Tag: Video premiere

WATCH: Jeremy Squires, “Cast Spells”

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Artist: Jeremy Squires
Hometown: New Bern, North Carolina
Song: “Cast Spells”
Album: Many Moons
Release Date: August 28, 2020
Label: Blackbird Record Label

In Their Words: “When I wrote ‘Cast Spells,’ I had originally intended for it to be an acoustic song and a duet. Over time I felt the song could be opened up more and I started playing around with different soundscapes and textures. Ultimately the song evolved into what it is now. ‘Cast Spells’ is one of my favorite songs on the record and tells a poetic truth from a haunting perspective.” — Jeremy Squires

Photo credit: Shelley Squires

WATCH: The Alex Leach Band, “Take the Long Way Home”

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Artist: The Alex Leach Band
Hometown: Jacksboro, Tennessee
Song: “Take the Long Way Home”
Release Date: May 15, 2020
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “After writing the song, my wife and I had a vision of how we thought the video would look. With plenty of help from our Mountain Home family and our band, we were able to make our vision a reality; complete with a ’60s, bright orange VW Microbus and bell-bottoms for all! Each of us got to unleash a bit of our inner, free spirit for the video, and we think the outcome gives off the perfect vibe. We hope you enjoy this groovy journey with us as we ‘Take the Long Way Home.'” — Alex Leach

Photo credit: Sandlin Gaither

WATCH: Cinder Well, “Queen of the Earth, Child of the Skies”

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Artist: Cinder Well
Hometown: Santa Cruz, California, but now Ennis, Ireland
Song: “Queen of the Earth, Child of the Skies”
Album: No Summer
Release Date: July 24, 2020
Label: Free Dirt Records

In Their Words: “This tune is an American version of an Irish set dance called ‘The Blackbird.’ I derived my own interpretation from a 1947 field recording of West Virginian fiddler Eden Hammons. Hammons used an interesting fiddle tuning, DDAD, which I also used here. Erynn Marshall draws the connection between the American and Irish versions of this tune in her book Music in the Air Somewhere: The Shifting Borders of West Virginia’s Fiddle and Song Traditions.

“Being from America and living in Ireland, I have been really interested in fiddle tunes that are found in both traditions. When I found this tune, I set out to reimagine it, led by this idea that if this tune has been making its way around the world for hundreds of years, why not keep interpreting it? I aimed to do this with all the songs, both original and traditional on No Summer, to get to the core of them and express them in the most relevant and honest way possible.

“This video was shot in the back room of Lucas’s bar in Ennis, Ireland, amongst empty tables, but where, in a different time, you have a nice quiet pint next to a fire.” — Cinder Well

Photo credit: Jim Ghedi

WATCH: Buddy & Julie Miller, “Let It Rain”

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Artist: Buddy & Julie Miller
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Let It Rain” (with Steve Earle and The McCrary Sisters)
Release Date: July 17, 2020
Label: New West Records

In Their Words: “Our Black brothers and sisters have suffered so long. Their dehumanizing journey began 400 years ago. They lived lives of slaves and now of being distrusted by the law of the land, treated as ‘lesser than,’ been in danger from the stranger, danger from the law. Parents’ hearts are so worried, distraught, and broken. So much suffering and sorrow, discrimination, dehumanization, and hurt, and disappointment. This should all hurt our hearts too. It will if we have one. A beautiful revelation has been jump started in the middle of a pandemic, no less. This is my song of solidarity. And it’s my heart crying with their hearts. Let the revolution live.” — Julie Miller

Photo credit: Kate York

WATCH: Mark Stoffel, “Shadowbands”

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Artist: Mark Stoffel
Hometown: My birthplace and original hometown is Munich, Germany. My adopted hometown is Murphysboro, Illinois
Song: “Shadowbands”
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “This tune came to me relatively quickly while warming up for a show in Auburn, Alabama, in 2017. It also happened to be in the year of the wondrous transcontinental total solar eclipse and my chosen home near Murphysboro, Illinois, lay smack in the middle of the path. It seemed just right to name the tune after an amazing phenomenon associated with a total eclipse: ‘Shadowbands.’ (Google it.) My hobby astronomy friends assure me that the tune actually captures the mystique of shadow bands!

“The musicians, which I am honored to call very close friends of mine, all live scattered around the world, so we produced this video in an extreme socially-distanced fashion: Ross Sermons shot his bass part near Hobart, Tasmania. Niall Murphy, fiddle, posed for his part in South Armagh, Northern Ireland; and Gina Furtado, banjo, picked her scenic spot near her hometown of Winchester, Virginia. Josh, the guitarist, and I captured our parts in Alto Pass, Illinois. It was a lot of fun to put together, both the recording and the video. I hope it shows. Cheers, everybody!” — Mark Stoffel

Photo credit: Mary Stoffel

WATCH: Waylon Payne, “All the Trouble”

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Artist: Waylon Payne
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “All the Trouble”
Album: Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher & Me
Release Date: Sept. 11, 2020
Label: Carnival Recording Company/Empire

In Their Words: “I had just made the jump in November and moved back to Nashville [from Los Angeles] in 2015. The house I had rented was cool, but I had no sooner signed the lease before my friend Lee Ann asked me to join her on a writing weekend up in the Hamptons. I had not been there in many years, but Adam Wright and I flew to somewhere and met the bus and woke up on Long Island. There was a chill in the air and there was a good feeling going.

“Lee Ann Womack has been my friend for many years. I hold her and her family — Frank, Aubrie, and Anna — as my family and it has always been that way. She had set us up in a huge mansion with stellar views and fireplaces in each room. An added bonus came from a foul-mouthed top chef named Sylvia, who continually supplied (or plied) us with delicious five-course meals — every meal. The evenings were often wrapped with a hot toddy, full of bourbon and butter. We were there for almost a week and the songs started flowing. Adam, Lee Ann, and I wrote a song called ‘All the Trouble’ and another song called ‘Pictures.’ We also wrote some other songs with the band and Ethan Ballinger. The week felt like a success, and we all returned to Nashville just before the Thanksgiving holiday…” (Read more below.)

“…Later, Frank asked if I would like to go with them to Houston to record Lee Ann’s new album. He also asked if I would play guitar on the session. I am a lot of things, but no one has ever really referred to me as a guitar player. [My dog] Petey and I loaded up in a rental car and took off to Houston. The session was electric, and it was amazing to be there with my extended family to make music. Later, when the album came out, I had four songs on it. A few months later, I was sitting in the audience and nominated with Lee Ann and Adam for a Grammy. We didn’t win, and I didn’t mind that we lost to Brandi Carlile.

“As we were cutting this album, I had not planned on including ‘All the Trouble’ until Frank and Eric Masse suggested I give it a shot. I am proud to say it is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Thank you Lee Ann for including me on this fun journey!” — Waylon Payne

Photo credit: Bridgette Aikens

WATCH: Stephen Mougin, “The Song That I Call Home”

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Artist: Stephen Mougin
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The Song That I Call Home”
Album: Ordinary Soul
Release Date: July 31, 2020
Label: Dark Shadow Recording

In Their Words: “I discovered years ago, like many of my peers, I only really feel like myself when I’m onstage, in the studio, writing songs, or somehow involved in the creation of music. The normal world seems wild, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable until I have the chance to get back inside a song. Erin McDermott and I shared that sentiment back when we wrote ‘The Song That I Call Home’ as an homage to our muse: ‘Lyrical directions for an ordinary soul/ Look past my imperfections while the music makes me whole.’ It’s always a blast to have Sam Bush and Ned Luberecki in the same place, both musically and comically! This was an extra treat, as it’s the first music video I’ve released as an artist AND it includes my wife, Jana. I’m proud of our DSR Video team for their hard work, especially since I had to be on the ‘wrong’ side of the camera for much of this shoot!” — Stephen Mougin

Photo credit: Elliot Lopes

WATCH: Chance Emerson, “Annabelle”

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Artist: Chance Emerson
Hometown: Hong Kong, China / Providence, Rhode Island
Song: “Annabelle”
Album: The Raspberry Men

In Their Words: “My songs tend to take on the energy of the place they were written. I wrote this up in rural Maine so it was particularly fitting that the video ended up being shot there. This song has grown closer to me, especially recently with the shuttering of schools in this period of social distancing. I wrote ‘Annabelle’ as a goodbye to my friends in high school but it’s become significant to me yet again in these times. I’m certainly a bit of a worrier about this entire situation and when I’m firing off probabilities and news headlines at breakfast, my mother likes to quote this song: ‘Everything will be alright in time.’ A lot of friendships won’t last through your life. A lot of friendships fizzle out. Many good things must come to an end — hence the last line. There’s a little bit of the whole idea that ‘you don’t know how good you have it until it’s gone,’ too. Maybe you can’t truly treasure a relationship until it’s over.” — Chance Emerson

“We had been working on a cut of a short when a friend showed us Chance’s music. Immediately ‘Annabelle’ spoke to us and we couldn’t help but feel that the pieces shared common themes. Both are concerned with youthful relationships, anxiety surrounding their future, and the hopeful acts undertaken to preserve that future. Right away we began recutting the short to fit the song and luckily Chance felt the same way we did.” — Rob H. Campbell and Davíd Antonio Martín of Vacationland Collective (Directors)

Photo credit: Chance Emerson as photographed in Hong Kong by Manisha Shah

WATCH: Chris Knight, “I’m William Callahan”

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Artist: Chris Knight
Hometown: Slaughters, Kentucky
Song: “I’m William Callahan” (Niangua Coffee Sessions)
Album: Almost Daylight
Label: Thirty Tigers

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘William Callahan’ with a friend of mine, Tim Krekel. We both were staff writers for Bluewater Music then. We wrote it and went on to the next song. I pulled the song back out before Almost Daylight and rewrote some lines and completely changed the melody. It’s probably my favorite song on the album now.” — Chris Knight

“While we were in Kentucky filming Chris’ recent music videos, we decided to take some time one afternoon and film a few live performances behind Chris’ barn. The acoustic performances turned out to be some of the most intimate, raw songs we’ve ever captured.” — Nathaniel Maddux, Slate & Glass, director

Photo credit: Ray Kennedy

WATCH: Aaron Burdett, “Dirt Poor”

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Artist: Aaron Burdett
Hometown: Saluda, North Carolina
Song: “Dirt Poor”
Label: Organic Records

In Their Words: “This new video for ‘Dirt Poor’ is shot at my childhood home, where my folks still live. It includes old scrapbook photos of my family and their friends, interspersed with shots of my daughter playing in the same places and in the same way my brothers and I did back in the ’80s. To me, this song at depth is about nostalgia and aging and time. Things are totally different now, but also the same as they were way back when. As hard as it is to remember to do, we should all try to cherish the moment we’re in now, today. It may well be what we’re looking back on years down the road as the ‘good old days.’ Hope you enjoy it!” — Aaron Burdett

Photo credit: Sandlin Gaither