In The Groove
The first Gillian Welch & David Rawlings collaboration to feature both of their names, All The Good Times, a collection of 10 acoustic covers recorded at home, received a 2021 Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. After a devastating tornado ravaged Nashville in the Spring of 2020 making their studio unusable, immediately followed by a global pandemic shutting down their community and touring livelihood, Welch and Rawlings were able to find the inspiration to set up recording equipment in their home living room and record ten performances on their reel-to-reel of some of their favorite songs from the likes of John Prine (“Hello In There”), Bob Dylan (“Abandoned Love”), Norman Blake (“Ginseng Sullivan”), and more. According to Uncut magazine, “The 10-song collection is the equivalent of being welcomed into Welch and Rawlings’ living room and the pair treating you to a private recital. In other words, it doesn’t get much better than this.”
The American Negro is an unapologetic critique, detailing the systemic and malevolent psychology that afflicts people of color. This project dissects the chemistry behind blind racism, using music as the medium to restore dignity and self-worth to my people. It should be evident that any examination of black music is an examination of the relationship between black and white America. This relationship has shaped the cultural evolution of the world and its negative roots run deep into our psyche. Featuring various special guests performing over a deeply soulful, elaborate orchestration, The American Negro reinvents the black native tongue through this album and it's attendant short film (TAN) and 4-part podcast (invisible Blackness). The American Negro - both as a collective experience and as individual expressions - is insightful, provocative and inspiring and should land at the center of our ongoing reckoning with race, racism and the writing of the next chapter of American history.
Honoring the enduring inspiration of Frank Sinatra, That’s Life is Willie Nelson’s second album of classics made famous by The Chairman Of The Board. Willie’s first ode to Frank, 2018's My Way, earned Willie the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Solo Album, and That's Life finds Nelson (who has penned a few standards himself) inhabiting 11 more of the most treasured songs in the Great American Songbook including the title track, "Luck Be A Lady,” "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "You Make Me Feel So Young," and "I Won't Dance" (a duet featuring Diana Krall). Produced by Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings, That's Life was recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood--where Frank Sinatra, created a string of album masterpieces--with additional recording at Pedernales Studios in Austin, Texas. Willie delivers 11 new studio performances, coming alive in a musical landscape animated by lush string and vibrant horn arrangements on an album mixed by recording industry legend Al Schmitt (who's recorded and mixed more than 150 gold and platinum albums and won more Grammy Awards than any other engineer or mixer). The album cover features a brand new painting of Willie and his iconic guitar, Trigger, standing in the glow of a twilight streetlamp, evoking classic Sinatra album covers of yore.
When You See Yourself is the highly anticipated new album from KINGS OF LEON, and the band’s 8th studio album. This new collection was recorded at Nashville’s famed Blackbird Studios, and produced by Grammy Award-winning Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Florence + the Machine). When You See Yourself propels KINGS OF LEON into 2021 with a modern evolution of their sound.
Nine-time Grammy nominee and multi-platinum global superstar, Sia, is releasing her eighth studio album, Music Songs From And Inspired By The Motion Picture, on February 12th! This fourteen-track album is comprised of new pop songs from and inspired by her film, Music, including hit singles “Together” and timely call to action track “Courage To Change” that were released in 2020. Music was announced on November 19th with the release of “Hey Boy”. Her directorial debut film Music is an original cinematic experience written and directed by Sia (Featuring Maddie Ziegler, Kate Hudson & Leslie Odom Jr.) – film to be released February 12. Sia co-wrote the screenplay and directed the movie, making Music her feature film directorial debut.
Open Door Policy: is The Hold Steady's 8th full-length studio album and first with Thirty Tigers. It is the follow up to 2019's 'Thrashing Thru The Passion'. Produced by Josh Kaufman (The National, Hiss Golden Messenger, Josh Ritter), this new release once again finds the 6-piece line up in peak form in what Craig Finn describes as "the best band we've ever been".
The self-titled, full-length debut from Bones Owens is a selection of songs both gloriously gritty and undeniably euphoric. In a bold departure from the moody Americana of his acclaimed EPs Hurt No One and Make Me No King, the Missouri-bred musician’s first release with Thirty Tigers delivers a powerful sound deeply inspired by ’60s garage-rock, Hill Country blues, and the swampy roots-rock of bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival (“the first record I remember stealing from my dad when I was ten and just starting to play guitar,” according to Owens). A potent showcase for his formidable guitar work—a talent he’s displayed in performing with artists as eclectic as Yelawolf and Mikky Ekko—Bones Owens arrives as a full-tilt expression of Owens’ wildest impulses, all swinging rhythms, and swaggering riffs.
Conduit is the South Dakota legend's first studio album since 2012's Gestalt, making Conduit their 5th studio album to come. Having been in the scene since 2003, the band has toured all over the world with iconic acts including The Goo Goo Dolls, The Plain white T's, Motion City Soundtrack, The Juliana Theory, Secondhand Serenade, Ryan Cabrera, and The Academy Is as well as appearances at Emo Nite.
Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird will be teaming up for a new release called "These 13" on 3/5. It is a little bit folk, a little bit gospel, a little bit bluesy, a little bit Hank, a little bit hill country, but most emphatically, it is all heart. Andrew Bird and Jimbo Mathus have climbed the height of their creative ladders in this collection of soul-strung songs, both lyrically and musically, a synchronicity between the two that feels joined in some special imaginative place that can only be visited by the best of songwriters. All songs written and performed by Andrew Bird + Jimbo Mathus. Album was produced by Mike Viola
WE ARE is a career-changing album from musician and activist Jon Batiste. WE ARE celebrates Black American culture and music while exploring themes of lineage, authenticity, excellence and evolution. This album is about honoring roots and traditions, while looking forward to the future and constantly evolving. Featuring Mavis Staples, Zadie Smith, PJ Morton, Trombone Shorty, Kizzo, Autumn Rowe, Steve Jordan, and many more...
Produced by Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys, John Legend) and Valerie June, the new album The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers achieves a transcendent effect thanks in no small part to the splendor of its sound, an exquisitely composed tapestry of folk, soul, gospel, country, blues, psychedelia, and time-bending symphonic pop. The result is a selection of songs both ornate and elegant, each moment crafted with a profound awareness of what’s most essential in creating enduring beauty. The follow-up to Valerie June’s widely adored The Order of Time—a 2017 effort that earned the admiration of Bob Dylan and landed on best-of-the-year lists from the likes of Rolling Stone and the New York Times— The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers is a potent catalyst for that kind of magic. With her spellbinding vocals and infectious sense of wonder, Valerie June gently eases the listener into a far more charmed state of mind, one that quickly restores a powerful feeling of joyful possibility.
Today We're The Greatest, the Sydney-based rock trio's follow up to their debut album Lost Friends, is an astonishing collection of 12 songs that are deeply personal, courageous, and rattling.
On August 20, 2020 the world lost an amazing light with the passing of Justin Townes Earle. Justin was a vibrant songwriter who could play the blues, country, and rock n roll all in the same song. In his short career, Justin released eight albums and one EP that all manage to sound classic and yet inventive.
Justin's father, Steve Earle, pays tribute to his son by recording an album of songs written by Justin titled, J.T. The album consists of ten Justin Townes Earle songs as well as one song written by Mr. Earle shortly after Justin's passing. J.T. features fan favorites such as "Harlem River Blues," "Far Away In Another Town" and "Champagne Corolla" along with lyrically heavy songs like, "The Saint of Lost Causes" and "Turn Out My Lights."
J.T. is a loving tribute to a loved son and beautiful songsmith who left this earth too early. But in his wake, Justin left a wealth of beauty. All proceeds from this release will be put into a trust for Justin’s 3 year old daughter, Etta.
Fleet Foxes will release their fourth studio album entitled SHORE, a collection of 15 new songs, on February 5, 2021 on double-gatefold 2LP vinyl and CD.
Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold shares, “SHORE feels like a relief, like you’d feel when your feet finally hit sand after getting caught in a riptide. It’s a celebration of life in the face of death, honoring our lost musical heroes, from David Berman to John Prine to Judee Sill to Bill Withers, embracing the joy and solace they brought to our lives and honoring their memory. SHORE is an object levitating between the magnetic fields of the past and the future.”
SHORE was released digitally in its entirety on the fall equinox (9/22) alongside an album length Super-16mm landscape film captured and edited in Washington State by the filmmaker Kersti Jan Werdal. The album was recorded in upstate New York at Aaron Dessner’s Long Pond Studio, in Paris at Studios St. Germain, in Los Angeles at the legendary Vox, in Long Island City at Diamond Mine, and New York City’s Electric Lady.
Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut made a profound impact on the international musical landscape, earning them Uncut's first ever Music Award Prize and a spot in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the 2000’s. The follow-up album Helplessness Blues was met with the same critical praise as its predecessor (MOJO ★★★★★, Pitchfork’s Best New Music) and earned them a GRAMMY nomination. Both Fleet Foxes and Helplessness Blues are certified Gold in the US. The band’s third studio album Crack-Up, released in 2017, charted #9 on the Billboard Top 200.
The American music icon's 50th studio album (excluding her 10 studio duet collaborations with Conway Twitty), Still Woman Enough celebrates women in country music. From her homage to the originators, Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Family (via her cover of "Keep On The Sunny Side") through a new interpretation of her very first single, "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl," Loretta Lynn acknowledges her role in the continuum of American country music while her duets with Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood ("Still Woman Enough"), Margo Price ("One's On The Way") and Tanya Tucker ("You Ain't Woman Enough") find her sharing the musical torch with some of the brightest lights and biggest stars in contemporary pop-country.
The album premieres 13 new Loretta Lynn recordings, intimate and electrifying performances of a career-spanning selection of songs illuminating different aspects of her repertoire. The collection is centered around Loretta's original compositions--from new songs like "Still Woman Enough" (which shares its title and attitude with her 2002 autobiography and was cowritten with her daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell) through fresh interpretations of classics including "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" (her first single, originally released March 1960), "You Ain't Woman Enough" (the title track for her first #1 Billboard Hot Country Album in 1966), "My Love" (from 1968's Here's Loretta Lynn), "I Wanna Be Free" (1971) and a deeply emotional "Coal Miner's Daughter Recitation," commemorating the 50th anniversary of the release of her signature song (October 5, 1970) and album (January 4, 1971).
New Orleans’ EYEHATEGOD is the snarling, bilious sound of dead-end America. Since 1988, they’ve been a soundtrack for the troubled masses. Ugly music for ugly times. That’s the sense of disenchantment and disease that lies the heart of their latest and sixth full-length album, “A History of Nomadic Behavior”. Anyone familiar with EHG’s story knows this is survivor’s music, a sound unto itself where Sabbathian riffs are meted out with a caustic anger that goes beyond punk. That’s been the blueprint since guitarist Jimmy Bower (also of NOLA supergroup, Down) founded the band in 1988 with vocalist Mike IX Williams joining not long after. With a discography including sludge-punk mainstays like “In the Name of Suffering” (1990), “Take as Needed for Pain” (1993) “Dopesick” (1996) or 2014’s eponymously-titled LP, released in the US through Housecore Records, EHG laid the cracked foundation for their infamous and influential sound. “A History of Nomadic Behavior” finds the band, now slimmed to a four-piece rounded out by bassist Gary Mader and drummer Aaron Hill, leaner and meaner than ever; road-hardened by recent tours with Black Label Society, Corrosion of Conformity and Napalm Death in the US and abroad. From the bitter pill of opener “Built Beneath the Lies” to the hypnotic haze of closer “Every Thing, Every Day” it’s clear that that EYEHATEGOD hasn’t slowed or mellowed with time. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. This is disorienting, uneasy listening. Music that still very much hurts.