not be amongst his most prominent, the title track especially has become one of my favorites. Maybe it was discovering it as a teenager — as a small fry kid in a Midwestern town — that caused me to feel a special closeness to it. John Prine was able to add a sense of warmth and humor to the messiest of human conditions and somehow make it personal to everyone (including me) in the process. I also vividly remember playing Aimless Love under the full moon in my backyard in Denver the moment we learned that he had passed. It felt appropriate to release this video as my little tribute to him.” — Jeff Cramer

Photo credit: Payden Widner

WATCH: Tejon Street Corner Thieves, “No Good” (Acoustic)

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Artist: Tejon Street Corner Thieves
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Song: “No Good” (Acoustic)
Album: Monarch Sessions
Release Date: October 16, 2020
Label: Liars Club

In Their Words: “At first glance, ‘No Good’ is about being a party animal. But a more in-depth look reveals the struggle for acceptance and a teetering battle with impostor syndrome. It’s easier to be hard on yourself than it is to understand why people like you. The song is a reminder to practice a positive self-image even though it takes work. Monarch Sessions combines both audio and video mediums so that we were able to portray our most authentic and emotionally-fueled performance in a time when live music isn’t an option. The video accompaniment allows for an inside look at our own reactions to the songs as we perform them, adding a layer to the album that wouldn’t be achievable otherwise. We put our heart and soul into these songs and you can finally see it through Monarch Sessions.” — Connor O’Neal, Tejon Street Corner Thieves

Photo credit: Gabriel Rovick @F4DStudio

WATCH: Ivan & Alyosha, “Whiskey & Wine”

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Artist: Ivan & Alyosha
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Song: “Whiskey & Wine” (with Brandi Carlile, Tim Hanseroth and Phil Hanseroth)
Album: Ivan & Alyosha
Release Date: October 23, 2020
Label: Nettwerk

In Their Words: “Within the song, he’s pleading with his love to give him another chance. Throughout the song, it describes what brings a man to the low points of relying on that escape. It’s extreme, but we all can relate to just wanting to check out and be numb. Sometimes it just takes someone seeing the light in our day for us to get to the other side.

“Brandi, Tim and Phil have been a huge inspiration and taught us so much about life on the road, the music industry, and how to stay connected with each other and with our fans. In the early days of Ivan & Alyosha, they gave us the gift of opening up for them on the road. Now they have given us the gift of some pretty amazing harmonies on this track.” — Ivan & Alyosha

Photo credit: Joe Day

WATCH: Alright Alright, “Missouri Calling”

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Artist: Alright Alright (husband and wife Seth and China Kent)
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “Missouri Calling”
Album: Crucible
Release Date: October 23, 2020

In Their Words: “‘Missouri Calling’ is an empathetic, compassionate vignette of a woman who leaves Missouri after being kicked out of her unhappy home. She heads to Denver with marijuana-tinted dollar signs in her eyes, and eventually finds herself out on the streets. After working with homeless women at a shelter for several years, Seth and I heard enough stories to understand that people find themselves without homes for countless reasons, and we are all closer to that line between shelter and no shelter than we would like to believe.

“This summer, the reliable network of church-led homeless shelters shut down due to COVID, and as a result, countless homeless camps began popping up all around Denver. Huge city parks and lots were filled with tents and makeshift shelters, laundry hanging on chain link fences, as pop-up bike repair stations appeared on random street corners. I wanted to capture footage of these homeless camps around the city to bring the plight of the unhoused to light in the age of COVID. Our 13-year-old son, Fender, and I took a trip to the capitol building where the largest of these camps was located, and equipped with only a GoPro and iPhones, we walked around and captured the footage that is now in the video.

“After editing the footage together, I wondered if, perhaps, the video would be made stronger by the addition of fact-based context. If, perhaps, we could find out some statistics about homelessness in Denver and maybe understand a little more about why the unhoused were so visible all of a sudden. Our kids attend an amazing school whose mission is to provide students with a racially and economically diverse educational environment, so we asked the social justice teacher at our kids’ school to help. Mx. Saleh was so excited about the prospect that they jumped right on it, and Fender’s 8th grade class researched and wrote all of the facts presented in the video.” — China Kent, Alright Alright

Photo credit: Made Shop

WATCH: Rock Hearts, “Don’t Let Smokey Mountain Smoke Get in Your Eyes”

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Artist: Rock Hearts
Hometown: New England area
Song: “Don’t Let Smokey Mountain Smoke Get in Your Eyes”
Album: Starry Southern Nights (Produced by Ned Luberecki)
Release Date: October 30, 2020

In Their Words: “The first time Rock Hearts played ‘Don’t Let Smokey Mountain Smoke Get In Your Eyes,’ we knew we’d stumbled onto something special. It immediately drew each of us decades back to a time when we were falling in love with bluegrass. We each remember being younger and hearing this tune by major influences in our bluegrass lives, the Osborne Brothers. So, we wanted to include it on this album and reintroduce folks to the song as no one was covering it. Mainly, we wanted to include it to pay homage to a couple of our bluegrass heroes, Sonny and Bobby!” — Alex MacLeod, Rock Hearts

Photo credit: Alex MacLeod

WATCH: Josh Shilling, “(Go to Hell) 2020”

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Artist: Josh Shilling
Hometown: Martinsville, Virginia
Song: “(Go to Hell) 2020”
Release Date: October 9, 2020
Label: Josh Shilling Music

In Their Words: “This song wrote itself. It fell out one morning while waiting for a Skype writing session to start with another songwriter. It felt like a personal and heavy conversation with an old confidant. I was positive this would impact people. Each verse is something I’ve faced personally since spring regarding the pandemic: societal unrest, facing loss and grief, and relationship tension throughout 2020. The chorus provides hope and belief that life will get better and ‘someday soon we’ll be free and this will be in the rear view.’ The song is where I am; it’s where I think we all are right now. No tricks, no big production, this was a live take, three chords and the truth … the truth for everyone, I think.” — Josh Shilling

Photo credit: Sebastian Smith

WATCH: Suzi Ragsdale, “The Ending”

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Artist: Suzi Ragsdale
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The Ending”
Album: Ghost Town
Release Date: October 9, 2020
Label: CabaRay Records

In Their Words: “Can anyone accurately predict the future? Of course not. Not even the chief meteorologists get it right. With the exception of fictional books and films when you might, like my ex-husband in this song, skip to the last chapter to get answers, we’re all kinda just wingin’ it. More and more I’m becoming a fan of focusing on the present moment unfolding instead of pinning anything on the final result. ‘The Ending’ is a four-minute musing on how my life might have been different had I known the outcomes of life’s loves, dramas and situations … and how ultimately, I’m happier not knowing and having the world of possibilities remain open to me and to everyone else.” — Suzi Ragsdale

Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins

WATCH: Bonnie Whitmore, “Time to Shoot”

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Artist: Bonnie Whitmore
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “Time to Shoot”
Album: Last Will and Testament
Release Date: October 2, 2020

In Their Words: “When I wrote ‘Time to Shoot,’ it was after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. It was the largest death count of any mass shooting and was in the summer of 2016. Remember 2016? That year of a thousand losses that started with David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen on Election Day, and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) right at the end? I was reflecting back on the earliest mass shootings that I could recall and I remembered it was Columbine in 1999. It struck me that it has been 20 years, and nothing has changed. Twenty years of making mass shootings normalized. The potential of becoming someone’s target practice is no longer how, but which large gathering.

“I was in high school when Columbine happened and I remember the immediate fear and repression that came afterwards, and for more than half of my life I’ve watched systemic violence being tolerated by my country and its people. I can see a pattern of unaddressed mental health issues and the ease of accessibility to these military-style weapons, and also the toxic masculinity and fear and shame that’s at its core, but each time it happens nothing changes. Nothing but more fear and ‘thoughts and prayers.’ I cannot accept that this is the only way. I know this is not an easy topic to discuss, but it is worth discussing over and over because we have to find a solution. It’s time we collectively shed some light in those dark places and do the work to get through this, because if the desire is to build towards a better future, then there is a lot that’s got to change for the better.” — Bonnie Whitmore

Photo credit: Eryn Brooke; Video: Ryan Doty