Tag: Bluegrass

Upcoming new album release: All is Song – Misner & Smith

Misner & Smith’s new album, All is Song, will be released April 12. Photo: Misner & Smith

Misner & Smith treasure the unpredictability of their band. Technically precise songwriting mirrored with an improvisatory spirit and soaring harmonies have made the band—consisting of Sam Misner and Megan Smith—one of the most acclaimed acts in the Americana world. Blending elements of that genre with bluegrass, traditional folk ballads, and more pop-leaning ideas, Misner & Smith make music gloriously nonconforming. The duo first met at a Shakespeare festival as professional actors in California in 2002 but began working as a musical duo two years later when Sam and Megan discovered a mutual love of roots music, Woody Guthrie, and in particular, harmony singing. Leading up to the release of their sixth LP All is Song, the duo has released five critically acclaimed records. On their new one, All is Song, they build upon that momentum and turn in their finest work to date, an album of inspired declarations to the power of music, song, and, most importantly, collaboration. (Misner & Smith, 2024)

“One thing that’s for sure / Though we never found a cure / We can ride out heartbreak like the weather,” sings Sam Misner on the group’s first single “Anthem.” Along with his longtime musical partner Megan Smith, Misner set about writing the tune that would eventually become the first single from Misner & Smith’s upcoming LP All is Song by dissecting the idea of anthemic music itself. All is Song is set for release on April 12 and can be pre-ordered or pre-saved right here.

The music—every single choice on the album, really—revolves around a single question: “What is this song about?” Every sound on All is Song is in service of the songs. The harmonies are often subtle but always pitch-perfect, a key to the album that took some time to harness. “Harmony is almost like a sculpting tool. I use it as a tool to draw out the stories and the songs and draw out the characters that we’re talking about,” explains Smith. “It’s a huge part of what we do.” Misner adds, “Serving the song became the credo, so we never included a certain line, part, or harmony for its own sake. It was always, ‘How can we best serve the song? That was our lighthouse.”

Catch Misner & Smith on tour:
May 2 – Freight & Salvage – Berkeley, CA
June 8 – McCloud River Mountain Music – McCloud, CA

Courtesy photo, used with permission.

All is Song track list:
Compose (2024)
Deep as the Water
Threadbare
Sadie’s Song
Interlude 1
Kerosene
Rising Of The Moon
Interlude 2
Tears and Ink
Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
Silence Of The Sun
One Day (2024)
Anthem
Interlude 3
Little Light

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Upcoming new album release: Innocent Allies – Cary Morin

Cary Morin’s upcoming album Innocent Allies takes inspiration from famed western painter Charles M. Russell. It will be out January 26, 2024. Photo: Google

Internationally acclaimed as a mesmerizing live performer, Cary Morin’s soul-stirring voice and jaw-dropping fingerstyle guitar playing have captivated audiences for decades. Morin’s career catalog fuses the best of American roots music: blues, folk, soul, bluegrass, and the timeless and distinctive sounds of the rural countryside, from the Western Plains and Rocky Mountains to the rhythmic melting pot of the deep South. His music has reached millions through prestigious performances at venues like the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center as well as national television and radio programs. He has shared stages with Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, and Bonnie Raitt, among countless others, while earning multiple awards including two Indigenous Music Awards for Best Blues CD. When not performing across the US and Europe, Morin finds inspiration in Northern Colorado, which he proudly calls home. (IV-PR, 2023)

With Innocent Allies—due for release on January 26, 2024—Morin observes details in Charles M. Russell’s painting from his perspective as a Native Crow and sets them to song. “Situations depicted in his paintings that might not be obvious to some are subtle cultural or ritualistic details,” says Morin, pointing out Russell’s Indian Hunters Return, in which an elder is being served their meal first; a customary gesture in Crow culture. “As an Indigenous artist, I bring a perspective to this aspect of Charlie’s work by way of this body of songs.” Morin is also quick to note that Charles M. Russell was a friend to the Plains Tribes, concerned with the destruction of Native culture and portraying Native Americans in his paintings with a dignity that was largely absent from other artists’ portrayals of the time. “This record is a masterpiece worthy of its place among the great works of art it was created to honor,” says Trina Shoemaker, the Grammy-winning producer who mixed and mastered the album at her Alabama studio.

Morin shared the first single from Innocent Allies: the impetus for the album itself, “Big Sky Sun Goes Down.” Fans can watch the music video for “Big Sky Sun Goes Down”—produced by Randy Perkins & Film Locale—and stream or purchase the single.

Innocent Allies track list:
Big Sky Sun Goes Down
Waiting and Mad
Waiting for a Chinook
Old Timer’s Poem
Good Medicine
Killing the Blues
Indian Hunters Return
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Big Nose George’s Outlaw Blues
Fire Boat
Bullhead Lodge
Wally and Keeoma
Where the Trails Cross the Big Divide
Montana Sky

Photo: Google
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Upcoming album release: Fear of Falling Stars – Kristen Grainger & True North

Kristen Grainger & True North launch new album Fear of Falling Stars – due out November 10, 2023. Photo: Kristen Grainger & True North

In a world thirsting for authenticity and genuine connection, Kristen Grainger & True North offers a wellspring of soul-stirring songs. Led by the enchanting vocals of Kristen Grainger and drawing on elements of bluegrass, country, and Americana, the Pacific Northwest string band writes songs that connect us, illuminating universal truths with haunting beauty. The band is made up of three champion instrumentalists, Dan Wetzel, Martin Stevens, and Josh Adkins, and is fronted by lead vocalist Kristen Grainger, a storied songwriter who has taken top honors at some of the nation’s most prestigious songwriting competitions, including Telluride Bluegrass Festival, MerleFest, and the USA Songwriting Contest. Kristen Grainger & True North launch their new album with the first single Across the Mountains. The new album, Fear of Falling Stars, will be out November 10, 2023. (IV-PR, 2023)

In the first four measures of Kristen Grainger & True North’s new tune Across the Mountains, listeners experience the full range of what sets the award-winning Americana quartet apart; tried and true musicianship and songcraft steeped in both the old and new. With equal focus on compelling songwriting and excellent instrumental execution, this new album offers ten songs that nestle in the ear on the way to the heart. From heart-wrenching ballads to foot-stomping anthems, Fear of Falling Stars reveals a series of musical zoom shots through the windows of modern life.

Fans can stream or purchase Across the Mountains, watch the lyric video, premiered by The Bluegrass Situation, and stay up to date on Fear of Falling Stars ahead of its November release.

Fear of Falling Stars track list:
Don’t Take Me Back
Go-Nowhere Town
Extraordinary Grace
Memories and Moments
Across the Mountains
It’s the Little Things
The Avalanche
Pent-Up
What Might Have Been
Stop Me If I Told You This Before

Catch Kristen Grainger on tour:
November 4 – Seattle, WA – Concerts At Our House Series
November 10 – Portland, OR – PNC Live Studio Concert
November 18 – Portland, OR – Alberta Rose Theatre
November 29 – Sisters, OR – The Belfry

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New bluegrass album: The Long And Lonesome Letting Go

Jim Lauderdale taps the ever talented Po’ Ramblin’ Boys for a new bluegrass album. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

On September 15, Jim Lauderdale and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys released The Long And Lonesome Letting Go, a twelve-song LP of all-new Lauderdale co-writes—half of which was written with Po’ Ramblin’ Boys guitarist Josh Rinkel. Other co-writers include 10-time IBMA Award winner Becky Buller, North Carolina old soul Joe Newberry, well-traveled producer/songwriter Jimmy Ritchey, and rising young guns Logan Ledger and Alex Leach. Whether as co-writer, bandleader, master of ceremonies, or musical ambassador for musical styles or states, Lauderdale has been one of Americana music’s all-time great collaborators and The Long and Lonesome Letting Go stands as one of the best collaborative works in his 36-album discography. (IV-PR, 2023)

“When he came to ask about making an album, we were seriously blown away,” says C.J. Lewandowski, mandolinist of Grammy-nominated bluegrass outfit The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. “It was really validating—Jim Lauderdale calling us to do a bluegrass album,” says Lewandowski. “We must be doing something right,” says one of the genre’s most promising young torchbearers who saw Lauderdale perform many times throughout his upbringing in Missouri.

Lauderdale and The Po Ramblin’ Boys shared the album’s lead-off track, “Long And Lonesome Letting Go,” another co-write, this time with prolific writer and seasoned multi-instrumentalist, Bob Minner. Joining the already-stacked lineup is one more unmistakable voice; that high tenor of Bluegrass Hall of Famer Del McCoury. Fans can hear the up tempo heartache of “Long And Lonesome Letting Go” here or at No Depression where “Long And Lonesome Letting Go” is in their Bonus Tracks column.

Jim Lauderdale and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys will both be headed to this year’s IBMA World Of Bluegrass conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, performing The Long And Lonesome Letting Go tunes together as well as separate sets of their own original songs. 

The Long And Lonesome Letting Go track list:
Long And Lonesome Letting Go (2:43)
She’s On A Different Train (2:31)
I’m Only So Good At Being Good (4:13)
You Fell Off The Face Of The Earth (2:51)
Last Resort (2:50)
Ghost Of A Rose (3:51)
Darkness Is The Other Side of Light (2:41)
If I Could Only Get My Heart To See (2:20)
That Was When We Were Together (2:40)
A Better Place (2:36)
She’s The Light (3:31)
Drop The Hammer Down (2:35)

Jim Lauderdale Tour Dates:
September 29 FRI IBMA Bluegrass Live Raleigh, NC
October 5 Suwannee Roots Revival Live Oak, FL
October 5 Boot Barn Hall at Bourbon Brothers Gainesville, GA
October 12Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival Waycross, GA
October 17 Jim Lauderdale live at People’s Brewing Lafayette, IN
November 10 Center Austin, TX, United States
November 11 Jim Lauderdale with special guest Tony Ramey Richardson, TX
November 16 The Franklin Theatre Songwriter Series: Sierra Hull, Jim Lauderdale, Bobby Tomberlin, & Lillie Mae Franklin, TN, United States
November 17 Jim Lauderdale LIVE Paducah, KY, United States
February 4 Outlaw Country Cruise 2024 Andover, FL, United States
February 15 Tractor Tavern Sunny Sweeney Seattle, WA, United States

Po’ Ramblin’ Boys Tour Dates:
September 30 IBMA World of Bluegrass at Red Hat Amphitheater Raleigh, NC
October 16 Gatlinburg Craftsman’s Fair Gatlinburg, TN
October 17 Gatlinburg Craftsman’s Fair Gatlinburg, TN
October 18 Gatlinburg Craftsman’s Fair Gatlinburg, TN
October 19 Bluegrass Island Music Festival Manteo, NC
November 3 The Rex Galax, VA

New album release: Last Chance To Win – East Nash Grass

Last Chance To Win is the new album by East Nash Grass. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

For five years running, East Nash Grass has been perfecting their sound as a band via a weekly engagement at Madison, Tennessee’s beloved Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge. Dobro legend Jerry Douglas calls East Nash Grass a “band of ringers,” saying, “The sound they make when they play together rivals that of any of their main gigs.” Every member is an accomplished professional in their own right on the road with national touring acts, and each would be a featured musician in any band. With James Kee on guitar, Cory Walker on banjo, Harry Clark on mandolin, Gaven Largent on dobro, Maddie Denton on fiddle, and Jeff Picker on bass, East Nash Grass is a band of all-stars, without question. Unlike many all-star bands that come together for one album or concert, East Nash Grass is a band in the true sense. Each member contributes their energy and their creative work to the group; the sum of which is miraculously greater than its parts. Last Chance to Win, the latest album from East Nash Grass is now available everywhere. (IV-PR, 2023)

Following in the footsteps of the Bluegrass Album Band, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, and many more, East Nash Grass has officially solidified its position as your favorite bluegrass band’s favorite bluegrass band. Out now, Last Chance To Win shows off the group’s instrumental prowess and songcraft for those not lucky enough to have seen it in person. For those who have, it is a stark reminder of the greater sum of East Nash Grass’s already great parts.

Fans can stream or purchase Last Chance To Win.

Last Chance To Win track list:
Last Chance to Win
I Almost Told Her
East Due West Blues
Papa’s on the Housetop
Jenna McGaugh
How Could I Love Her So Much
When You Come Home
Starlet Iris
Magic City Grey
Love Slippin’ Away
Railroadin’ & Gamblin’

Catch East Nash Grass on tour:
September 20 – Lyons, CO – Planet Bluegrass at Wildflower Pavillion
September 22 – Buena Vista, CO – Billy Strings Renewal
September 23 – Buena Vista, CO – Billy Strings Renewal
September 27 – 29 – Raleigh, NC – IBMA
September 30 – Searcy, AR – Get Down Downtown 2023
October 27 – Nashville, TN – 3rd & Lindsley*
October 28 – Chattanooga, TN – Barrelhouse Ballroom*
November 3 – Hope, AR – Hempstead Hall – U of A Hope

*supporting Yonder Mountain String Band

New album release: River – Bonnie Montgomery

Bonnie Montgomery’s new album River will be out November 3, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Raised in rural Arkansas on a soundtrack of southern gospel, Texas swing, Delta blues, and Ozark bluegrass, Bonnie Montgomery trained as an opera singer before launching her award-winning career in outlaw country. While she is not in the spotlight of big budget beer commercials, at least yet, she may just be the most interesting woman in the world. From the high-brow—Montgomery is a classically trained opera singer and wrote a folk opera that ran at New York’s Medicine Show Theatre and was praised in The New Yorker; to the “low-brow”—she was crowned “Outlaw Female” at the infamous Ameripolitan Awards for her non-operatic, country-tinged solo career, amongst a slew of other awards; to life well-beyond music where she became a certified Reiki master in the ongoing process of healing her body from years on the road and from a commercial airline crash in 1999 when she was still a teenager. In all, Montgomery has lived a wonderfully diverse life, full of ups and downs, but until now, has not managed to connect all of her dots in a way she has been happy with. (IV-PR, 2023)

On November 3, Montgomery will release a brand new album entitled River, an eclectic and electrifying amalgamation of every corner of her life and music career up until now. River is a versatile record that shows just how broad Montgomery’s vision of American roots music can be as it flows freely from one genre to the next. It is the crystallization of a sound Montgomery has been creating for years, blurring the boundaries between different formats while presenting Montgomery not only as a powerhouse vocalist but as an autobiographical storyteller and captivating songwriter, too.

“This is the most straight-from-the heart album I’ve ever cut,” says Montgomery, who headed to Texas to record River with co-producer Kevin Skrla. “I’ve always been a multi-genre artist. I have a classical background, but I’m a big fan of soul music and rock, too. Country music was the soundtrack of my childhood. All of that went into River. Making that album felt like the first time I could be me, sing my heart out, and not worry about fitting into any specific box. It was pure. It was freeing.”

With the help of Holler., Montgomery recently premiered the first listen from River with her song “Modern-Day Cowgirl’s Dream.” Dubbed “A real life account of what Montgomery calls “honky-tonkin’ around Texas,” “Modern-Day Cowgirl’s Dream” rides a half-time country backbeat and phase-shifted Telecaster licks to tell the story of “cowboys, neon nights, jumping in the cold springs, and crashing at Miss Whitney Rose’s house—she also sang on the track—and waking up just to do it all over again.” The accompanying music video was directed by actor, singer, Broadway-veteran, and GRAMMY-winner, Zachary James. “We had fun shooting it at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, where I’ve played hundreds of times,” remembers Montgomery. “The Shoot turned out a little raunchy and reckless, just like the song.”

Fans can watch the video for “Modern-Day Cowgirl’s Dream” and pre-order or pre-save River ahead of its November release. Tour dates and ticket information is available online. 

River tracklist:
River
Modern-Day Cowgirl’s Dream
No Way Around It
I Was Fine
Half Drunk
Leon
Check For Your Time
Seventeen
I’ll Know
This Town

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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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New album release: Sweethearts – Christian Parker

Christian Parker breaths new life into the Byrd’s classic country leaning album with new LP Sweethearts. It will be out August 18, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Christian Parker is an American recording artist, guitarist and songwriter. He knows his way around a song, and his musical vision enables him to deliver electrifying licks on rock anthems as well as cascading layers of acoustic guitar on ballads of love and loss. Parker started taking guitar lessons when he was 12, the day after John Lennon was killed, and learned how to play “Rocky Racoon” that same night. The New York-based musician released his first album, Reflections of Tomorrow, when he was 17, launching a music career devoted to introspective songwriting marked by its attention to the world around him. Since then he has released six studio albums, including his forthcoming Sweethearts, Parker’s version of the classic Byrds’ album Sweethearts of the Rodeo. His albums have earned him praise from No Depression, Blues Blast, and Jambands. His most recent, Every Passing Mile and Best Kept Secret, contain previously unreleased material written over the last two decades. In addition to his solo work, Parker has played lead guitar in the Waydown Wailers, rockers who have shared stages with Z.Z. Top, Charlie Daniels, Lady A, and New Riders of the Purple Sage. (IV-PR, 2023)

On August 18, Parker will release his version of the Byrds’ now-legendary country-rocker, Sweethearts of the Rodeo. Titled Sweethearts, it features his rollicking band and support from pianist Earl Poole Ball and pedal steel from JayDee Maness—both of whom played on the original record back in 1968.

Just as then-new Byrds member Gram Parsons loved the Louvin Brothers, Merle Haggard, and Cindy Walker—and wanted to deliver faithful versions of their songs “The Christian Life,” “Life in Prison,” and “Blue Canadian Rockies”—so Parker delivers the Byrds’ versions in tender renditions that capture the groundbreaking character of the original album. Throughout Sweethearts, Parker’s vocals echo the purity of Parsons’ efforts to import the clarity of county music into vibrant rock rhythms. In addition to the original eleven songs on Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Parker has included three more classics: “I Still Miss Someone,” “Satisfied Mind,” and “Drugstore Truck Driving Man.”

Parker shared the first single from Sweethearts, the album-opening “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” with premiere partner The Bluegrass Situation. “I first heard this song by Bob Dylan on an acoustic guitar. But I was hooked when I listened to the opening pedal steel guitar on the Byrds album,” says Parker. “This song was in my repertoire for decades, and I felt like I was recording an old friend. Tracer James’ interpretation of Lloyd Greens’ pedal steel guitar opens Sweethearts up perfectly and having Earl Poole Ball in the studio, who played piano on the original version, was magical for me.” Finding room between James’ scampering steel licks and Ball’s gospel-inflected piano runs, Parker delivers the song’s iconic refrain: “Whoo-ee, ride me high / Tomorrow’s the day my bride’s gonna come.” The cascading piano on the outré is Parker’s distinctive take on this buoyant song.

Fans can hear “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” now at this link and pre-order or pre-save Sweethearts ahead of its August 18 release.

Sweethearts track list:
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
I Am A Pilgrim
The Christian Life
You Don’t Miss Your Water
You’re Still On My Mind
Pretty Boy Floyd
I Still Miss Someone
Hickory Wind
One Hundred Years From Now
Blue Canadian Rockies
Life In Prison
Nothing Was Delivered
Satisfied Mind
Drugstore Truck Driving Man

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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: 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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Little Songs release date