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 Northoffers 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
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.
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
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-saveRiver 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
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-saveNothing 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
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.
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-saveTry To MakeIt 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
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-saveBeen 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.
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-saveSweethearts 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
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-saveMorning 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
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
