WILL DAILEY

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Will Dailey is an acclaimed independent recording artist, performer, artist advocate and sonic survivor. His sound has been described as a Venn diagram of multiple genres with a rich vintage vibe that weaves through his authentic and energetic performances. There is an artistic DIY spirit fueling all of it, bringing in the spins, Billboard charts, rave reviews and Boston and New England Music Awards. All inspiring famed rock journalist Dan Aquilante to call him “the real deal”.

 He has shared the stage and studio with Eddie Vedder, Willie Nelson, Roger McGuinn, Kay Hanley, G Love, Steve Earle, and Tanya Donelly. In June of 2013 he was featured on a Stephen King/John Mellencamp project produced by T Bone Burnett called Ghost Brothers Of Darkland County and, in that same year, also released an original song he wrote inspired by Jack Kerouac's Tristessa.  Dailey has played at Farm Aid four times alongside Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews and John Mellencamp. His 2018 album, Golden Walker, hit #1 on Billboards Northeast Heat seekers. The Boston Herald called the album: “A new peak” and named it an Album of the Year.

 As venues began opening their doors post pandemic in 2022, Dailey launched his Double Elvis/iHeart Radio produced podcast, Sound of Our Town - that became an Apple Podcast spotlight. SOOT is a travel podcast about the music in the next town you visit: Not only where to go to hear and experience the best music and why; but what sounds shaped that city or town’s culture and why live music is so vital to our current moment and our existence.  

 2022 also saw the release of two new singles “Easy to Be Around” and “Christmas, Of Course” - which were featured on stations across New England (WUMB, WXRV, WMYV) and named Song of the Week on Boston’s AAA station, WERS.

 With 2023, comes the upcoming premiere of Season 2 of Sound of Our Town. As Dailey hits the road he also brings with him a song that only exists in recorded form on his merch table.  “Cover of Clouds” will be with him exclusively via disc man and headphones on the merch table. A limited number of fans will be able to listen to the 7 minute opus dedicated to Joni Mitchell for $10 and leave their thoughts in a book that travels along with Dailey throughout 2023.

Imogen Clark

photo by Michelle Grace Hunder

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“4.5/5 stars. This EP will become a landmark.” - Rolling Stone

”Imogen Clark may not have tailored her record to this era but her vibrant, bracing songs – kind of like a dip in a cold September sea – might just be one of the things to carry us through it.” - Sydney Morning Herald

“A searing, soaring anthem full of fire and fervor.” - Atwood Magazine

Imogen Clark is an AIR Award nominated indie artist from Western Sydney. Her music ranges from intimate to arena-ready, anthems with the soul of a confessional singer-songwriter.

“My whole life has been a struggle to stand up for who I am and what I’m worth, in life, in relationships and as an artist,” says Imogen. “That’s what my music is about in one way or another. With Nonchalant, I got angry with a guy who used me and kept me dangling on his hook, and now with Compensating, I’m getting even. When I got with Xavier Dunn to write this song, I wanted to take my heartbreak and make it something fun and cathartic, something that would make me feel powerful when I’m singing it and all the single girlies can listen to all summer by the pool with some margaritas in hand”.

Indeed, Despite the subject matter, ‘Compensating’ is one of Imogen’s frothiest songs to date – a swinging kiss off to a an ex who ‘social climb[s] in skinny jeans ripped with a knife’, co-written with and produced by Xavier Dunn (Jack River, CXLOE).

An artist who has always been compelled to create and connect with her audience, even at the nadir of the pandemic, 2022 has been a busy year even for her.

Barrelling into the year collaborating with Mo’Ju, Ali Barter, I Know Leopard and more on her 2nd Annual Holiday Hootenanny show in Melbourne, she followed that up by assembling a supergroup featuring Adam Newling and members of Middle Kids and Egoism to record a new version of live favorite ‘Enemy’ to kick off her epic 100 Shows in 100 Days tour.

A sprawling trek across Australia that saw her play everywhere from Newcastle to Cowra, Melbourne to Mudgee, Brisbane to Gippsland and many more places besides, mixing high octane full band sets with intimate solo performances and a sprinkling of surprise pop-up shows (like a protest set outside Kirribilli House in the lead up to the Federal Election) and full production online gigs for her international fans. The tour powered through obstacles including visa issues, a COVID-induced week off, floods and more to wrap up triumphantly in Adelaide the night before the AIR Awards, where Imogen was nominated for Best Pop Album/EP for her 2021 release ‘Bastards’. She also managed to release her cathartic single ‘Nonchalant’, described by Atwood magazine as “a searing, soaring anthem full of fire and fervor”.

It has been the most ambitious year yet from an artist who has spent the most challenging two years the music industry has ever faced refusing to rest on her laurels, releasing critically acclaimed EPs The Making of Me and Bastards, two Christmas singles, a live record and even touring, including sold out EP launch shows in Sydney and the first two editions of her now annual Holiday Hootenanny shows, featuring guests including Ali Barter, I Know Leopard, Mo’Ju and Montaigne.

The 26-year-old started 2020 in LA, recording with producer Mike Bloom (Julian Casablancas, Jenny Lewis) and a cast of rock legends, recording The Making of Me and what would become Bastards, which was later finished across the globe from Sydney over Zoom. The EPs form two halves of an artistic rebirth for Clark, featuring her most raw and intense music to date, covering addiction, suicide, misogyny and doomed romance.

Amongst the murderer’s row of collaborators on the records include Men at Work’s Colin Hay, Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith, Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel and Melbourne indie-pop artist Eilish Gilligan as co-writers, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and Elvis Costello and the Attractions drummer Pete Thomas lending their legendary chops to the recordings.

Cutting her teeth playing in Western Sydney bars during her teen years before touring and recording around the world, from the US to Europe to the UK, Imogen brings the depth and confidence of a seasoned rocker to the stage despite her youth. Taking inspiration from legends like Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell as much as contemporary heroes Maggie Rogers and Gang of Youths, Imogen’s music continues to dissolve the barriers between her emotions and her audience, even as her music and shows get bigger in size and scope.   

Teddy Grossman

Credit: Steph Port

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“I’m finally feeling like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” says Teddy Grossman, and the forthright, ever-soulful singer-songwriter speaks like a man who has been down many paths only to arrive back definitively where he’s forever belonged. Adds Grossman, a palpable determination and resolve in his voice: “I need to be able to look back at my life and say I gave it every ounce of energy.”  This steady perseverance, this take-no-prisoners passion of Grossman’s— it all goes a long way in explaining why the multi-talented artist has finally arrived at this moment, his moment, the moment he’s been winding and weaving his way towards in life until this very time. That’s because for years, the lifelong music lover had kept music on the back burner, forever wondering if he’d ever take the leap and make it his principal career. Only recently however has he moved to Los Angeles and at last embarked on that long-gestating journey. And, Grossman says, he’s never felt more self-assured than he does right now. “It’s the happiest I’ve been in my life,” the shaggy-haired old soul says of the rich and inspired sessions for Soon Come, the musician’s highly-anticipated debut album out on November 19th.

Grossman spent much of his life getting his mind around what it meant to fully commit to a life in music.  He’d always been a lifer at heart — his childhood was spent ingesting Otis Redding and Steve Wonder and Dylan and The Band— but upon graduating from the University of Michigan in 2009, he took the road often traveled and got a 9-5 job in the tech world. A few years back, however, after a near-decade living in Chicago and New York City, all the while working for the Man, in 2018, Grossman was finally ready to take the plunge. “It was all about taking that leap,” he says looking back at his decision to break out on his own and transform his passion into his livelihood.

All that time spent wondering what a music career — his music career — would look like now comes pouring forth via his cerebral and sublimely centered songs— the sort that speak to years of hard-won wisdom and, well, maybe a bit of luck. “There’s something about this music that feels modern,” Grossman says of the 12 songs that comprise Soon Come. “It feels organic and homemade.”

The album is highlighted by lead single “What I Owe” — a punchy pop song that fell out of Grossman in a single day and lyrically encapsulates the journey he’s been on…and one that’s still ongoing. “I’ll take my time/Wait my place in line/To make it shine like gold/till I pay down what I owe,” he sings on the hook, and there’s the sense that the musician has made amends with himself for all those years he waited to get right here. “It’s all about this feeling of despite having taken a decade to get here I still have this feeling of the iron being hot,” he says of the song, which was featured on the soundtrack for the documentary film “Maybe Next Year.”

But if there’s a song that perhaps best captures where Grossman is coming from — at least, sonically — it’s undoubtedly “Leave It On The Line.” Not only was it the first song he recorded for the project with producer Ryan Pauley — a childhood friend he reconnected with in Los Angeles and with whom he recorded the entirety of Soon Come — but “Leave It On The Line” is pure Grossman at his core: rootsy and soulful, infected with a dash of pop panache. “I had this vision in my head of taking Music From Big Pink meets Voodoo as the central heart to the approach of what I wanted this record to sound and feel like,” Grossman explains. Part gospel and blues and rock and folk and Appalachia and soul and R&B... “As a vocalist, those are equal-parts my influences,” Grossman continues.  “And ”Leave It On The Line” executes on that lofty aim.”

As for the most personal songs on the LP? Grossman points to both “Crowned” and “Why Should I Pretend?” — both with their own respectively rich backstory. The former, “Crowned,” sprang forth from an unlikely friendship Grossman struck up with the iconic singer-songwriter Bill Withers near the end of the legend’s life. After a chance meeting one night, in 2018, at a small Bill Withers tribute concert in Los Angeles, Grossman and his drummer friend, Josh Teitelbaum, wound up going over to Withers’ house for a few inspired sessions. “I’m crowned in glory,” Withers kept saying as he’d run his fingers through his hair during their time together. To that end, Grossman calls the song “almost as an autobiography about Bill’s life.”

“Why Should I Pretend?” however might be the most touching song on the LP. First written by Grossman’s grandfather back in the 1930’s, and recorded later that decade by jazz icon Louis Prima & his New Orleans Gang, Grossman covers the song on Soon Come and even plays trumpet, his childhood instrument, as a tribute to his late grandfather. While his grandfather was an attorney by day, and only played music in his spare time — much like his Grossman’s own father who never took the leap and pursued a career in music — Grossman feels he’s in some ways he’s taking his family legacy to the next level. “It feels fortuitous,” he says of reinterpreting his grandfather’s tune.” And of taking the leap into music, he adds, “It’s like I’m breaking the chain of a third-generation creative of actually going for it.”

For Grossman, where things head from here is the exciting part. He’s eager to hit the live stage — “I really intend to get on the road and get out in front of people and perform these songs,” he says. “I’m excited to see how it translates” — and says no matter how his music career unfolds he knows he’s reached his proper destination.

“For a long time in my life, I felt this low-grade hum in the background that I wasn’t really where I was supposed to be,” he admits. Soon Come, then, he says, “is about hope and transformation. And I feel deeply spiritual and connected to some higher power at my arrival in this place.”

The Loyal Seas

Credit: Ann Sullivan-Cross

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For the last decade, trailblazing alternative rock figurehead Tanya Donelly —  co-founder of Belly, Throwing Muses and The Breeders — has pursued meaningful collaborations with favorite artists and friends. The resulting work is by turns poignant, delightful and entirely surprising, melding folk, rock, pop and orchestral sounds. Her latest, The Loyal Seas, pairs Donelly with New England cult-favorite Brian Sullivan, who’s worked under the moniker Dylan in the Movies since the mid ’00s. A skilled singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Sullivan’s debut, Feel the Pull (2005), and follow-up full-length, Sweet Rebel Thee (2014), are each teeming with a lush, discrete form of alt-pop, Sullivan’s private mind garden translated as cinematic vignettes.  

Donelly and Sullivan first met in the mid ’90s at Fort Apache Studios, the famed New England recording studio that has produced legions of beloved albums. They were friends almost instantly and have collaborated over years, appearing on two of American Laundromat’s most popular tribute compilations. The pair contributed a sparkling cover of “The Lovecats” for Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to The Cure (2009), where Donelly’s honeyed rasp is brightened by the contrast of Sullivan’s lower-register growls. Their take on “Shoplifters of the World Unite,” from Please, Please, Please: A Tribute to the Smiths (2011), glimmers with melancholic wonder, Donelly’s silken lead vocals textured by an orchestral scythe and Sullivan’s backing anchor.  

The Loyal Seas’ dynamic debut single, “Strange Mornings in the Garden” b/w “Last of the Great Machines,” released in December 2020, was a label exclusive that sold-out instantly. Each side was an individualistic statement showcasing a particular side of the pair’s personality, one a luxuriant, sweeping ballad, and the other tightly-knit, kinetic alt-pop. The group’s full-length debut “Strange Mornings In the Garden” will be released on May 20, 2022. 

Gangstagrass

photo credit Melodie Yvonne

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Gangstagrass brings together two kinds of American music and creates a third, greater than the sum of the parts.

Developed as a studio project 15 years ago by Brooklyn-based producer Rench, Gangstagrass grew into a dynamic and spontaneous live band of Americans -- from Omaha Nebraska, Pensacola Florida, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Washington DC -- who have become close friends. Several work hard at other jobs (one teaches computer programming, another works at a comic book shop) to support their passion for making music, and four are dads, with kids ranging in age from baby through starting college.

The band has released six full-length albums with dozens of appearances on the Billboard Top 10 bluegrass chart. Gangstagrass tracks have featured Nitty Scott MC, Dead Prez, Demeanor, Kaia Kater, and legendary rap team Smif-N-Wessun among others. Rench, the Brooklyn-based country and hip-hop producer who is the Mastermind behind Gangstagrass, crafted the instantly-recognizable Long Hard Times to Come featuring T.O.N.E-z that opened every episode of FX show Justified and earned Gangstagrass a 2010 Emmy nomination for Best Theme Song – more proof that Gangstagrass "paved the Old Town Road."

Putting down roots and branching out across never-before-bridged genres, Gangstagrass has delighted crowds and has blown minds across the world, garnering a reputation among fans for dynamism and spontaneity. From SXSW to Grey Fox to the Americana Festival to music festivals abroad, these live performances explode the boundaries between genres generally thought to be incompatible. Howie Mandel described Gangstagrass as “the recipe that America has been looking for until now” and “what America needs right now!”

Taking full advantage of the improvisational aspects and virtues of both hip-hop and bluegrass, including frequent three-part harmonies, MCs Dolio the Sleuth and R-SON the Voice of Reason trade verses and freestyle alongside the unparalleled skills of fellow vocalists Dan Whitener on banjo, B.E. Farrow on fiddle, and Rench on guitar and beats.

The new Gangstagrass album No Time for Enemies was released in August 2020 and quickly rose to #1 on the Billboard bluegrass charts, as the band continues to explore new sonic territory while showing how amazing the sound of America is when it all comes together.

Susan Cattaneo

photo by Jon Cohan

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With her powerful voice, captivating melodies, and finely-crafted lyrics, Susan Cattaneo is one of Boston’s most respected singer/songwriters. A compelling performer and vivid storyteller, Susan’s music blends folk, rock, and blues with a hint of country. Call it New England Americana.

Following up on the success of her chart-topping double album, The Hammer & The Heart, Susan Cattaneo is releasing All is Quiet in April of 2022. Susan is known for her lyric and melodic craft, and for this project, she brought her mastery to a quieter place. Embracing simplicity and vulnerability, the nine songs on All is Quiet speak to the personal nature of loss, relationships, and hope for the future. All is Quiet was recorded remotely during 2020 and features the beautiful guitar work of national talents, Kevin Barry and Duke Levine, and was co-produced with Lorne Entress.

Critics, audiences, and fellow artists have instantly connected with the personal nature of Susan’s songs. Susan is a three-time Kerrville New Folk Finalist (2020, 2018, 2015) and a three-time nominee for Best Americana Artist at the Boston Music Awards (2020, 2019, 2018). Susan won the 2018 CT folk Festival and has been a finalist or winner at some of the country’s most prestigious songwriting and music contests including the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Philadelphia Songwriters Project, the Wildflower Festival, the Independent Music Awards, the International Acoustic Music Awards, 5 Unsigned Only, the USA Songwriting Competition, the Mountain Stage New Song Contest and the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest.

Her last album The Hammer and The Heart charted #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and yielded a #1 song on folk radio and a top 10 album of 2017. Susan is also an in-demand educator and collaborator. As a Songwriting Professor at the Berklee College of Music for the past 20 years, Susan has helped students work on over 15,000 songs in all musical genres and styles and mentored over 2,000 artists.

She has opened for or shared the stage with Bill Kirchen, Mark Erelli, Ellis Paul, Jon Cleary, David Wilcox, Mark Erelli, Rose Cousins, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Livingston Taylor, Melissa Ferrick, Paula Cole, Huey Lewis and The News, Amy Grant, Travis Tritt, and The Pousette-Dart Band

In the New England area, Susan has won over audiences at venues such as Club Passim, the Shalin Liu Center, the Me & Thee Coffeehouse, The Iron Horse Music Hall, Tupelo Music Hall, the Calvin Theater, the South Shore Music Circus, and the River Club Music Hall.

She is also one half of the indie-folk duo called Honest Mechanik with Paul Hansen of The Grownup Noise. The duo launched their first album in July of 2020 and was nominated for Folk Act of The Year at the 2021 Boston Music Awards.

Erika Lewis

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Prolific songwriter and singer Erika Lewis has been churning out American originals all her own for the past several years. Inspired many years ago by listening to Jolie Holland’s impromptu performances for Lewis and her housemates on a farm in the Hudson Valley, she began flexing her creative muscle by writing songs herself. In 2007, Lewis relocated to New Orleans and started a band called The Magnolia Beacon with Meschiya Lake, now a notable figure in the traditional jazz scene. The pair worked out original material and earned a living by busking on the streets of the French Quarter before crossing the Atlantic to explore what Europe had to offer.

“We based ourselves in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, busking daily on the bridge or at the Turkish market and playing in bars at night. A local artist even painted a mural of us on the building near our busking spot by the canal!” Lewis recalls fondly.  “At one point we traveled to Riga, Latvia where my mother’s family is from, played on the streets, and explored the city.  My grandfather spoke very little about ‘the old country,’ but when I told him we had gone there, he told me that his mother, Lena, sang on the streets with her three sisters to earn money before fleeing to the states.” Lewis made her way back to Berlin and joined a group called The Cyclown Circus. “We rode bikes from western Europe to eastern Europe busking as we went, mainly playing old jazz standards intermingled with some slapstick from the clowns,” she says. 

Eventually Lewis returned to New Orleans and began busking again, which led to the formation of beloved New Orleans jazz band Tuba Skinny and featured fellow street performers and friends like Alynda Segarra of Hurray For The Riff Raff. “There was this crew of folk musicians and songwriters that settled in New Orleans post-Katrina, and she, Kiki Cavasos, Sam Doores, Riley Downing, Meschiya Lake, and others were a big inspiration to write more and start playing my own songs outside of Tuba Skinny,” Lewis explains.

In 2020, Lewis had a health scare that required a surgery that could damage her vocal nerves and effectively end her career. “My friend Lani Tourville said, ‘You have to make an album because you will regret it forever if you don't do it and you can’t sing again.’” With the help of Lani’s husband John James Tourville (The Deslondes), and a funding campaign organized by Tuba Skinny bandmate Shaye Cohn, Lewis began the journey of creating her forthcoming LP, A Walk Around The Sun. 

Produced by Tourville and recorded in Nashville at Andrija Tokic’s analog paradise The Bomb Shelter, A Walk Around the Sun features 11 all-original songs. In tracks like album opener “A Thousand Miles,” “If You Were Mine,” and “First Love,” Lewis recalls the magic and endless possibility of new love, comes to terms with the loneliness of mandated isolation, and remembers the affection for and intimacy shared with her childhood best friend and realizes after drifting apart, that she was Lewis’ first love. 

Other songs encompass the push and pull of love, the swirl of emotions at the end of close relationships, and the primal need for connection. In A Walk Around The Sun’s series of lyrical vignettes, Lewis deftly explores the gray areas between love and loss, joy and grief, longing and contentment. From classic country to cosmic Americana to dreamy indie-folk, Lewis continues to dip her toes more deeply into an ever-expanding pool of roots music styles. A Walk Around the Sun is a testament to her songwriting prowess and exceptional vocal ability. 

Though her songwriting shines brightly, it’s never at the cost of melody or arrangement; complete with sweeping strings, pedal steel, and even the occasional fuzz of a psych-rock guitar solo, Lewis’ voice soars with emotion and texture throughout. Beautifully balanced, adroitly performed, and masterfully produced, A Walk Around the Sun brings Lewis’ solo work out from the wings to center stage, beneath a spotlight nearly impossible to ignore.

Calling Cadence

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Fronted by Oscar Bugarin and Rae Cole, Calling Cadence is a band rooted in harmony — harmony between voices, between songwriters, and between genres like rock, country, swampy blues and Southern soul. 

The result is a sound that's as warm and diverse as the duo's native California, where Oscar and Rae first crossed paths. He was an ace guitarist from L.A. who'd grown up listening to old-school rock and roll pioneers like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, only to discover country music while serving in the U.S. Army in Kansas. She was a lifelong vocalist who'd grown up onstage, starring in countless theater productions in her hometown of Huntington Beach before exploring her interests in classic rock, folk and modern pop as an adult. Together, they began writing songs that blended their vintage influences — the dreamy pop of Fleetwood Mac, the sunny soul of Stevie Wonder, the rootsy rock and roll of the Eagles — with modern melodies. 

Calling Cadence, the band's self-titled debut album, showcases a group whose songs nod to the past while resolutely pushing forward. It's a classic-sounding record (recorded, mixed and mastered straight to analog tape) for the contemporary world. Computers were only employed for streaming prep and CD replication. Produced by David Swartz and Matt Linesch, the album is being released on their own hi-res records label. Producers and band thought long and hard about diving into the all-analog domain but came to the conclusion that the final product would benefit in a way that digital would not allow. All are pleased with the end results. These 15 songs shine a light on Calling Cadence's strength as a live act, blending Oscar and Rae's entwined voices with vintage keyboards, guitar heroics and plenty of percussive and low-end stomp. Josh Adams (Norah Jones, Beck, Fruit Bats): drums, Elijah Thomson (Father John Misty, Nathaniel Rateliff): bass, and Mitchell Yoshida (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros): keyboards, round out the core band.

"Before I met Rae, I played with two different projects: a blues-rock band and a band like Crosby, Stills & Nash," says Oscar, who co-wrote the bulk of the album's material with Rae and collaborator Coby Ryan McLaughlin. "When we began writing songs together, our styles meshed and it was like my two dream bands became this one thing. Our music was harmony-based from the very start, and it was all about storytelling, too. A lot of these songs are about our real lives."

From the dark, descending riffs of the album's anthemic opener, "Throw My Body,” to the folksy acoustics of the closing track, "Wasn't It Good," Calling Cadence offers a mix of love songs, breakup ballads and character studies. Along the way, the songwriters make room for '70s funk ("Good Day"), atmospheric Americana ("California Bartender") and country-soul ("Took a Chance"), shining a light on the full reach of their musical range. 

"It's a lot of lessons in love, along with songs about self-realization, self-confidence and knowing your worth," says Rae. "There's so much authenticity in the music — not only because we're singing about our own experiences, but because we're singing without Auto-Tune. What you hear on the album is what you'd hear at our shows. It's raw. It's real."

For Calling Cadence (whose name nods to Oscar's time in the army), recording to analog tape wasn't just a production choice; it was a way of maintaining honesty with themselves and their audience. Like the classic albums that inspired Calling Cadence's layered vocal arrangements and warm, guitar-driven sound, the record is a genuine snapshot of a band on the rise. And, once again, it all comes back to harmony. 

"When you're playing live and people know your songs, it's like you're calling cadence in the military," Oscar says. "There's that connection — that call and response with your audience — that brings everyone together. And that's what we hope to do with these songs."

Hamish Anderson

photo credit Emma Gillett

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Named one of Total Guitar's: Top 10 Best New Guitarists in 2018 two years after being named one of Yahoo! Music’s “Top Ten Best New Artist,” Australia’s roots-rock artist, Hamish Anderson follows his uplifting 2021 release Morning Light, with Everything Starts Again, available February 4, 2022.  

Hamish Anderson debuted in 2016 with the full-length album Trouble -- produced by Grammy-winner Jim Scott (the title track, Trouble, still appears on Spotify’s Official Blues & Roots Rock Playlist from April 2016). He supported the album with 11 performances at SXSW (2017); opened for BB King, Vintage Trouble, Drive-By Truckers, Jared & The Mill, Low Cut Connie; and toured the US while appearing at US festivals such as BottleRock, Firefly, Echo Park Rising, Mountain Jam, High Sierra, Big Blues Bender, Summerfest, Telluride Blues & Brews Festival and Canada’s RBC Bluesfest Ottawa. He was a Taco Bell “Feed the Beat” artist and was featured on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic with his single, “U”, which was profiled also on NPR Music’s Heavy Rotation along with the entire album, Trouble. 

In January 2018, NPR profiled Hamish’s album -- a year after it was released --on “Here & Now”/DJ Sessions via Anne Litt from KCRW. That summer, he released "No Good” the first single from his sophomore album Out of My Head (which still appears on Nu-Blue Spotify Official Playlist), did a 3-week festival tour in Europe, performed at BottleRock Napa, and toured the East Coast. He ended 2018 by opening for Doyle Bramhall II at a sold-out show in LA. His single, “Breaking Down”, was released in November 2018 on All Things Go where they stated: "the young artist clearly knows the path from nostalgia to the future.” 

While “Breaking Down” and “No Good” are superb examples of rollicking rock, they are just one of many genres that Hamish dips his toes into on Out Of My Head. Americana, soul, pop, roots, blues, rock; that’s a lot of ground to cover, but Hamish does it with a natural ease that’s far beyond his years. The mellow (“What You Do To Me,” “Damaged Goods”) and the upbeat (“No Good,” “You Give Me Something”) tracks on this record sit comfortably next to each other; all buoyed by a knack for clever, hook-driven songwriting and a clear, burning passion that drives the music from the first strum to the last. 

He opened for Gary Clark Jr. in April 2019 in his home country of Australia and then returned to the US to appear at Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, TN in May and release his new album. He rounded out 2019 with appearances at Mont Tremblant Music Fest in Quebec, Canada, and a headline tour of Europe. 

Hamish returned to Australia in early 2020 to open for George Thorogood & The Destroyers on his sold out tour. Then, while the world pivoted from March on, he stayed busy supporting Out of My Head as it was awarded the Independent Music Award for Best Album - Blues with its fifth radio single, “The Fall” at AAA Non Comm (#60) and Americana (#41). He and his album were also featured in Guitar Player Magazine in the August 2020 Issue which resulted in a cover mention for Hamish.  

In 2021, during lockdown in Australia, he returned with a new single, Morning Light -- a first for Hamish in many ways including his first time co-producing (with David Davis, Miguel, Lauren Ruth Ward), first time recording remotely and first time releasing a revealing and upbeat song style in a pandemic! 

He looks to start 2022 off right with “Everything Starts Again” available February 4th, 2022. 

The Weeping Willows

photo credit Ian Laidlaw

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2021 CMAA ‘Golden Guitar’, Australian Folk Music and Music Victoria Award winners, The Weeping Willows (Laura Coates and Andrew Wrigglesworth) are a couple of old souls, steeped in Bluegrass tradition and draped in Gothic Americana imagery.  They regale their audiences with stories of sunshine and romance, God and The Devil, murder and decay.  That kind of description might make them sound like some carefully contrived concept-act but there’s something truly different about The Weeping Willows: they really mean it…

2017-2021 saw The Weeping Willows nominated for 10 x CMAA ‘Golden Guitar’ awards, 4 x Country Music Channel (CMC) awards, 2 x Australian Folk Music Awards (AFMAs), Live Act of the Year (Country) in the National Live Music Awards (NLMAs), performing at AmericanaFest (USA), Folk Alliance International (USA), Maverick Festival (UK), Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Out On The Weekend and the Australian Americana Music Honours.  In recent years they have supported Lukas Nelson & POTR (USA), Hayes Carll (USA), Iris DeMent (USA), Eilen Jewell (USA) and Willie Watson (USA) and completed national and international tours in support of their sophomore album, Before Darkness Comes A-Callin’, which received four-star reviews in Rolling Stone, The Australian and The Music.  A Weeping Willows performance, whether live on location or caught on tape will always delight. 

Suzanne Santo

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Suzanne Santo has never been afraid to blur the lines. A tireless creator, she's built her sound in the grey area between Americana, Southern-gothic soul, and forward-thinking rock & roll. It's a sound that nods to her past — a childhood spent in the Rust Belt; a decade logged as a member of the L.A.-based duo HoneyHoney; the acclaimed solo album, Ruby Red, that launched a new phase of her career in 2017; and the world tour that took her from Greece to Glastonbury as a member of Hozier's band — while still exploring new territory. With Yard Sale, Santo boldly moves forward, staking her claim once again as an Americana innovator. It's an album inspired by the past, written by an artist who's only interested in the here-and-now. And for Suzanne Santo, the here-and-now sounds pretty good.  

Yard Sale, her second release as a solo artist, finds Santo in transition. She began writing the album while touring the globe with Hozier — a gig that utilized her strengths not only as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, but as a road warrior, too. "We never stopped," she says of the year-long trek, which often found her pulling double-duty as Hozier's opening act and bandmate. "Looking back, I can recognize how much of a game-changer it was. It raised my musicianship to a new level. It truly reshaped my career."  

Songs like "Fall For That" were written between band rehearsals, with Santo holing herself up in a farmhouse on the rural Irish coast. Others were finished during bus rides, backstage writing sessions, and hotel stays. Grateful for the experience but eager to return to her solo career, she finished her run with Hozier, joining the band for one final gig — a milestone performance at Glastonbury, with 60,000 fans watching — before flying home to Los Angeles. Within three days, she was back in the studio, working with producer John Spiker on the most compelling album of her career.  

Santo didn't remain in Los Angeles for very long. Things had changed since she released 2017's Ruby Red, an album produced by Butch Walker and hailed by Rolling Stone for its "expansion of her Americana roots." She'd split up with her longtime partner. Her old band, HoneyHoney, was on hiatus. Feeling lonely in her own home, Santo infused songs like "Common Sense" and "Idiot" with achingly gorgeous melodies and woozy melancholia. She then got the hell out, moving to Austin — a city whose fingerprints are all over Yard Sale, thanks to appearances by hometown heroes like Shakey Graves and Gary Clark Jr. — and falling in love all over again. Throughout it all, Santo continued writing songs, filling Yard Sale with the ups and downs of a life largely spent on the run. 

If yard sales represent a homeowner's purging of old possessions in order to clear up some much-needed room, then Yard Sale marks the moment where Suzanne Santo makes peace with her past and embraces a better, bolder present. Musically, she's at the top of her game, writing her own string arrangements and singing each song an agile, acrobatic voice. On "Since I've Had Your Love," she bridges the gap between indie-rock and neo-soul, punctuating the song's middle stretch with a cinematic violin solo. She mixes gospel influences with a deconstructed R&B beat on "Over and Over Again," recounts some hard-learned lessons with the folk-rock anthem "Mercy," and drapes "Bad Beast" with layers of spacey, atmospheric electric guitar. Shakey Graves contributes to "Afraid of Heights," a rainy-day ballad driven forward by a metronomic drum pattern, and Gary Clark Jr. punctuates the guitar-driven "Fall For That" with fiery fretwork. 

"This is like one of those yard sales where there's something for everybody," Santo says. "You want a crockpot or a racquetball paddle? A duvet cover? I've got it." On a more serious note, she adds, "But I've also gotten into the emotional concept of what a yard sale really is, too. This record is about the things I've left behind and the things I've held onto. I was broken up with while writing the record. I fell in love again while writing the record. And I learned to fearlessly follow my gut, in all places of my life, while making this record." 

You can't blame Suzanne Santo from looking back once in awhile. Raised in Parma, OH, she was scouted as a model and actress at 14 years old, spent her summer vacations working in locations like Tokyo, and later moved to New York City, where she attended the Professional Children's School alongside classmates like Jack Antonoff and Scarlett Johansson. Moving to Los Angeles in her late teens, she formed HoneyHoney and released three albums with the duo, working with top-shelf Americana labels like Lost Highway and Rounder Records along the way. Working with Butch Walker on 2017's Ruby Red resulted in an offer to join Walker's touring band, followed one year later by a similar request from Hozier. 

"It's a rollercoaster, and I've been strapped in pretty good," she says. "I've been riding it out." 

Oshima Brothers

credit: Jamie Oshima

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 Maine-based indie duo, Oshima Brothers’ have been creating music together since childhood. The brothers blend songs from the heart with blood harmonies to produce a "roots-based pop sound that is infectious." (NPR) On stage, Sean and Jamie offer lush vocals, live looping, foot percussion, electric and acoustic guitars, vintage keyboard and bass - often all at once. They want every show to feel like a deep breath, a dance party and a sonic embrace. When not recording or touring they find time to film and produce their own music videos, tie their own shoes and cook elaborate feasts. Maine Public Radio’s Sara Willis describes their songs as “beautiful, those brother harmonies can’t be beat. They are uplifting and, let’s face it, we need uplifting these days.”

Ashley Myles

credit: Shervin Lainez

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On her debut EP Tides, Ashley Myles sings about tides, fires, and storms—all phenomena that could describe her voice. Her powerhouse vocals are tsunamis and fireworks and hurricanes, but they’re also wading pools and sparks and squalls. Within her power, she channels the obstacles that made her that way.

Tides, out on March 25, showcases four tracks that dive deep into the understanding that there are situations we can’t change. The soul-infused pop songs carry their own, but it’s Myles’ voice that really lifts them up.

“Growing up in Long Island, I always felt the pull of New York City,” says Ashley. It was in the city where she came of age with Broadway, soaking in the energy of the performances. And it was in Madison Square Garden where she performed her first professional role at age 11—a Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz. 

Musical theater shaped much of Myles’ vocal and performance development. As a child, she learned the bel canto method of singing.  She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Berklee School of Music for acting and performance lessons, respectively.  She attended the Jazz Music Program at The New School for college. “I definitely learned stage presence from my theatre days, as well as storytelling through music,” Myles says.  

With Tides, she brings those skills to four original songs. In them, she delivers clear-eyed reflections on relationships and overcoming adversity. Working with co-writer and producer Rob Kleiner (Kylie Minogue, Cee Lo Green) in his Los Angeles studio, Myles transformed her songs into forces of nature. 

“’Tides’ is about the cyclical nature of relationships. They ebb and flow, but ultimately we revisit similar themes in the various relationships we may have, whether that be with family, friends, or romantic partners,” says the singer-songwriter. 

The anthemic R&B track pulses with Myles’ sultry soul vibes. “You play the part / I patch the holes,” Myles sings, acknowledging the unsteady nature of a relationship. “Gonna name this storm after you / ‘cause there’s a before and after you,” she later sings. There’s so much wisdom in those lines, unfurling like a rainstorm that washes you clean. 

“Tides” gives way to “Fire”—elementally opposed, but here both songs are about refusing to settle for less. “Fire” is built upon a big, bluesy stomp that bolsters Myles’s voice without overpowering it. In the vein of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” the structure and instrumentation form the perfect cheering squad for Myles’ demanding attention from a lover. 

“It’s about longing for something more in a relationship.  It’s when you want more from the person, more passion, but you don’t want to scare them off,” she says.  “Fire, not to burn you down / not to run you out of town / I just need a little heat to make me feel complete / when you're not around,” she confesses in the lyrics, the whole song shot through with sexual tension.

“Bricks” is a striking piano ballad, the repeated arpeggios standing in for the ruins of a relationships. 

“So, what did I expect? / I’ve never been an architect,” Myles opens, and we brace ourselves to hear about a collapse. But, more painfully, the song is delivered from the brink of one. “Bricks can build us up / bricks can weigh us down,­­” she sings in the chorus. 

The song is an honest, relatable conversation one might have in the tough moments of a relationship. For every woman who’s ever asserted herself in a relationship even though her hands were shaking, this is a must-listen. 

Closing track “The Storm” is an inspirational song with an electrifying chorus. The verses slow-burn with references to futility and frustration. The production perfectly sets up the transition to the chorus’ explosion, which reminds us that with crisis comes new opportunities. 

“This is the struggle from which you are born,” Myles sings. This lyric is the perfect microcosm for the EP.  Her songs don’t deny that we all face storms. Instead, it celebrates that these moments of upheaval are the times in which one can shine. Just as lightning can form glass, our challenges make us infinitely bolder versions of ourselves.

Heather Bond

Photo Credit: Meg Sagi

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Nashville artist Heather Bond makes radiant, cinematic indie-pop laced with elements of disco and R&B. Her lyrics reflect on everything from love, seduction, and heartbreak to social media, nostalgia, and politics, with an easy, modern intelligence enhanced by crystal-clear vocals and crisp harmonies. Her sound is both elegant and eclectic, evoking the breezy clarity of piano-pop artists like Norah Jones and Regina Spektor mixed with the jazzy, experimental range of Fiona Apple. 

Now poised to release her sophomore solo album, The Mess We Created, Bond presents a diverse and distinctively groovy new collection, written in close collaboration with renowned bassist and producer Viktor Krauss (Lyle Lovett, Bill Frisell, James Taylor, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss). “We didn’t have a plan for our sound; we just wanted to create interesting music,” says Bond. The duo’s first collaborative single “The Mirage” (track 2 on The Mess We Created) became one of the year’s top 100 most played songs on Nashville’s Lightning 100 radio, inspiring Bond and Krauss to continue working together on what would ultimately become the full-length album.

Collaborating expanded Bond’s creative process: An experienced songwriter and pianist, she began writing dynamic melodies to unique bass lines crafted by Krauss, and together the pair took advantage of Krauss’s extensive collection of vintage musical equipment. The resulting sound is enjoyably tricky and difficult to categorize: completely modern while hinting at an earlier musical era. No software synths or reproduced samples were used. “Heather has a classic voice,” says Krauss. “As a producer, I felt it was important to make music that could be appreciated for decades—not just for right now."

Born in Texas and raised in Louisville, KY, Bond spent the summer after college waitressing, saving money, recording demos, and preparing to move to Nashville. “There was never a plan B! A career in music was always my future,” she says. She earned a name for herself performing live, often sold-out shows at local venues, including Nashville’s iconic Bluebird Cafe. Soon after, she signed with Modern Works Music Publishing and Whizbang Music Licensing, which led to a list of international television placements, including Jane the Virgin, Charmed, and Sesame Street, as well as numerous high-profile cuts, including “This Time” featuring Joss Stone. Bond quickly became a sought-after songwriter, cowriting with artists and producers in Nashville, Los Angeles., and New York. She also appeared on television, playing piano on several episodes of ABC’s hit series Nashville. In addition to her solo work, Bond is a singer, songwriter, and keytar player for retro electropop “supergroup” The Daybreaks with whom she continues to release new music.

Bond released her debut solo album So Long in 2015, produced by GRAMMY-nominated artist Matthew Odmark (Jars of Clay), and in 2019 was selected by GRAMMY-winning producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Shawn Colvin, Madeleine Peyroux, Tracy Chapman) as the only American woman artist included in Beyond Music Volume One: Same Sky. The 13-track, cross-cultural compilation featured artists from all over the world and received critical acclaim, including a nod to Bond in Forbes: “Bond, a composer of heartfelt ballads and singer-songwriter tunes one could easily imagine at home on the radio, really establishes herself as the Sara Bareilles of the group.” 

Bond’s second solo album The Mess We Created is a refreshing, well-crafted, and unique collection featuring first-rate musicians. The songs reveal a maturity gained from years of experience in the music industry. With Krauss as the primarily instrumentalist, along with L.A. drummer Matt Chamberlain (Lorde, Tori Amos) and Jano Rix of The Wood Brothers, the album is vibrant, idiosyncratic, and rooted in rhythm. Each song showcases Bond’s effortlessly agile vocal delivery, shifting from the smooth purity of Sade (in “Resist”) to the cheeky sweetness of Kylie Minogue (in “Ich Weiss Nicht”) to the delicate depth of Parisian singer Keren Ann (in “Fountain of Youth” and “Fate”). The album closes in an energetic punch with the spritely, beat-driven single “Feel It.” Bond is eager to perform these new songs and connect with audiences across the world again soon. The Mess We Created is set for release on February 25, 2022.

Ali Sperry

Photo credit: Fairlight Hubbard

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Ali Sperry, when faced with a year of trauma, racial reckoning, and downright worldwide existential crisis, did what she has always done — turned inward and wrote songs that channeled, mirrored and ultimately DISTILLED those cultural currents — distilled is the operative word, here, as she and her producer, Jamie Dick, wisely avoid long-form folk indulgence for streamlined contours and razor hooks that feel more rock/pop than folk, and are fairly begging for a decent car stereo and an open road.  

Ali, in her singing and writing, is the people’s champ of the “less is more" ethos. There is a slight echo of Laurel Canyon in the sonics of the record, and, always, the confident under-singing of a woman who knows her words and melodies will happily do the heavy lifting. 

She and Jamie have brought in an absolute murderers' row of beloved Nashville players, including Jen Gunderman, Audley Freed, Sadler Vaden, Joe Pisapia, Owen Biddle, Kai Welch, Kristin Weber, Rich Hinman, and a slew of other bright lights. It's a testament to both their instincts and their respect for Sperry’s presence and voice, that it never feels like a cavalcade of assembled star-turns, but a real love-in of massively talented musical souls. 

Jamie Dick’s production artfully maintains the connective tissue from song to song, and always gives pride of place to Sperry’s voice and truth telling.  Raised by musician/Transcendental Meditation-teacher parents in Fairfield, Iowa, music has been a constant thread throughout Sperry’s life and was the driving force that brought her to Nashville in 2009. She is such a beloved presence around Nashville -co-writing, teaching yoga or lending a listening ear to friends in high-end coffee shops or low-end dives…who knows how much the world will be able to get her away for extended touring…we can hope. Nevertheless, this is a record that should quietly find its way into a lot of needy hearts. 

THE SULLY BAND

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On March 11, 2022, The Sully Band, voted Best Live Band at the 2020 San Diego Music Awards, will release their debut LP, Let’s Straighten It Out, conceived in the hallowed halls of Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood, California (formerly A&M Studios). With Let’s Straighten It Out!, Sully and his bluesy, nine-piece beast of a band take us on a journey through the ups, downs, and all-arounds of love by way of 10 classic ‘60s and ‘70s soul, blues, and R&B tunes. The album will be released via Belly Up Records, and marketed and distributed by Blue Élan Records. 

This labor of love album was recorded in only five jam-packed days, with “mostly-live” versions of carefully curated love-themed songs that made a mark when they were originally released and yet also feel relevant today. Sully’s soulful, heartfelt vocals cut across layers of horns and guitars that take the listener on an emotional arc of joy, disappointment, struggle, and redemption. 

Multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite, Big Head Todd) provided the musical curation that makes up Let’s Straighten It Out. Treasured tunes like Billy Preston’s “Nothing from Nothing” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” share the tracklist with lesser-known nuggets like “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” by Ray Charles; the title track, first recorded by Latimore in 1974; Shuggie Otis’ “Ice Cold Daydream”; and “I Wish It Would Rain,” first made a hit by The Temptations. Acclaimed San Diego soul singer, Rebecca Jade, shared vocal duties with Sully on Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John) and Jessie Hill’s “When the Battle Is Over,” while on “If You Love Me Like You Say,” the late Albert Collins is evoked by Anthony Cullins, the 20-year-old guitar sensation from Fallbrook, California. 

Anchored by Grammy Award-winning slayer of the bass, James East (Eric Clapton, Elton John, Michael Jackson, and many others), The Sully Band is composed of seasoned, accomplished players who hail from diverse locales like Japan, Panama, and the island of Lemon Grove. The horn section features sax-flute-harp-man Tripp Sprague (Kenny Loggins, The Little River Band, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Four Tops) and trumpet and flugelhorn player Steve Dillard (The Righteous Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd). 

Sully himself is an enigma. He caught the music bug at age six after picking up a nylon-string guitar and playing the first few chords of “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” with his dad. In high school, the barrel-chested, all-American football player rocked out to Boston and Foreigner with his buddies, starred in every show-tune-laden musical theatre production through college, and ended each day with James Brown or Stevie Wonder on his Pioneer receiver.   

In his 20’s, after pounding the unforgiving Los Angeles pavement trying to cut a record deal, he embarked on a 35-year detour, traveling a storied path from Price Club cashier to self-made entrepreneur and national radio/TV personality, ultimately finding his way back to his first true love: music.  

Now, after years away from the stage, he is back in full force. He and the band have been playing regional and national shows to small but mighty crowds, from Southern California’s legendary Belly Up Tavern to Austin’s illustrious Antone’s Nightclub, making his mark as a compelling musician and live performer ready to “Straighten it Out.” 

PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE SHERMAN

Brian Mackey

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Singer-songwriter Brian Mackey voices what often goes unsaid with warmth and vulnerability that is reminiscent yet new. He's often been told that he has a sound that combines a healthy balance of folk, pop, rock, and Americana, drawing comparisons to artists like the late Jim Croce. Originally from the northern Florida panhandle, Brian was raised on a diet of 90s alt-rock and 70s folk music.  

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian released his single "Keep the World Alive," written and recorded remotely as an anthem for 2020 and how the world as we knew it has changed - simultaneously with the loss of his brother. In a time when the pandemic has also changed the landscape of the music and live entertainment industry in its entirety, it was featured in American Songwriter Magazine; the video garnered over 2M views on Facebook, and sparked much coverage across numerous press outlets. 

Brian recorded his forthcoming full-length album, his second, at Sony Tree Studios in Nashville. A writing project during 2019-20 with his friend Jeff King (Reba McEntire/Brooks & Dunn) sparked several tracks—“My Only Friend” and “Six Strings” on the new album, as well as Mackey’s new standouts, “Saturday Night Sleeping,” “Even Though I Try,” “Count The Stars,” and “Bird In A Cage.” 

The album comes after a period of touring and single releases. In 2018 and 2019, Brian toured with Kate Voegele and Tyler Hilton on their joint European tour and on Hilton’s solo tour, with Howie Day, and American Idol Winner Taylor Hicks. The tours supported a collection of singles, "Promise Me," "Don't Own Much," "Underwater," and "Learn to Be," produced in Los Angeles by Jon Levine (Rachel Platten, Andy Grammer). "Learn to Be" charted #1 Most-Added for three weeks in a row, tied with John Mayer on the US FMQB A/C Charts. This single, poppy and bold, reflects on the life lessons of learning to live without a crutch, and the liberation of breaking free. The music video for "Underwater" premiered on the Huffington Post, boasting the headline "Sublimely Gorgeous Music From Brian Mackey." It was also officially nominated for an HMMA award for "Best Independent Music Video,” along with his video for “Don’t Own Much.” During this timeframe, he has also toured with David Bromberg in the US, with Ron Pope in Europe, and Jon McLaughlin for select dates.  

In 2015, Brian released his first full-length album Broken Heartstrings, a collection of pop infused American folk-rock, also in Nashville. The music took him through a very personal journey, spurred by loss and then renewal and signified a new beginning for Brian. He assembled a talented team: Producer Sam Ashworth, Engineer Richie Biggs (Tom Petty, The Civil Wars), bassist Mark Hill (Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban) and guitarist Jeff King, (Reba McEntyre/Brooks & Dunn). 

 Broken Heartstrings yielded his hit single, “Are You Listening,” which, after being featured on YouTube by gamer Gronkh about the PlayStation 4 game “Until Dawn,” became a runaway hit in Germany. The song peaked at #8 on the A/C Radio Charts in the US, charted top 25 on German iTunes, was on the ‘100 Most Sold’ chart on Amazon Germany, had over 400k streams on Spotify, and resulted in sold-out shows throughout the country.

Jesse Correll

Photo: Stacie Huckeba

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Shibori is a traditional Japanese resist-dyeing technique. A pattern is made by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing a natural fabric, dyeing, and then releasing the bind and pressure to reveal its pattern. Techniques were ancestral, handed down exclusively within families.  When the fabric is returned to its flat form after dyeing, the design that emerges is the result of the bound and tied three-dimensional shape. The cloth sensitively records both the form and the pressure; the “memory” of the tied shape remains imprinted in the cloth. 

“The technique spoke to me. We endure a lifelong process of unfolding, unbinding, unstitching, and unblocking. Little by little, we see that what we thought were stains, are intricate patterns; the design of unseen hands,” singer-songwriter Jesse Correll shares. The Nashville-based artist explores this parable on his latest album, Inner Shibori, out February 11, 2022. It’s a timeless and elegantly expressive record that feels like a singer-songwriter album draped in torch-song finery.  

Inner Shibori is Jesse’s fourth record since 1994, and his second release after a 15-year hiatus from music. The 13-song release is an album oozing luxury and longing. The production approach; sophisticated and tastefully sentimental songs; and the smooth musicianship recalls Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker’s lonely balladeering, and the type of recordings made at Capitol Studios in Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s. The songs are also interwoven with threads of Americana, R&B, soul, and folk, recalling contemporary artists such as Ray LaMontagne, Jacob Collier, and Madison Cunningham.  

Jesse’s last release, 2015’s Held Momentarily, was an intimately soulful bedroom production that captured the joys of romantic and personal reclamation. For Jesse, this included a new love relationship and returning to music. Jesse is a Berklee graduate and a lifelong musician, and he came back with a vengeance. He left New York and followed his muse to Music City, where he blossomed as a songwriter, a member of the Nashville music community, and a popular podcaster. Parallel to this evolution, another dynamic was playing out. Jesse and his lady were two marriage-resistant lovers that decided to do the thing, but unfortunately, their seven-year union unraveled in under a year of marriage.  

What seemed and felt like a bottom, like Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours come to life, became a turning point of self-reflection, acceptance, and even a love rebirth. This journey became an inner Shibori experience for Jesse, and he processes it on his album.  “It was like a breakup with my former self. I had been running from old stuff—like early abandonment—and I needed to address them to move on. There is definitely a story of the greatest love ever followed by the worst pain ever. To the outside, I’m sure it looked like wtf happened,” he says laughing.  

The 13 tracks of the Inner Shibori came to life during three days of tracking at Skinny Elephant Recording, in Nashville with engineer Dylan Alldredge. The album was produced by Jesse and guitarist/singer-songwriter/producer Anne McCue. The pair also handpicked the core band and the session auxiliary musicians.  

 Reflecting on the Inner Shibori, Jesse says: “This album felt like a homecoming. Rebirth, the record I made at the end of my Berklee years, hinted at my musical identity. I can see now that I got lost for a while, and struggled to find my way back. Held Momentarily was a turning point. I needed all of those years of being lost to be able to fully express myself as a musician; as a human being. Making this record, and finding my home in the Nashville music community, has been a peak experience that I will never forget.” 

CJ Temple

Credit: Shawnee Custalow

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Dreamy yet down-to-earth, singer-songwriter CJ Temple distills her vibrant personality and chaotic emotions into stirring anthems that hover between indie folk and serene, modern pop. Her music comes from deep within, borne by a lifelong love of singing and laced with homemade, hip-hop-inspired beats that transform the songs into what she calls “ethereal bedroom pop.” CJ’s distinctly smooth vocals have been compared to artists like Annie Lennox, Sarah McLachlan, and Amy Lee, but her agile range and empathetic approach to songwriting set her apart: “The way I see it, I’m creating a space, not selling you a product.” After years working in corporate America, struggling with self-doubt and mental health, CJ returned to music with a singular goal: to provide a space of calm amid the chaos. Her debut full-length album Smoke, set for release in late 2021, showcases her softness as well as her sharpness in eleven intimate, atmospheric tracks. “Music has always been what keeps me connected to my sense of self. I just want to make people comfortable, give someone a little moment to breathe.”

The daughter and granddaughter of opera singers, CJ spent her childhood singing in church choirs, surrounded by the gravitas of two early musical styles that helped shape the unique depth of her sound. Though she left the religious part behind, she developed a penchant for “the kind of music that’s so beautiful it’s almost painful,” later recognizing the same balance of joy and melancholy in contemporary secular acts like Bon Iver and Iron & Wine. She pursued vocal training throughout her teens, performed in show choirs, and fell in love with musical theater (which she continued in college). Her evolution as a songwriter began when she wrote her first official song at fifteen, finding an outlet that allowed her to tell stories and use her voice as an instrument. What began as a personal practice eventually led to posting songs on Soundcloud, but crippling fear kept her from seeking feedback or fame. In 2015 she composed the title track for a friend’s feature-length indie film before resigning herself to a corporate job. “I’d convinced myself it was just a hobby, so I quit before I even started. Self-preservation is cute until it robs you of your passion.”

What led CJ back to music was, oddly enough, TikTok. Inspired by the lighthearted nature of the video platform and the wild creativity of its members, she began posting covers in 2020, then her own originals, finding both an outlet and a following for her candor and self-deprecating charisma. Her audience grew to one million followers in nine months, and when those followers began requesting songs, she started singing more, reigniting a passion for what she’d always loved most. She was discovered via TikTok by Nashville artist manager Erin Anderson, who encouraged CJ to record and release an album. “Music heals me, and for years I didn’t let myself feel that joy. I had thirteen songs on my computer written, just sitting there. I realized I wanted to share them.” Those songs, which offered a glimpse into CJ’s private life from ages eighteen to thirty-three, became the basis for her debut album Smoke. In February 2021, Anderson helped her launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund the album, raising forty thousand dollars of support from friends and followers.

A collection of stunning, narrative songs driven by well-crafted vocal melodies and supported by symphonic swells, Smoke represents everything that clouds the good in life: depression, anxiety, sadness, and struggle. It’s what you have to wade through to get to the other side. Recorded and produced in Nashville by Josh Kaler (Marc Scibilia, William Fitzsimmons, Frances Cone), the album feels intricately polished yet somehow raw. CJ has the chops of a seasoned a capella singer paired with a vulnerable, self-aware lyrical style and a knack for lush, well-placed harmonies. Her smooth voice seems to float over the mix, creating a compelling style that feels both expansive and pure (think Imogen Heap meets Depeche Mode). With elegant, thoughtful lyrics drawn from personal experience, the songs explore themes of love and sadness with characteristic authenticity. “It’s the culmination of everything, right? Love and sadness. Put 'em together and that’s life.”

Mackin Carroll

Credit: @kugelmama

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Mackin Carroll (he/him) is a punch to the gut and a hug to the heart. Carroll’s eclectic singer-songwriter songs range in subject from things like outer space, to breakfast foods, to utter heartbreak - all sung in a voice that’s both jagged and sweet. Harkening back to the melancholia of 00’s indie artists, Carroll’s songs, drenched in folk and searing with indie rock spirit, are deeply personal and riddled with both offbeat metaphors and illustrious melodies. If his influences were carpooling, Conor Oberst would be driving, Sufjan Stevens would call shotgun, and Jeff Tweedy and Ben Gibbard would be staring out the windows in the back seat, while Ben Folds was tied up in the trunk. Rising from the suburbs, Carroll cut his teeth in garage bands, playing the bass guitar and shouting poetry that he wrote in his bedroom or in the back of math class over scrappy, juvenile jams. These days, Carroll, often clad in a skirt or dress, always catches fire live, shouting and whispering, transcending and connecting. Carroll always brings his music to life at a show and will usually play unreleased songs and improvise new ones on the spot. His debut solo album, “Learning How to Swim”, is a lyrical powerhouse - the culmination of his quest for self knowledge, born out of a year of obsessive recording and personal reflection, refining his sound and bringing his songs of loneliness, garbage, and metaphysics to life in a way that only he could.