Tag: Video premiere

WATCH: Old Salt Union, “Tell Me So” (Feat. Bobby Osborne)

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Artist: Old Salt Union
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Song: “Tell Me So” (Featuring Bobby Osborne)
Album: Where the Dogs Don’t Bite
Release Date: August 16, 2019
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “‘Tell Me So’ was an old song idea we had that we brought back to life with the help of Bobby Osborne. You know, an honest tune with simple lyrics about daily frustrations and uncertainties. I think really the track pays homage to traditional bluegrass and parlor-style call-and-response.” — Justin Wallace, mandolin

Photo credit: Sekondtry

WATCH: Merle Monroe, “Dad”

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Artist: Merle Monroe
Hometown: Sanford, Florida (Tim Raybon) and Elizabethton, Tennessee (Daniel Grindstaff)
Song: “Dad”
Album: Back to the Country
Release Date: June 21, 2019
Label: Pinecastle Records

In Their Words: “Out of all the titles I have had, ‘Dad’ is the best. This song resonates with me on many levels — my own dad, the father figures I have had influence me through the years, and being a dad to my two sons. Words can’t describe how wonderful I feel when I hear ‘I love you, Dad.'” — Daniel Grindstaff

“To all the Dads who go to work everyday to provide for their family… Save a little back for a weekend fishing trip or have to buy gym shoes for their kids to play ball. Thank you Dad for all you do for us!” — Tim Raybon

Photo credit: Pinecastle Records

WATCH: Anthony da Costa, “Shadow Love”

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Artist: Anthony da Costa
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Shadow Love” (Acoustic)
Album: Shadow Love EP
Release Date: Single – May 31st; EP – June 14th

In Their Words: “This is a song that has followed me around for years. I first wrote this song back in 2015 and have performed it live with my band many times… I always had fun playing it, but never felt like it was all the way there. My friend Ruth Moody (of The Wailin’ Jennys) and I had recently been discussing the possibility of writing songs together. While working on the EP, I decided to send ‘Shadow Love’ to Ruth and asked her to write another verse. She sent me that second verse while on the road, and it haunted me for days afterwards. ‘Maybe I knew you long before I met you / a hologram, a winter mist / Not everything can last forever / Not everything can feel like this.’ The song was done. What was once a loud Weezer-rock shredder became a duet between two loves, two ghosts. I wanted to share this live, acoustic version of the song (featuring Ruth as well as Sam Howard on bass) as a capture of friends sharing a feeling in real time. Enjoy!” — Anthony da Costa

Photo credit: Jacqueline Justice

WATCH: Willard Gayheart, “Ern & Zorry’s Sneakin’ Bitin’ Dog”

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Artist: Willard Gayheart
Hometown: Galax, Virginia (born in Hazard, Kentucky)
Song: “Ern & Zorry’s Sneakin’ Bitin’ Dog”
Album: At Home in the Blue Ridge
Release Date: May 24, 2019
Label: Blue Hens Music

In Their Words: “My granddaughter Dori [Freeman] put this on her second album and she likes to joke that even with all the great songs she’s written herself, people always want to hear this one. It’s just a funny song about a couple of bachelors named Ern and Zory Grigbsy who lived down the road from me when I was a kid. They had a store on one side of the road and their house on the other. We had to walk everywhere we went back then as there weren’t many automobiles. So, walking that road past their house, I was always so scared of that dog they had. And I was just thinking about that and decided to write this song. We put that on that first Highlanders record we did with Bobby [Patterson].” — Willard Gayheart

Photo credit: Kristen H Photography

WATCH: Heather Maloney, “Oklahoma Lullaby”

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Artist: Heather Maloney
Hometown: Northampton, Massachusetts
Song: “Oklahoma Lullaby”
Album: Soil in the Sky
Release Date: June 14, 2019
Label: Signature Sounds

In Their Words: “‘Oklahoma Lullaby’ was inspired by the Ken Burns documentary, The Dust Bowl — so when I starting working on the lyric video for it, I decided to incorporate some historic footage as a little nod to my inspiration. Digging around in the National Archives, I eventually found the perfect footage to use in the video: The 1936 short documentary film on the Dust Bowl (by director Pare Lorentz) called The Plow That Broke The Plains.

“I filled an old book with green construction paper and green-screened the images below the words to make it a sort of ‘moving picture book.’ At the last minute, I decided to write a quote by 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg inside the first page of the book. (‘I want you to act as if the house was on fire. Because it is.’) I added the quote because, while the song is inspired by an environmental disaster that happened in the past, I wrote the song to point to the environmental disasters we are creating now. Near the end of the Dust Bowl, we took some accountability for what we’d done to the land, changed the way we farmed, and passed legislation that has kept it from happening at that scale for nearly a hundred years. That gave me some hope that we can make change again.

“Fun fact: Jay Ungar wrote and played the theme song in Ken Burns’ PBS series The Civil War. He also plays the fiddle on ‘Oklahoma Lullaby,’ as well as the prelude to the song ‘Porch Story.’ It was incredibly special to me, having his fiddle on this song.” — Heather Maloney

Photo credit: Scott Housley

WATCH: Adam Chaffins, “I’m Over You” (Live From Southern Ground)

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Artist: Adam Chaffins
Hometown: Louisa, Kentucky (now Nashville, TN)
Song: “I’m Over You” Live from Southern Ground
Album: I’m Over You (EP)
Release Date: May 10, 2019
Label: Chaffins Music

In Their Words: “It was a great time being in the same room with all those amazing players, capturing the track on film altogether. Southern Ground Nashville is such a beautiful space to make music in. Studio A’s lively tones and vibe are all on display in the video. I’ve felt Keith Whitley’s imprint my whole life. From growing up in East Kentucky to moving to Nashville, his sound has always been close to me. It’s been a surreal experience sharing my take of ‘I’m Over You’ with the world.” — Adam Chaffins

Photo credit: Ryan Musick

WATCH: Brooks Forsyth, “Cast My Dreams to the Wind”

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Artist: Brooks Forsyth
Hometown: Boone, North Carolina
Song: “Cast My Dreams to the Wind”
Album: So Much Beyond Us
Release Date: May 8, 2019
Label: ArenA Recordings

In Their Words: “There was a strange alchemy that brought the project together. And literally, it was a gold mining town! The director, Nigel Dick, told me how many of his videos began from an odd synchronicity of events. A few of us met my producer Buzz Cason in Denver, and we drove down to Victor, hearing two ’90s hits on the radio that Nigel shot the videos for. The first day was more or less a workout, outside shots and carrying guitar walking around. The second was more intimate, performing the song inside a historic building downtown. The majority of the song was recorded in one take, Eamon McLoughlin added strings and I played piano subsequently.” — Brooks Forsyth

Photo credit: EJ Carr

WATCH: Jeremie Albino, “The Cabin”

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Artist: Jeremie Albino
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Song: “The Cabin”
Album: Hard Time
Label: Cinematic Music Group

In Their Words: “‘The Cabin’ is a song that came from a romantic day dream. About that feeling of being away from the one you love and how we always tend to fantasize about when and where we’ll see them again. I think we all like to daydream about the grand adventures we’ll go on with our partners and this song is about how those daydreams are sometimes all we can hold on to when we’re away from each other. Dreams of running away together to a place that’s off the map and just for the two of you. Building a cabin in the woods with my own two hands and living off the land. ‘Cause in the end it doesn’t really matter where you decide to go. As long as you’re there together, ya know? Just another love story I suppose, haha. I was so grateful to have some friends come and perform on the recording with me. My friends Hannah Georgas, Carleigh Aikins and Taylor Guitard join me in the choruses.” — Jeremie Albino

Photo credit: Anielika Sykes

WATCH: Anna Tivel, “Minneapolis”

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Artist: Anna Tivel
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Song: “Minneapolis”
Album: The Question
Release Date: April 19, 2019
Label: Fluff & Gravy Records

In Their Words: “This is a song about that stuck feeling, that stagnant winter sadness that can take over everything until you have to physically move yourself to shake it loose. I started writing it after a long tour in the Midwest. I was thinking about how that feeling can seep into a relationship until it seems like the only sane thing to do is pack up and start over somewhere else.” — Anna Tivel

Photo credit: Matthew Kennelly

WATCH: “Song for Ora,” Jacob Navarro with Navid Eliot

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Artist: Jacob Navarro with Navid Eliot
Hometown: Anacortes, Washington
Song: “Song for Ora”
Album: Otter House Sketches

In Their Words: “This melody came about while thinking of my daughter, who is now all grown up and a mom herself, a fact that never ceases to amaze me! I found that I could focus on the song’s intention best by just letting the guitar do the talking, and it ended up becoming the first of a few instrumental songs on my new record, Otter House Sketches. We filmed this video where I mixed the record, in an old marina warehouse called The Baitshop. There aren’t many hole in the wall art spaces left in Seattle, because most have been hit with the wrecking ball and turned into condos, but this one is still standing. There’s a little greasy spoon at the end of the building, where after an all-nighter of mixing songs you can blearily walk downstairs and grab a coffee and some pancakes, and look out at the boats in the marina. It’s perfect, really!” — Jacob Navarro

Photo credit: Luke Dumke