Category: music

New album release: Nothing But Green Willow

Martin Simpson and Thomm Jutz’s generation collaborates for their upcoming album Nothing But Willow: The Songs of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry, out September 29, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Martin Simpson is an English folk musician and guitarist, known for his innovative and eclectic approach to traditional music. In the mid-1980s, Simpson moved to the United States, where he came to the attention of a wide range of American artists with whom he then collaborated. Amongst the albums released during his US tenure, Cool & Unusual, won the Indie Award for best instrumental album in 1998. In addition to his work as a musician, Simpson has also been involved in music education, teaching at universities, and leading workshops and masterclasses around the world. (IV-PR, 2023)

Raised in the Black Forest of Germany, Thomm Jutz has become an American roots music treasure. His virtuosity, eloquence, and clarity of expression have made him a linchpin of Nashville’s creative community, and in 2020 his To Live in Two Worlds, Volume 1 was nominated for the Best Bluegrass Album Grammy, making him the first immigrant to receive a nomination in that category. He has written numerous Bluegrass number ones, and his songs have been recorded by John Prine, Nanci Griffith, The SteelDrivers, Balsam Range, and more. Jutz has a Master’s degree in Appalachian Studies from East Tennessee State University and wrote his thesis on Grammy-winner Norman Blake.

When Thomm Jutz got together with his latest trans-Atlantic collaborator, Martin Simpson, the pair bonded over their long-running obsession with Cecil Sharp’s 1916 and 1918 collection, “English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians;” particularly those tunes from singers Mary Sands and Jane Gentry. The longevity of the original songs drew the pair in but the latest single from their upcoming album Nothing But Green Willow: The Songs Of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry, pulls from generations of different versions of “The Wagoner’s Lad.”

Folk Alley gave fans an exclusive first listen to the single, writing, “Jutz’s and Simpson’s gem-like version shines in all its facets.” Fans can pre-save Simpson and Jutz’s version of “The Wagoner’s Lad,” check out the previously released album track “Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies” featuring Cara Dillon, and pre-order or pre-save Nothing But Green Willow ahead of its September 29 release via Topic Records.

Simpson and Jutz both clearly see the crucial need for each new generation to reinvent these folk songs. “I strongly believe that innovation requires preservation,” says Jutz. “How can we claim to play traditional music or write ‘Folk music’ without knowing the roots of it?” Fortunately for all involved, the pair found a host of others in agreeance and brought together a mix of roots artists from both sides of the pond—Sierra Hull, Angeline Morrison, Odessa Settles, Tim O’Brien, Tammy Rogers, Seth Lakeman, and more—to create an homage to the bridge from Appalachia to England and back, just as the songs of Sands and Gentry originally did.

Nothing But Green Willow track list:
“Fair Annie” feat. Emily Portman
“Geordie” feat. Sierra Hull & Justin Moses
“Pretty Saro” feat. Odessa Settles
“Edward” feat. Seth Lakeman
“Edwin in the Lowlands Low” feat. Tim O’Brien
“Jacob’s Ladder” feat. Dale Ann Bradley & Tim Stafford
“Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies” feat. Cara Dillon
“The Wagoner’s Lad” feat. Martin Simpson
“Married and Single Life” feat. Tammy Rogers
“The Gypsy Laddie” feat. Thomm Jutz
“The Suffolk Miracle” feat. Angeline Morrison
“I Whipped My Horse” feat. Fay Hield
“Awake! Awake!” feat. Thomm Jutz

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Upcoming new album release: Blue Hour – Eddy Lee Ryder

Eddy Lee Ryder’s new EP, Blue Hour, will be released September 15, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Last time I wrote about this artist, it was with the news that her song Smoke and Mirrors was used in the hardcore slasher horror movie Terrifier 2. In today’s music news, Eddy Lee Ryder recently announced that her new EP, Blue Hour will be released on September 15, 2023. The announcement comes on the heels of her latest single, Holy S**t I Think I Love You, which the soulful rock belter calls her favorite song she has ever written. (Eddy Lee Ryder, 2023)

Singer, songwriter, and free spirit Eddy Lee Ryder creates haunting songs that tell dramatic stories through a slightly warped lens. Eddy’s unconventional, theatrical approach to songwriting explodes and sparkles with ‘70s good-time rock riffs, spiced with complex poetry. Proclaimed “demented pop,” her music is propelled by her charismatic voice and lyrics inspired by an intense bizarre world. Lonesome as she is wild, Ryder paints languid, sadly beautiful portraits of love and life on the margins with the moody and satirical depth of Father John Misty and the country-influenced textures of Roy Orbison or Glen Cambel but with a captivating voice all on her own.

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New album release: Try To Make It Fly – Lonesome Ace Stringband

Lonesome Ace Stringband’s upcoming Try To Make It Fly follows the trio’s legendary live show energy into a new era of Americana-leaning lyricism. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Lonesome Ace Stringband brings grit, skill, and abandon to Americana music, bridging old-time, bluegrass and folk traditions into a seamless hybrid of original material that is at once fresh and timeless. Instrumentation alone sets this Toronto-based trio’s sound apart: consisting simply of fiddle (John Showman), clawhammer banjo (Chris Coole), and upright bass (Max Heineman). Call Lonesome Ace Stringband whatever genre you want – they are just unorthodox enough to be brilliant. The spine-tingling harmonies and interchanging lead vocals only bring more magic to the equation. They have become festival favorites at Rockygrass, Celtic Connections, Winnipeg Folk Festival, MerleFest, and regularly tour the USA, UK, Germany and, of course, Canada. With more than a decade of group music-making under their belts, they are releasing their fifth album, a feisty and mighty collection of all-original material titled Try To Make It Fly on October 13, 2023. (IV-PR, 2023)

The release of their brand new album Try To Make It Fly marks not only their reinvigorated, live-on-stage sound but also a venture into more Americana-leaning songwriting. “We have a unique take on all of the traditional material we do and wanted to keep pushing our sound to new places,” says Showman—not unlike the paths taken by legendary predecessors like John Hartford or The Band. While Lonesome Ace Stringband’s finely tuned musicianship and command of the old-time and bluegrass music catalog has garnered new listeners and premier festival slots, the trio finds comfort in reaching out to a new, song-hungry audience. “It felt like a place where we could be ourselves as writers and craft music that would fit the genre regardless of what we found ourselves writing about lyrically.” Add that to the trio’s already dynamic concoction of fiddle, banjo, and bass, and the results reveal a bright future for the ever-evolving Lonesome Ace Stringband.

Folk Radio UK premiered the album-opening track, Sweeter Sound, which features the band’s inspired, layered harmonies. The song opens with Showman’s somber fiddle pull before Coole joins in on banjo, igniting the rollicking journey to “make a sweeter sound.” According to Malone, “The opening line of the chorus, ‘Try to make it better than the way we found,’ is something of a mantra for the band. Perseverance and belief in what you love to do and trying despite evidence of success is the essence of its message.”

Fans can stream or purchase Sweeter Sound, check out Lonesome Ace Stringband’s previously-released, BBQ-flavored single Smoke on the Shoulder music video and pre-order or pre-save Try To Make It Fly ahead of its October release.

Try To Make It Fly track list:
Sweeter Sound
Praying For Rain
You’ll Be There
First Frost/Blue Grouse
Midnight Band
Come With Me Tonight
Simply Going Sideways
Crossing The Junction/Deer River
Smoke On The Shoulder
The Echo
Country Mile
Lonesome Ace Number 1

Catch Lonesome Ace Stringband on tour:
August 26 – Sorrento, BC – Nimble Fingers Bluegrass & Old Time Workshop and Festival
September 2 – Pilesgrove, NJ – Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival
September 15-16 – Flagstaff, AZ – Pickin’ In The Pines Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival
September 19 – Nashville, TN – AMERICANAFEST
October 18 – Cambridge, MA – Club Passim
October 19 – Exeter, NH – The Wood Barn
October 20 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Caffe Lena
October 21 – Brownfield, ME – Stone Mountain Arts Center
October 22 – Greenfield, MA – Hawks & Reed
October 23 – New York, NY – City Vineyard at Pier 26
October 25 – Vienna, VA – Jammin’ Java
October 26 – Oberlin, OH – Music at Riverdog
October 28 – Manitowoc, WI – Sabbatical Brewing Co.
October 29 – Holland, MI – Park Theatre
October 30 – Ann Arbour, MI – The Ark
November 1 – Toronto, ON – The Tranzac Club
November 22 – Edmonton, AB – Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society
November 23 – Saskatoon, SK – The Bassment
November 24 – Red Deer, AB – The Velvet Olive
November 25 – Calgary, AB – Foothills Bluegrass Circle Music Society
November 27 – Missoula, MT – Longstaff House
November 29 – Sisters, OR – The Belfry
December 1 – Portland, OR – McMenamins White Eagle Saloon & Hotel
December 2 – Seattle, WA – Ballard Homestead
December 3 – Victoria, BC – Victoria Event Centre
December 4 – Vancouver, BC – The Anza Club
December 5 – Oliver, BC – The Oliver Theatre

Courtesy photo, used with permission.

New album release: Been A Long Time Comin’ – Listening Party

Listening Party’s new album Been A Long Time Comin’ will be out August 25, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

After years of performing live, Wisconsin-based folk-rock duo Listening Party—Jacob Wood and Weston Mueller—found themselves staring down a pandemic, down a band member, and contemplating whether to keep on track or give it up altogether. Fortunately for the group’s rabid and quickly growing fanbase, Wood’s and Mueller’s passion won out and the pair entered the recording studio with a catalog full of new stories to tell. Their latest album Been A Long Time Comin’ highlights Listening Party’s perseverance to carry on through the Covid-19 pandemic and mutually parting ways with a longtime bandmate and friend. Due out on August 25, the new album, their fourth full-length and first output in four years, is the product of this new journey. (IV-PR, 2023)

Recorded at Axis Studios, a converted 19th-century chapel that sits atop a hill in Hartland, Wisconsin, with studio owner Vinny Millevolte, Been A Long Time Comin’ takes the group’s folk, rock, and Americana influences to new horizons, the non-traditional recording space inspiring each new song in a way Listening Party had not experienced before. At the heart of the album, storytelling and melody reign supreme, while the songs seek to examine stories rooted firmly in the joys and perils of everyday life. The band seeks to capture “the bombastic attitude and instrumentation of Midwestern Folk/Americana.” The songs are accented and driven by a “howling” harmonica and a church piano. At their core, the band and album remain true to the “intimacy” of storytelling and melody.

Listening Party recently shared their first single from Been a Long Time Comin,’ the slow burning “Same Ol’ Problems.” The tune begins as a somber piano and guitar duet which crescendos to Mueller’s introductory lyrics: “Digging my grave before I’m gray, feels like I’m wasting my life away.” Written about moving on from a friend whose addiction has taken hold and changed them, fundamentally, the band says the song highlights the “hope of recovery balanced against the despair of relapse,” or put more simply in the song’s ultimate line, “It’s always the same ol’ problems.” Throughout, layers of new instruments build to emphasize Mueller’s reflective lyrics. The song closes in a self-described “upbeat cacophony of sound” driving through the final repetition of “the same ol’ problem” and arriving at the finish line feeling complete yet contemplative.

Fans can hear “Same Ol’ Problems” at this link and pre-order or pre-save Been a Long Time Comin’ ahead of its August release.

Been a Long Time Comin’ track list:
It Ain’t So Bad
Same Ol’ Problems
All The Way Down
Wastin’ Time
Took a Walk
Buck Moon
3 Eggs (Wisconsin Weather)
Reckless
Comin’ to Your Town
Good Intentions
Bad Luck

Catch Listening Party on tour:
August 3 – Milwaukee, WI – Back Room at Colectivo*
August 4 – Appleton, WI – Relay For Life Fundraiser
August 5 – Appleton, WI – Mile of Music
August 6 – Appleton, WI – Mile of Music
August 7 – Milwaukee, WI – State Fair
August 9 – Kenosha, WI – Bristol Woodstock
August. 12 – Milwaukee WI – State Fair
August 13 – Malone, WI – Ziegler Winery
August 17 – Greenleaf, WI – Ledgestone Winery^
August 18 – Green Bay, WI – Badger State Brewery
August 19 – Grafton, WI – Sahale Ale Works
August 25 – Milwaukee, WI – Anodyne Coffee Co.
August 26 – Germantown, WI – Old Germantown
August 27 – Elkhart Lake, WI – Tiki Bar at Elkhart Lake
September 2 – Mauston, WI – The Rock
September 3 – Madison, WI – Twisted Grounds
September 4- Kenosha, WI – Petrifying Springs Biergarten
September 8 – Joliet, IL – Joliet Area Historical Museum
September 9 – Menasha, WI – Heckrodt Wetland Reserve
September 14 – Milwaukee, WI – Explorium Brewpub
September 15 – Franksville, WI – Franksville Beer Garden
September 17 – Valders, WI – Camp Sinawa

*Supporting The Brevet
^Supporting Them Coulee Boys

Listening Party. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
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New album release: Morning Shift – Steep Canyon Rangers

Hominy Valley is the first single from Morning Shift, out September 8, 2023. Photo: Steep Canyon Rangers

Steep Canyon Rangers are made up of Graham Sharp on banjo and vocals, Mike Guggino on mandolin/mandola and vocals, Aaron Burdett on guitar and vocals, Nicky Sanders on fiddle and vocals, Mike Ashworth on drums, dobro, guitar, and vocals, and Barrett Smith on bass, guitar, and vocals. Over the band’s esteemed career, the three-time Grammy nominees have released 14 studio albums, three collaborative albums with actor and banjoist Steve Martin, been inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, and appeared on some of music’s biggest stages. In 2013, Nobody Knows You won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album, while 2012’s Rare Bird and 2020’s North Carolina Songbook garnered nominations in the same category. Steep Canyon Rangers unearth layers of human history with Hominy Valley, the first single from upcoming Darrell Scott-produced album, Morning Shift—out September 8. (IV-PR, 2023)

Produced by the distinguished Darrell Scott and engineered by the legendary Dave Sinko, Morning Shift found the Rangers recording their 14th studio album in Bat Cave, North Carolina, at the Inn Bat Cave, a historical refuge settled near a long-forgotten crossroads of Southern Appalachia. This was the perfect space to feel confident in expanding upon that Carolina sound, the perfect runway to let their well-oiled machine do what it does best- craft stories from the ground up, as a unit. Morning Shift also marks the band’s first album with new band member Burdett on guitar and vocals, bringing a soul-stirring element to the Rangers’ mastery of mountain music. Burdett is an award-winning singer-songwriter and a student of folk tradition providing a fresh, emotional context to the Rangers’ songbook.

Last month, Folk Alley premiered the track, writing “‘Hominy Valley’ perfectly kicks off the anticipation of another excellent new album from the Steep Canyon Rangers.” Fans can listen to Hominy Valley now and pre-order or pre-save Morning Shift ahead of its September 8 release. Steep Canyon Rangers are on tour throughout the summer with a string of dates with longtime collaborators Steve Martin & Martin Short beginning in September.

Morning Shift track list:
Hominy Valley
Deep End
Second in Line (Junior)
Old Stone House/Handlebars/Chimney Rock
Harvest Queen
Ghost of Glasgow
Above My Burdens
Birds of Ohio
Alabama Calling
Morning Shift
Fare Thee Well, Carolina Gals
Recommend Me

Catch Steep Canyon Rangers on tour:
July 13 – Grey Fox – Oak Hill, NY
July 14 – Rams Head – Annapolis, MD
July 15 – Sellersville Theatre – Sellersville, PA
July 16 – Long’s Park – Lancaster, PA
July 21 – Midtown Listening Lawn Outdoor – Grand Rapids, MI
July 22 – Murphy Theatre – Wilmington, OH
August 2 – Denver Botanic Gardens – Denver, CO ^
August 3 – Aggie Theatre – Fort Collins, CO
August 4 – Matthews Opera House – Spearfish, SD
August 5 – Centerfest – Lewistown, MT
August 12 – Podunk Bluegrass Festival – Goshen, CT
August13 – Stone Mountain Arts Center – Brownfield, ME
August18 – North Carolina Museum of Art – Raleigh, NC ^
August 19 – Shenandoah Valley Music Festival – Orkney Springs, VA
September 2 – The Blue Ridge Music Center – Galax, VA
September 8-9 – Mountain Song Festival – Brevard, NC
September 14-16 – Benedum Center for the Performing Arts – Pittsburgh, PA *
September 21 – AmericanaFest – Nashville, TN
September 22-23 – Encore Theater – Las Vegas, NV *
September 28 – Brooks Center for Performing Arts – Clemson, SC
September 29 – Greenfield Lake Amphitheatre – Wilmington, NC
October 13 – Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts – Greensboro, NC *
October 14 – Township Auditorium – Columbia, SC *
October 15 – North Charleston Performing Arts Center – Charleston, SC *
October 26 – Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre – Red Bank, NJ *
October 27 – Academy of Music – Philadelphia, PA *
October 28 – The Lyric Theatre – Baltimore, MD *
October 29 – Altria Theater – Richmond, VA *
November 3 – The Lyric Theatre – Stuart, FL
November 4 – Florida Theatre – Jacksonville, FL
November 5 – Capitol Theatre – Clearwater, FL
November 10 – Merrill Auditorium – Portland, ME *
November 11- Providence Performing Arts Center- Providence, RI *
November 12 – Turning Stone Resort Casino – Verona, NY *
November 30 – Salle Wilfrid Pelletier – Montreal, QC *
December 1-2 – Meridian Hall- Toronto, ON *

^ With Amythyst Kiah
* With Steve Martin & Martin Short

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New album release: That Grand, Old Feeling – William Matheny

William Matheny’s new album That Grand, Old Feeling will be out August 4, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

William Matheny is a West Virginia-based singer-songwriter whose brand of Americana music is firmly steeped in the Appalachian storytelling tradition. Written and recorded before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Matheny’s latest record That Grand, Old Feeling is his most expansive work yet, taking narrative inspiration from the eclectic characters who inhabit dive motels and roadside haunts and sonic cues from the work of artists like Magnolia Electric Co. and Drive-By Truckers. Highlights include the slick, brooding “Every Way to Lose,” which Matheny wrote after discovering Alabama’s Wall of Jericho trailhead, and “Down at the Hotel Canfield,” the latter inspired by a visit to a real hotel in Dubuque, IA, that infamously boasts a ghastly history. (IV-PR, 2023)

“Grand Old Feeling” is the first single from Matheny’s new album That Grand, Old Feeling—out August 4 via Hickman Holler / Thirty Tigers. That Grand, Old Feeling follows Matheny’s 2017 album Strange Constellations, which drew critical acclaim from outlets like NPR and PopMatters. Matheny recorded the LP with producer Bud Carroll at Trackside Studio in Point Pleasant, WV. Carroll joins the proceedings on guitar, with Adam L. Meisterhans (guitar), Clint Sutton (drums), Jeremy Batten (piano, organ), John R. Miller (bass, vocals), and J. Tom Hnatow (pedal steel) rounding out the band, and recent Grammy-winner Justin Francis mixed the final product. All of these fantastic players are fellow West Virginians and Matheny’s longtime friends. 

Fans can hear “Grand Old Feeling” at this link and pre-save That Grand, Old Feeling; fans can pre-order the album straight from Matheny ahead of its August 4 release right here. 

Matheny’s style is that of a keen-eyed observer whose stories exist in a beautifully between-the-lines style narrative; equal parts curious and compassionate. Lines in “Grand Old Feeling” like “My mother once said ‘son, you’re a good man,’ like she was trying to convince herself” let the listeners in on more of the story than pages of simple narrative could, granting Matheny more real estate within a four-minute song to bring to life his “grand old feeling” of what it all means. While his personal examples come from years of touring, Matheny admits that the “grand old feeling” isn’t just about his gigging musician life. “For the non-road dogs out there, I imagine you’ve been looking too, maybe in some different places than me, but I’m sure you’ve been searching all the same,” he says. “Speaking to you pilgrim to pilgrim, I hope you find it.” 

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New lyric video: Billions Of Suns – Carcariass

The song Billions Of Suns is from their new album Afterworld. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

In music news today, if you are into death metal, Carcariass recently released a new lyric video from their latest studio album.

This month, French melodic death proggers Carcariass unveiled a brand new lyric video for Billions Of Suns, the third single from their sixth studio album Afterworld, out now. Afterworld is available for purchase via Bandcamp. (Ebony Jeanette, 2023)

“Billions Of Suns evokes a gigantic Intergalactic Empire and its Inquisition, which ensures that the immutable word of the Emperor-God is respected to the very ends of the universe and exterminates all opposition!” – Carcariass

Released in March, Afterworld was recorded and mixed by “Drop” (Samael guitarist) at Downtone Studio in Switzerland. Jens Bogren (Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth, Sepultura, At The Gates) mastered the album at Fascination Street Studio in Sweden and produced by GSI Records.

For another taste of Afterworld, check out the first two album singles, No Aftermath and The Hive now.

Carcariass is:
Pascal Lanquetin (musical composition and lead guitars)
Jerome Thomas (vocals)
Bertrand Simonin (drums)
Raphaël Couturier (bass)
Bob (rhythm guitar for live shows)

Afterworld track list:
01- No Aftermath
02- Billions of Suns
03- Identity
04- Angst
05- Fall of an Empire
06- Black Rain
07- Generational Rot
08- The Hive
09- Machine Kult
10- Afterworld

“Masterpiece!” -METALLIAN

“An album of impressive musical richness and extreme beauty.”
-HARDFORCE

“The guitar solos are breathtakingly musical.” -ROCK HARD Magazine

“A highly entertaining listen with the right grooves put in place to demonstrate a keen sense of harmony. – HEAVY MUSIC HQ

New album release: From Here To Home – The South Austin Moonlighters

From Here To Home will be released June 30, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Legendary, Saxon Pub-bred quartet The South Austin Moonlighters were riding high on the success of their 2019 opus Travel Light with top billing on the alt-country charts and festival appearances throughout the U.S. and Europe when the world came crashing to a screeching halt in 2020. Fortunately for the band and their fans alike, the Moonlighters are veterans of Austin’s scrappy, DIY music scene and were never going to let a little loss of momentum stop them. With the help of a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign, The South Austin Moonlighters—Lonnie Trevino Jr., Chris Beall, Daniel James, and Hunter St. Marie—took to the studio with producer Steve Berlin and got right back in the saddle, cutting ten tunes that would eventually become their brand new album, From Here To Home. (IV-PR, 2023)

At its core, From Here To Home is an album of rebirth and acknowledgement. It is a recognition of where The South Austin Moonlighters have been, and a peek at all of the exciting places they are going and want to head towards in the future. “From Here To Home is a journey back to rediscovering why we started doing this in the first place,” Trevino Jr. says, before his co-conspirator helps him complete the thought in a way only the closest of collaborators can: “Because that’s the only thing we want to do–make joyous music.”

The South Austin Moonlighters recently released their first single from From Here To Home, the bouncing, half-time groove of “Make A Livin’”; a deceptively deep, upbeat song about what it really means to make ends meet for a family. “What should we be providing?’’ asks Beall, who wrote the song with his good friend Rodney Black. He expands, “Surely ‘ourselves’ would be the most important thing, and yet there are multiple generations of parents working so much they rarely see their kids. Lots of folks have to work like that, unfortunately. But could there be a ‘line’ that gets crossed when too much is just ‘too much?’ The TV bill, the new car, the nicer house….maybe we should let go of a few of those things and not have to be shackled to the workplace to pay for them.” Packaged within textures of gritty guitars and vintage bass thump, “Make A Livin’” is one of those rare songs that makes listeners dance and think, and that quality is the Moonlighters’ party piece that runs from beginning to end of From Here To Home.

Fans can listen to “Make A Livin’” today at this link and pre-order or pre-save From Here To Home ahead of its June 30 release. The South Austin Moonlighters are back on the road; tour dates can be found below or online. 

From Here To Home track list:
Nashville
Make A Livin’
Long Time Coming
Box Of Memories
Faded Into Gray
Hearts In Parallel
From Here to Home
Then Away Farewell
It’s Only Money (That Makes The World Go ‘Round)
Delta Man

Catch The South Austin Moonlighters On Tour:
June 16 – Austin, TX – Waterloo Records In-Store Record Release
June 23 – Conroe, TX – Red Brick Tavern
June 24 – Austin TX – 3Ten – Album Release Show
July 1 – Houston, TX – McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
August 3 – Estes Park, CO – Listening at the Legion
August 4 – Telluride, CO – Mountain Village Summer Concert Series
August 5 – Silverton, CO – Columbine Roadhouse Gatorfest
August 11th – Dallas, TX – Morton Meyerson Symphony Center (Los Lobos support)

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New album release: Little Songs by Colter Wall

Colter Wall’s new album Little Songs will be out July 14, 2023. Photo: Google

Colter Wall and his music are from the prairies of southern Saskatchewan, where he lives and works. He is a La Honda Records/RCA Records recording artist and has appeared abroad, including Austin City Limits and most recently at the Ponoka Stampede. “Evangelina” is the first release from Wall’s upcoming album, Little Songs which is due out on July 14 via Wall’s longtime label La Honda Records and new partner RCA Records. On Little Songs, Wall’s fans will find the same hardscrabble voice they have loved over the years connecting the contemporary world to the values, hardships, and celebrations of rural life. The ten-song LP features eight originals inspired by—and written in—Wall’s home of Battle Creek, Saskatchewan, along with a Hoyt Axton cut and a cover of Ian Tyson’s “The Coyote & The Cowboy.” (IV-PR, 2023)

“Evangelina,” originally written and recorded by Hoyt Axton, paints a thirsty picture of longing and half-laid plans to chase down a lost love; all backed up by a band steeped in the traditional sounds of Wall’s prairie homelands. Fans can hear “Evangelina” at this link and pre-order or pre-save Little Songs ahead of its July 14 release right here. Wall is also gearing up for two rare live appearances at Denver’s Dusty Boots festival on July 1 and Montana’s Under The Big Sky on July 14. More information and tickets are available online. 

With his longtime touring band, Wall returned to Yellowdog Studios in Wimberly, Texas, where he cut his 2020, Billboard-charting album, Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs, to track the ten tunes that make up Little Songs. With co-producer Patrick Lyons, Wall tracked eight original songs and two fan-favorite covers from Ian Tyson and Hoyt Axton. Little Songs is an upbeat, sometimes somber glimpse into the rural work and social life of the Canadian West, and, more so than with previous albums, opens emotional turns as mature and heartening as the resonant baritone voice writing them.

This release of new music follows the recent partnership between Wall’s longtime label La Honda Records and RCA Records, with Little Songs as the first album on the joint venture. Prior to the new album, Wall released two standalone singles—“Cypress Hills and the Big Country” and a cover of Cowboy Jack Clement’s “Let’s All Help the Cowboys (Sing the Blues)”—as well as the 2020 LP Western Swings & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs and Colter Wall and the Scary Prairie Boys’ Live In Front Of Nobody, a 2021 livestream, full-band show turned indie record store, vinyl-only release–a coveted and limited release. 

Little Songs track list:
Prairie Evening/Sagebrush Waltz
Standing Here
Corralling The Blues
The Coyote & The Cowboy
Honky Tonk Nighthawk
For a Long While
Cow/Calf Blue Yodel
Little Songs
Evangelina
The Last Loving Words

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New single: Dead and Gone – Chris Shiflett

Chris Shiflett turns out another LA-meets-Nashville country rocker in Dead and Gone. Photo: Google

Punk veteran. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Americana and rock songwriter. Modern-day guitar hero. For more than 25 years, Chris Shiflett has blurred the lines between genre and generation, balancing his full-band projects with a thriving solo career. Named “Americana’s biggest rockstar” by Rolling Stone, Shiflett has played a crucial role in shaping the sound and scope of modern-day rock music as a longtime member of the Foo Fighters. He is also an alum of California-based punk rock bands No Use For a Name and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Shiflett’s latest releases refocus his attention on a mix of country twang and rock & roll bang, showcasing the full range of his musical abilities. Dead And Gone is his latest single. (IV-PR, 2023)

“It’s kind of classic country chords,” says Chris Shiflett about his brand new tune Dead And Gone. He is not wrong, but it is so much more than that. The two-step-ish feel is there, as are the sweet dobro playing of Charlie Worsham and the swampy tremolo guitar tones of Tom Bukovac, but a wildly fuzzy electric guitar fills the space between Shiflett’s slightly overdriven and doubled vocal lines. He stomps on another pedal for his solo that splits his guitar into three whole octaves of in-your-face chicken pickin’ licks. That is country, for sure, but it is also very rock and roll. The first song he tracked with Jaren Johnston producing, Dead And Gone touches on some old friends of Shiflett’s who, as the first verse goes, “Passed away, just another Saturday night mystery.” “My hometown was an odd mix of luxury paradise and working-class grit and continues to be a bottomless pit of lyrical inspiration,” says Shiflett. “Sad to say there’s been more than a few friends who’ve left us too soon, so there are lots of stories there…kind of a lost generation.” Fans can hear Dead And Gone right now.

Written spring 2020, recorded spring 2021, and played live ever since, Dead And Gone is the second look into a brand new Chris Shiflett album due out in 2023 via his new label home at Blue Élan Records, the Los Angeles-based independent label celebrating its 9th anniversary this year. Fans will hear more about the Jaren Johnston-produced LP in the coming months but can count on hearing an album that represents Shiflett’s fully realized vision of connecting L.A. to Nashville. “A big part of my inspiration to work with Jaren on this record was because I knew he’d push me out of my comfort zone into new territory,” Shiflett says. Fans can also check out the first track from the upcoming album, Black Top White Lines.

In addition to the release of Dead And Gone, Shiflett was just announced as part of the Americanafest 2023 lineup. The long-running event takes place in Nashville on September 19-23.