All Out by Kallahronh. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Killahronh is an 80s baby familiar with the Golden Era of Hip Hop, yet on the cusp of Millennialism. He started as a drummer in a few indie rock, and Hip Hop bands, to Podcasting, and ultimately becoming the CEO for the Drodian™️ brand; trademarking and defining its motto as: POSITIVITY, ENLIGHTENMENT, TALENT, ACTION & QUALITY. His style of song creation has been defined as multi-faceted, thought provoking, and smooth. He represents the collective known as the DRODIANS. A group of unique individuals who use their talents and their brands to help make the DRODIAN™️ brand a household name. (Killahronh, 2022)
All Out by Killahronh is streaming exclusively on Tidal and on iTunes.
All Out track list: All out Intro Urgency (feat. URG7) All out Bleach Survivor Somethin’ ain’t Right (feat. Pause) All out M&M Cookie Predator Hit the Ac All out Airport Predator Perspective (feat. Dios Negasi) All out Before Man Walked Honda Civic (feat. Kinewa) All out Crazy Trauma Flashback Buy the Ticket Take the Ride All Outro
Killahronh’s All Around The World is available for streaming. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Killahronh is an 80s baby familiar with the Golden Era of Hip Hop, yet on the cusp of Millennialism. He started as a drummer in a few indie rock, and Hip Hop bands, to Podcasting, and ultimately becoming the CEO for the Drodian™️ brand; trademarking and defining its motto as: POSITIVITY, ENLIGHTENMENT, TALENT, ACTION & QUALITY. His style of song creation has been defined as multi-faceted, thought provoking, and smooth. He represents the collective known as the DRODIANS. A group of unique individuals who use their talents and their brands to help make the DRODIAN™️ brand a household name.
All Around the World by Killahronh is a body of work with catchy songs. It is available on Tidal, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, iTunes, and more.
All Around the World track list: Around the World Better Than Me Never Enough (feat. Mayaya) Legendary Moves (feat. Coulter) Drodian Universe President 1 The Glow Up Earthquakes Like Tyler and Drake (feat. Jiz Jones) Blacklisted (feat. Dios Negasi) Golden Ticket Drodian Universe President 2 Oblivious (feat. Jiz Jones) Scared of Success (feat. Tony Tig) Playing My Song (feat. Emily Coy)
Boomerang Town will be released February 17, 2023. ‘Missing Someone’ is the first single. Photo: Google
Songwriter and musician Jaimee Harris started writing “Missing Someone” as a silly little love song to her long-distance partner. “Instead of sending each other postcards or letters, we wrote each other love songs and sent voice memos to each other,” she recalls. The deeper she got into the writing process, the more the song morphed with her life experiences and her strengthening relationship with her partner, venerable folk songwriter Mary Gauthier. “Missing Someone” is the first single from Harris’ upcoming sophomore effort, Boomerang Town—out February 17 via Thirty Tigers. Boomerang Town marks a bold step forward for this country-folk-leaning singer-songwriter. It is an arresting, ambitious song-cycle that explores the generational arc of family, the stranglehold of addiction, and the fragile ties that bind us together as Americans. (Jaimee Harris, 2022)
Folk Alley premiered “Missing Someone,” writing, “Jaimee Harris has been making waves with her emotive, stirringly honest songwriting that walks the often thin line between folk and country. Whatever you want to call it, it rides on the smooth instrument of Harris’ vocals and her courageous storytelling lyricism.” The song’s accompanying video is part of a series of music videos for the entire Boomerang Town album—all made by fellow musicians. Neilson Hubbard and Joshua Britt directed the “Missing Someone” video. It features a lively cast of characters including the aforementioned Gauthier as an aerobic instructor and Harris sporting red, heart-shaped shades that fit the mood just right.
Fans can have their first taste of Boomerang Town by streaming or purchasing “Missing Someone” at this link, watch the music video here, and pre-order or pre-saveBoomerang Town ahead of its February 17 release right here.
It was from the intersection of social, personal, and political currents that the new album was born. While much of the material on Boomerang Town was inspired by personal experience, the songs on this collection are far from autobiographical xeroxed copies. More than anything, they come from a place of emotional truth.
Catch Jaimee Harris on tour: January 5 – Winter Haven, FL – Gram Parsons Derry Down* January 6 – Sarasota, FL – Fogartyville Community Media Arts Center* January 7 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Broward Center for the Performing Arts* January 8 – Gainesville, FL – Heartwood Soundstage* January 10 – St. Augustine, FL – Cafe Eleven* January 11 – Tallahassee, FL – Purple House Concerts* January 13-15 – Seaside, FL – 30A Songwriters Festival January 18 – Mobile, AL – The People’s Room January 20 – LaGrange, GA – Pure Life House of Music January 26 – Little Rock, AR – White Water Tavern^ January 27 – Tulsa, OK – Mercury Lounge January2 8 – McAlester, OK – Spaceship Earth Coffee February 1-3 – Kansas City, MO – Folk Alliance International February 19 – Santa Monica, CA – McCabe’s February 23 – San Francisco, CA – KC Turner’s House Concert
* Supporting Mary Gauthier ^ With Bonnie Montgomery
Rising Appalachia taps into the spirit of their former hometown of New Orleans with new release out now. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
As world travelers for nearly two decades, Rising Appalachia has merged multiple global music influences with their own southern roots to create their inviting latest album, Leylines. Remarkably, the band built its legion of listeners independently—a self-made success story that has led to major festival appearances and sold-out shows at venues across the country. Leah and Chloe Smith are sisters who grew up in urban Atlanta, yet spent most weekends traveling to Appalachian fiddle camps with their parents. Their brand new release, Live From New Orleans at Preservation Hall, is available for download or streaming now. Fans take note: 10% of all streaming profits from this record will be donated to the Preservation Hall Foundation which exists to create greater awareness and appreciation for traditional New Orleans Jazz and the communities that support it. (Rising Appalachia, 2022)
Arriving in the Big Easy in 2007 to a city still reeling from Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, Leah and Chloe were not only struck by the music; the resolve of New Orleanians shone brightly on the pair. “We lived there for seven years, soaking in the jazz and brass, the spirit of its people,” remembers Chloe. “Naturally, those sounds seeped into our music, as well as into our identity as Southerners.”
During the development of Rising Appalachia as we know it today, Leah and Chloe cut their teeth busking in New Orleans’ French Quarter, just a few short blocks from the iconic Preservation Hall, a 19th-century Creole townhouse later transformed into a non-profit performance art space in 1961. Preservation Hall brought musical traditions under the same roof before they were legally allowed to perform together. Hosting intimate acoustic concerts 350 nights per year for over half a century, Preservation Hall is a quintessential pilgrimage in the birthplace of Black American music.
So in January 2021, with the pandemic in full swing and neither Rising Appalachia nor Preservation Hall staging events with live audiences, the band was invited to collaborate with the distinguished institution and produce a live-stream concert to bring Rising Appalachia’s signature sound and the spirit of New Orleans into people’s homes around the globe. The electric performance, brimming with full band dynamics and exploring the deeper annals of Rising Appalachia’s NOLA-centric songbook with the help of Aurora Nealand (clarinet, accordion) and Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Branden Lewis (trumpet), was captured for all to enjoy in the form of Live From New Orleans at Preservation Hall.
Fans can download or stream Live From New Orleansat Preservation Hall today at this link, and be sure to stay tuned for more exclusive videos from Rising Appalachia’s 2021 performance.
A full list of tour dates can be found online. Throughout the past year, Rising Appalachia has also been dropping standalone singles for their rabid fanbase. Check out “Thank You Very Much” (which PopMatters dubbed “a meditation on the road traveled thus far”) and a haunting cover of James Blake’s “I Need A Forest Fire.”
Live From New Orleans at Preservation Hall track list: Just a Closer Walk With Thee – Live Indigo Dance – Live Stand Like An Oak – Live Catalyst – Live Shed Your Grace – Live Long Haul – Live Find Your Way -Live Silver – Live River Mouth – Live Downtown – Live St. James Infirmary – Live Resilient – Live
Closing Doors is the eighteen year old songwriter’s new single. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
This has been a groundbreaking year for Stella Prince. Her first single that went to radio, Crying on a Saturday Night, charted on the Americana Singles Chart, was played on over one hundred radio stations internationally, and was the most added song on folk radio in March of 2022. Her debut music video for the song has received over 70,000 views on YouTube alone, and has received support from legendary outlets such as CMT, DittyTV, Heartland, The Country Network, and Discover Music Videos. She has been featured over fifty times in various articles by outlets such as Americana Highways, Country Music Views, Teen Look, Think Country, NY State Music, Cowgirl Magazine, and Music City Magazine, among others. Her debut EP was released on July 22 and charted on both the Alternative Country Charts, Americana Albums Chart, and the Official FAI Folk Charts. (Stella Prince, 2022)
“Facing rejection can be a constant huge hurdle,” says wise-beyond-her-eighteen-years songwriter Stella Prince. Her newest single, “Closing Doors” examines rejection and challenging times “like a door closing in your face.” Produced by Professor Louie at Woodstock Records in Hurley, New York, Closing Doors follows Prince’s recent output of country-inspired folk-pop music, her comforting voice a reassurance for listeners, no matter what door is closing at any given moment.
“In these difficult and challenging times, it is hard to maintain a sense of hope and possibility,” says Prince. “I decided to write this song, ‘Closing Doors,’ because so many of us are struggling with loss or hardship. Like the lyrics in the song, ‘hope is the only thing that keeps me going/when all the fear of life’s commotions spins around and brings me down.’” Prince’s airy and enchanting vocal delivery reaffirms a true sense of authenticity and soul ever-present in her releases thus far; a characteristic that will surely have her beyond up-and-coming status in no time.
Girls’ Life Magazine premiered Closing Doors, calling her “the artist you *need* to stream this season.” Fans can listen to “Closing Doors” here.
Touring has been another breakthrough for Stella in 2022. She just finished her first international run in the UK, and will soon be embarking on an 18-city tour of the Southwest. She has already performed at some of the world’s most prestigious venues, such as London’s The Bedford and Spice of Life, New York’s The Bitter End and Arlene’s Grocery, and Nashville’s famed Bluebird Cafe. A full list of tour dates and ticket information is available online.
Easy To Love You is the third single from their new album The Consequence of Being Alive. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Gable Price and Friendsis a 4-piece alternative rock and roll band with a whole lot of damage to do and a whole lot of cities to play. Currently residing in Northern California; 3 Midwest boys and a Californian—Gable Price, Cameron Pablo, Daniel Vargas, and Adam Elizararraz—continue to gain ground, turn heads and provide a euphoric live and recorded experience. From recording their demos in a garage to recently signing with Capitol CMG, the boys have no intention of slowing down anytime soon. Easy To Love You is the introspective new single from their new album The Consequence of Being Alive, which is out now via Capitol CMG. (Gable Price and Friends, 2022)
On this the third and final single, front man Gable Price confesses, “It’s easy to love until you have to tie love in with trust. The two don’t always coexist well,” he continues, “Nearing the end of the album this song is meant to provide a tension, and also guide you to accept the tension for something that will always be there.” As the song builds, Price’s words pierce through the chorus, a visceral plea of sorts, as he lays it all on the table.
Gable Price and Friends are known for sentimental, provocative lyrics regarding the human condition, screaming guitars and bass, with driving drums that make you wanna get a speeding ticket. This group of 20-somethings is eager for the public to hear their new record and excited to share the songs with a group of sweaty people in a venue somewhere, sometime. Keep your head straight, hopes up, heart right; and remember to be a good friend.
With the release of The Consequence Of Being Alive, the band is redefining who Gable Price and Friends is. With a more indie-rock sound and songs that are less spiritual and more personal to Price’s life, The Consequence Of Being Alive is a lesson in forging a new path. It does not hurt that there are some killer album credits, too. Gable’s friend and mentor Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) is a featured artist on track #8 “How It Sets You Free,” which they co-wrote together with Tim Foreman. Other noteworthy writing credits include Judah Akers (Judah & the Lion) on “I Don’t Wanna Live Like This” and Caleb Chapman (Colony House) on “Tough Love.”
The Consequence Of Being Alive track list: Upside Brother Jack Tough Love I LOVE TO STRUGGLE Treason I Don’t Wanna Live Like This Jesus Christ (Hold Me Steady) How It Sets You Free (with Jon Foreman) Lucky #17 Easy To Love You The Consequence Of Being Alive
Isaac Hoskins’ upcoming album Bender is an ode to unhealthy coping strategies and life on the other side. It will be out November 18, 2022. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
After the global pandemic came to a head in 2020 and the live music world evaporated, things spun to a dark head for singer and songwriter Isaac Hoskins. The writing was on the wall: something had to change. After three days alone in the desert, Hoskins came home and started over. Today, Hoskins is 12 months sober, 30 pounds lighter, and performing full-time after side-hustle stints as a bartender, construction worker, beer truck driver, and ranch hand had previously left him unfulfilled. Every page of Hoskins’ story is laid out throughout his upcoming LP, Bender—out November 18, 2022. (Isaac Hoskins, 2022)
Recorded at The Finishing School in Austin, Texas, and produced and engineered by Gordy Quist of The Band of Heathens, Bender conjures Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, and John Prine in an ode to unhealthy coping strategies and life on the other side. And on the other side, Hoskins has already found hope-giving success, namely his upcoming inclusion in the mega-hit television series Yellowstone. From meeting the show’s creator Taylor Sheridan after a show in Ft. Worth, Texas, to having multiple songs featured in Yellowstone’s upcoming season, the larger world is about to discover Hoskins and his story, as well.
Hoskins shared the first single from Bender, “Panhandle Wind.” All at once Country-tinged and Rock-driven, the baritone and steel guitar-led tune embodies Hoskins’ uncanny ability to match up a good story with a catchy refrain, leading to a windows-down, Sunday cruise sing-along. “The idea for this song came to me while driving to Lubbock to play a show,” remembers Hoskins. “That was just one of many very windy, dusty drives to and from the Panhandle of Texas and Northwest Oklahoma.” Outsider premiered “Panhandle Wind” along with an in-depth interview with Hoskins, noting, “his sound straddles the fence between folky heartland Americana and Texas country.”
Of his music, Hoskins has said that every song comes from his roots. The people, places, and events that unfold around him provide the resonance, and Hoskins himself draws those memories into stories about love, loss, and everything in between. The music is how Hoskins participates in the culture that has shaped him. Country music is known for its traditions and conventions, but Hoskins feels there is a way to honor these without reducing the audience to a caricature of itself. For Hoskins, the work is keeping one foot squarely in country and “roots” music while still exploring new ways to express yourself as an artist.
Bender track list: H-Town Turnaround Back to the Saltmine Panhandle Wind My Memory Harder than the Blues The Pistol and the Prayer Moments I Would Never Trade If It’s Meant To Be Off the Wagon Leon’s Blues
Break The Matrix – Episode Two is the second EP of a planned three in the Break The Matrix concept series. Photo: Moon and Aries, used with permission.
German composer and producer Tom Aries and Canadian writer / singer Jordana Moon team up as Moon and Aries to bring warmth and assurance for a brighter future. The dynamic duo is back with a new EP: Episode Two of Breaking the Matrix. At first they arrived. Then they activated Paradise. Now they “BREAK THE MATRIX.” Moon and Aries is back with a big and bold statement. They will overcome the old World and build the new World with a fusion of nostalgic and futuristic celestial sounds, like nothing you have heard before. The self proclaimed, Synth Pop Opera Duo have a deep driving desire to raise the vibrations and activate a higher version of reality with their music. Break The Matrix – Episode Two is out now. (Moon and Aries, 2022)
With Tom Aries’ memorable, seductive melodies and captivating instrumentals, blending with Jordana Moon’s thought provoking and poetic lyrics and emotionally intimate vocals, they are back with a new Trilogy of music. A three-part music series, broken up into different episodes, Moon and Aries hope to hook you into their sensual, uplifting and spiritually charged Universe of sound. Episode 1 was released September 8 and Episode 3 will come out in the first quarter of 2023. All these 3 x 3 songs are part of a concept/connected story.
BREAK THE MATRIX (Episode 1-3):
3 x 3 songs with a fusion of Electro Pop, Trip Hop, cinematic Synth Pop – the dynamic duo has brought a slightly new vibe to their classic Synth Pop Opera sound. Expect music that is a little more confidential and closer to their chest. As they release, you will release and relax as you receive the upgrades. Riding off the success of The Arrival album and Paradise EP, Moon and Aries keep striving to bring the most relevant music and stay at the forefront of the movement. So, it is. Moon and Aries proudly present: Break The Matrix – Episode Two with three new songs.
Jordana Moon is a singer songwriter from Western Canada who composes and creates lyrics and melody with the goal to inspire and empower her listeners. Her approach to music is to mix a higher level of consciousness and concepts and bring these more philosophical ideas to modern music. Jordana composes her music with a wide variety of instruments, playing the piano, acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and violin. Jordana studied creative writing at Vancouver film school, and she enjoys writing music with themes of high consciousness, sexual healing, and empowerment. Jordana finds inspiration from old jazz, 70s and 80s soul / pop / RnB music, trip hop and current neo soul and artists like Portishead, Shivaree, Eliza, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Lauryn Hill, Massive Attack and composers like Cole Porter and Steven Sondheim.
Tom Aries is an electronic synthesizer musician, songwriter, and producer from Western Germany. He is a composer of mostly instrumental tracks, analog and digital synthesizer sequences. Tom’s music fuses his classical piano education with influences stemming from synthesizer sounds of the 80s. He produced songs and sounds for computer games and soundtracks for short videos and films. Influenced by bands and artists like Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Massive Attack, Portishead, Röyksopp – and the sound of the 80s, he created more and more songs, instrumental ideas, and music. The combination of pictures, films and art with music has been Tom’s first creative base. Tom composes his songs mainly on the piano. After this first acoustic piano melody version he is producing the songs within his little home studio.
Jordana and Tom started the cooperation officially as Moon and Aries on March 1, 2021 – only working together via file sharing and communication across the ocean. (With 9hrs time distance between Canada & Germany = Jordana still living in Canada and Tom still living in Germany). Since then, they have released 14 songs to date: one concept album The Arrival with 9 original songs and one EP Paradise with 5 songs. Played on more than 100 radio stations in Australia, Europe, Africa and America, including New York City Radio station in 2021 and 2022.
The Ballad of Aesop Fin is longtime Carolina songwriter Barrett Davis’ solo debut album. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
“I just came to this serious point in my life where I realized that if I want to make music and perform, then it’s now or never—I’ve got to make something of it,” remembers 29-year-old musician Barrett Davis of the time leading up to his debut album The Ballad of Aesop Fin. Luckily, for us listeners, Davis’ dedication to his dream paid off in spades. Released last week, The Ballad of Aesop Fin delivers a vibrant tapestry of songs, ranging from modern Americana to classic country, indie-folk to the “high, lonesome sound” of bluegrass—the last of which comes with a little help from Woody Platt, longtime lead singer for Davis’ hometown, Grammy-winning bluegrass outfit, Steep Canyon Rangers. The record itself is a kitchen sink of tones—as heard on “Quiver,” “Lazarus,” and “Carolina Still”—one which ideally showcases the wide-range and unknown depths of Davis, his musical pursuits, and exploits. (Barrett Davis, 2022)
The Ballad of Aesop Fin In The News: Fretboard Journal premiered Aesop Fin’s first single, “Quiver,” writing, “We love this track from Davis and we especially love seeing Woody Platt, formerly of Steep Canyon Rangers, helping out on backing vocals.” JamBase premiered the album’s penultimate track, “Lazarus,” a song about “friendship and renewal.” The Bluegrass Situation premiered the video for “Carolina Still,” an ode to Davis’ ancestry, his family’s deep roots in North Carolina, and his great-grandfather Gus.
John Apice reviewed the album for Americana Highways, commenting, “North Carolina’s Barrett Davis has style, ear-caressing sincerity in his music & an arresting voice in many of these well-crafted songs.”
The Ballad of Aesop Fin track list:
Highway 64
Carolina Still
Quiver
Oh Sleeper
Bama Shores
Your Worth
Lazarus
Aesop Fin
“Aesop Fin is a mythical character, raised in the woods. His dad is a moonshine runner, his mother nowhere to be found,” Davis says. “Aesop finds a lover and ends up getting killed in a gambling incident, then she ends up tumbling into a waterfall—it’s symbolic of the vicious cycle of tragedies in these mountains of Appalachia.”
Growing up in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, a rural outpost community in the mountainous ridges of Transylvania County, Davis was surrounded by music from an early age—exposed to the blues licks of his guitar-playing father, the swirling classical sounds of his mother’s piano playing or the inner echoes of his sister, now a professional opera singer. Davis himself went on hiatus for several years, getting married and raising a young family, all while starting his own construction business to put food on the table for his wife and two kids.
Petra-Fi is the new album by Stephen Akina. Photo: Google
Stephen Akina is a music composer and arranger who enjoys collaborating and producing original music. Following the premiere of his work “Seven,” commissioned by the Pasadena Pops Orchestra in 2006, Stephen began writing for films, television, and video games. His compositions and arrangements have been performed worldwide. Along with his future wife Kimberly, they founded Special Blend Music, a music service provider for the Film & Television industry. Over the years he has scored original music for over two dozen films, composed production music for over 100 + television shows worldwide and supplied soundtracks to highly acclaimed video games. Several of these scores have been converted into music that can be enjoyed on its own and available on all music streaming services. (Stephen Akina, 2022)
His new album Petra-Fi features new and popular remasters of downtempo/chill piano inspired by the ancient petroglyph locations throughout Hawai’i.
Petra-Fi 12 songs, 43 minutes
Track list:
Glass Pagoda (04:11)
For Sure (02:45)
Wavedancer (Remaster) (04:56)
Electro Peace (Remaster) (06:17)
Moon Over Kahala (02:23)
Beatitude (03:00)
Greek Holiday (03:04)
Simple Life (02:20)
Makani (04:01)
Mirage (03:50)
Nightfall (03:07)
Makani Solo (Piano) (4:01)
Petra-Fi is is available on all streaming/digital stores.
