20 July 2020

To coincide with the release of her new EP LIVE AT THE VILLAGE, singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell has released a video for her personally poignant cover of Los Lobos’ “The Valley.”  Watch the clip here. “I believe Los Lobos to be one of America’s greatest living rock bands,” Sunny says.  “Their body of work is wide and remarkable, with composition and musicianship that is acutely human, organic, and intelligent.  But their approach to the actual ‘auditory experience’ of their music adds layers of meaning for me as listener, and I find that their sonic choices only serve to push their music into that realm of the ineffable, where you can’t quite put your finger on why you’re crying, you just know that you’re deeply moved.  And to my mind, ‘The Valley’ is a great example of this kind of profound synthesis between form and content.” The all-acoustic LIVE AT THE VILLAGE EP is comprised of “The Valley” and raw and affecting versions of four songs from her OVERNIGHT LOWS album (released earlier this year). The EP was recorded live at the historic Village Studios in Los Angeles. Listen here. The tracks on LIVE AT THE VILLAGE all hold a very meaningful sense of place both geographically and spiritually. “Driving Highways” references the landscape of Sunny’s home state of Nevada, and the English countryside is conjured in “The Garden.” The themes of the transience of travel and memory factor into “Comes And It Goes.”  Live At The Village tracklisting: Hammer And Nail (Acoustic) Driving Highways (Acoustic) Comes And It Goes (Acoustic) The Garden (Acoustic) The Valley (Acoustic) Sunny’s OVERNIGHT LOWS (released earlier this year) gleams with engaging melodies and intelligent wordplay performed with a sophisticated fluency in pop, jazz, soul and Americana dialects. In Sunny’s words, OVERNIGHT LOWS reflects the soul and simplicity of her passion for such inspirations as Bonnie Raitt, David Byrne, Cassandra Wilson, and Aretha Franklin.  Players on the album include Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant, Aimee Mann, Alison Krauss), Tyler Chester (George Ezra, Maddison Cunningham), Andy Hess (The Black Crowes, David Byrne), Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Roseanne Cash), and Rich Hinman (Sara Bareilles). The album was recorded at Village Studios in Los Angeles, and engineered by Mike Piersante.  “All That I Am,” the album’s first single, debuted earlier this year at AMERICAN SONGWRITER.   See more news here.

GRAMMY award-winning Western North Carolina-based Steep Canyon Rangers will release Arm In Arm October 16 on Yep Roc Records. “Every River,” the second track from their thirteenth album, is at all digital service providers, and the album’s now available for pre-order. Recorded over several days at the iconic Southern Ground Studios in Nashville, which marked the first time the band recorded outside NC, Arm in Arm was produced by the band with Brandon Bell (Zac Brown, John Prine). Featuring 11 original compositions, the album sees the band expanding their sound by paying homage to their early influences and the bluegrass tradition for which they’re known. In light of their May 8 benefit concert cancellation sponsored by Wicked Weed Brewing, the brewer will now contribute ten dollars per album (up to 2,000 albums) sold via the Yep Roc store to Haywood Street’s Downtown Welcome Table, an Asheville, NC-based organization that provides a fine dining experience meant to counter the notion often held by those living on the streets that handouts, hand-me downs, and leftovers are all I deserve. Arm In Arm follows two 2019 releases that both debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass chart: North Carolina Songbook, an eight-song live album recorded at Merlefest featuring reinterpretations of songs from cross-generational NC icons; and Be Still Moses, an 11-song collaboration between the band and the Asheville Symphony, which featured a collaboration with Boyz II Men and the Asheville Symphony on the title track. Over a 20-year career, the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame inductees have released 12 solo albums and three collaborative albums with actor/banjoist Steve Martin. The Steep Canyon Rangers are Woody Platt, Graham Sharp, Mike Guggino, Nicky Sanders, Mike Ashworth, Barrett Smith.   See more news here.

Produced remotely during lockdown, Holloway Road announce the project features next single ‘Senseless’ (out Aug 7) and is available to pre-save now Following the success of their latest single ‘Even If‘, playlisted across numerous streaming platforms and radio stations worldwide, independent UK duo Holloway Road enlisted the help of controversial Tiger King  star Carole Baskin over the weekend to announce their brand new project Twenty Twenty, produced entirely during lockdown, with the pair sharing ideas and recording remotely while isolating in separate houses. The three-song EP will be available to stream/download on October 2nd (pre-save here), with the first new track ‘Senseless’ coming August 7th. The emerging duo described as “the most exciting live act in the UK” (Lyric Mag) didn’t earn that reputation by accident. Having each spent years in punk rock bands, Jack & Rob – better known as Holloway Road – bring that same mentality and independent mindset to their work as one of the most talked-about new international artists in the country scene, unafraid to put in the mileage and take their music to wherever fans are. Jack Cooper, one of the genre’s most distinctive lead vocalists, is balanced by Rob Gulston’s harmonies and unmatched pop-infused production skills, to create the unique sound so familiar to the fans they’ve gained and artists they’ve collaborated with over the last few years. Having been selected as one of the first British featured artists on Bauer Media’s 24/7 station Country Hits Radio, the band have also enjoyed long-term support from other key radio stations such as Chris Country, Downtown Country and BBC Radio across the UK, as well as WSM-AM and other stations in the USA.   See more news here.

Hot-on-the-heels of his summer anthem “Damage I Done”, Rob Mayes is releasing emotive new single Don’t Give Up On Me on 17th July 2020. The melodic and heartfelt track was co-written by legendary songwriter Earl Bud Lee (Garth Brooks’ “Friends In Low Places”), who also wrote Rob’s recent release “Didn’t Do This On My Own”. “Don’t Give Up On Me” is produced by Scott Harter, mixed by Mark Lonsway and mastered by Grammy-nominated Andrew Mendelson. Released as the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, Rob comments: ‘“Don’t Give Up On Me” is a beseeching, a prayer and a plea, that in difficult and trying times (which 2020 has certainly proven to be), offers us a reminder to keep the faith, and that we might ask for God’s grace and salvation now more than ever. “During an early trip to Nashville a handful of years back, I had heard J Michael Harter sing this song and knew that I had to cut it.  It’s one of the most powerful songs I’ve ever heard – I sure can’t take credit for writing this gem, but I can lend my voice to it, because it speaks to me, and reminds me to have faith, because that’s really the only way.” Over the past 18 months, Rob has established himself as one of the most exciting new talents in the Country music genre. The release of his debut single “Closer” and his EP of the same name, started a steady release of tracks showcasing Rob’s versatility and the many sides to his remarkable talent. “Didn’t Do This On My Own”, which premiered on Chris Country radio, has been a breakout hit for Rob accumulating more than 244,000 streams on Spotify alone. Follow-up “Damage I Done” is quickly picking up steam and Rob is currently pulling in more than 110,500 monthly listeners.   See more news here.

Folk artist Kate Macleod releases The Secret Forest Lament out now. you can listen to it here, or watch the video.  Kate comments on the song and album: “I find that a song, and creations in other art forms, can share the same subject matter, yet are unique in their possibilities of expression. Because of this, I often compose music inspired by books, nature, landscape, and stories told to me, sometimes working from impressions originally noted by another creator. In this practice, I attempt to contribute to our cultural collective. This song, The Secret Forest Lament, was inspired by my reading the book The Secret Forest, by Charles Bowden (with photographs by Jack Dykinga, and introduction by Paul S. Martin). The book was published in 1993 by the University of Arizona Press. The Secret Forest describes the cultural destruction, and the destruction of the landscape itself, of the rare Dry Tropical Forest that grows in the southern area of Sonora, Mexico. The forest has been decimated for economic reasons, leading to native communities losing their grasp on traditional lifestyles that had been for generations tied to the life of the forest. The song is a lament for the ongoing destruction of the forest that echoes the book itself, with a mournful yet resolved strength of critical urgency, speaking also to the egregious loss of its relatives, our rainforests.  “Charles Bowden was a courageous journalist, defender of environment and justice. He often wrote about the American Southwest. Late in life he was known for his writings on the situation at the US-Mexico border concerning the war on drugs and its effects on the lives of the people in that region. Jack Dykinga, the photographer for the book, has shared his photographs with me for this project.  “I have a long history of composing songs based on books, in fact, I have a full-length recording that features some of them…At Ken Sanders Rare Books, recorded live in concert at a book store. That CD, along with more of my work, is available through my website store. “The creation, recording, and release of The Secret Forest Lament was made possible through the financial support of Utah Humanities, Utah Arts and Museums, and the people who support my projects through patreon.com.”  

After 14 years, The Chicks (formally known as The Dixie Chicks) are back with a bang with their new album, ‘Gaslighter’ out now!  Co-produced by Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter, record producer and friend of the band, Jack Antonoff, the album is already earning critical acclaim. It’s the first album in nearly 14 years from the country music group. It also comes at a major moment for the group who publicly announced their new name in the wake of America’s reckoning with racism. They said at the time that they wanted to “meet this moment,” in the country’s history. The album has 12 songs and features their new single, “March, March,” a tribute to protests for equality and social issues. Their last album, “Taking the Long Way,” won a Grammy for album of the year.   See more news here.

Hootie & the Blowfish re-release Imperfect Circle under rock category with added track with their take on R.E.M’s Losing My Religion Hootie & the Blowfish announced the re-release of their latest album, Imperfect Circle, under the Rock category as further evidence of the band’s musical home in several genres. Initially released in the Country space in November 2019, the re-release of the album also adds their take on the classic “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M., who the band has credited as a major inspiration since their earliest days at the University of South Carolina. “Hootie now occupies an anomalous cultural space, residing on both Spotify’s Fresh Country and All Out 90s playlists… the band is seemingly at home in both realms,” notes Billboard of the album encouraging “good times and easy-to-love music, sure, but also an incrementally more just and inclusive world for everyone – black, white and otherwise.” “It was so special to all be back together recording again for this album,” notes guitarist Mark Bryan. “We’re excited to reissue the album to fans with the addition of ‘Losing My Religion’ after covering the song in our sets last year night-after night.” The album featuring single “Hold On” marked the first studio project for the Grammy Award-winning band in nearly 15 years, and came on the heels of their sold-out Group Therapy Tour – their first full-time return to the road in over a decade. See more news here.