RYANHOOD RELEASES SINGLE “THE FIGHT” & ANNOUNCES NEW LP "UNDER THE LEAVES" OUT ON APRIL 16TH

TUCSON ACOUSTIC DUO RYANHOOD TO RELEASE NEW LP

UNDER THE LEAVES ON APRIL 16TH

FIRST SINGLE “THE FIGHT” OUT EVERYWHERE TODAY

“THE FIGHT”

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Award-winning Tucson, Arizona-based duo Ryanhood is thrilled to announce their latest album, Under The Leaves, set for release on April 16th. American Songwriter announced the upcoming LP with the premiere of lead single “The Fight.”

“The more we fight, the more we invigorate the thing we’re fighting against. And without knowing it, the more we as people eventually become the kind of thing we’re fighting against,” Ryanhood vocalist and lyricist Cameron Hood told American Songwriter about the song’s premise of cultural scapegoating. “It’s not about telling another person or group how they should be processing their fears or hurts differently,” he continues. “It’s about noticing how you do it. It has to start with you… with me.” Hood drew inspiration from the likes of French historian René Girard and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Martin Luther King, Jr., and even Psalm 46. The message is intelligent but never pretentious, and shines against the backdrop of bandmate Ryan David Green’s intricate guitar work and arrangement. 

“‘The Fight’ and its intellectualism is a strange though perfectly complementary companion to its mainstream indiepop sensibility,” says American Songwriter. “While the rhythm clutches the primal hunger for melodicism, the subject matter challenges you to reach in deep and ponder what it takes to achieve peace, eventually encircling the truth that change can only come from within.”

Named ‘Best Group/Duo’ in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards, Ryanhood got their first break more than a decade ago as street-performers at Boston’s Quincy Market. They’ve since gone on to perform more than a thousand shows in 45 U.S. states over the past decade, and have shared stages with Jason Mraz, Matt Nathanson, Train, and many more. 

Their latest album, Under the Leaves, sees the lead guitarist Green stepping into the role of sole producer, weaving a tapestry of lush strings and rich harmonies. The album, like their shows, is driven by strong acoustic guitar performances and is at turns energetic, hopeful, and quietly moving—a musical invitation to breathe, and to soak in a river of melodies and harmonic hooks. 

Hood, the band’s primary lyricist, has waded into those musical rivers with dream-like verses about seeds and forests, breath and wind, and the cycles and seasons that frame our lives. Throughout the album’s songs, a question is asked: How do we create meaningful and lasting change in a world filled with division and turmoil? The offer on Under the Leaves is to slow down and face the one thing we have the power to change - ourselves - as the duo sings on the album’s second track, “the only revolution is the one within.” 

Under The Leaves will be available digitally, as well as on vinyl and CD. The band has also written a companion book, featuring essays and stories behind the songs, expanded artwork, and photography that is also available for purchase. Click HERE to order.

UNDER THE LEAVES TRACKLIST

UNDER THE LEAVES

THE FIGHT

SEEING IN THE DARK

I DIDN’T HAVE THE CHANCE

APPY RETURNS

GONE BEFORE I GO

NOT ALONE

WIDE AWAKE IN A DREAM

RUINS

MORNING BREAKING 

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GARRETT OWEN PREMIERES NEW SINGLE “NO ONE TO SAVE YOU” VIA AMERICAN SONGWRITER

GARRETT OWEN PREMIERES NEW SINGLE 

“NO ONE TO SAVE YOU” 

VIA AMERICAN SONGWRITER 

NEW LP QUIET LIVES 

SET FOR RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 18TH 

Garrett Owen is a consummate artist, with lyricism beyond his years and an inimitable playing style that has him earning new fans all over the place - NPR  

After a life of travel and introspection, Owen may have finally found his place after all - Dallas Observer 

He writes from and to the heart, his impassioned vocal work and emotional finger-picking second only to his stunning, evocative lyricism - Atwood Magazine 

One of his most expansive creations yet – V13 

Photo: Melissa Laree Cunningham

Today, Texas-based singer/songwriter Garrett Owen shares “No One To Save You,” the latest single from his forthcoming album Quiet Lives, due out September 18th. "With a sound akin to the more melancholy side of Jesse Malin, Owen brims with a mixture of mourning and understanding in his new single,” says American Songwriter. “Lyrically the award-winning songwriter cuts a swath a mile wide as he tells the all too familiar tale of love lost on a six stringed road.” “Touring can be stressful in a lot of ways – stressful on your physical health, your mental health and on your personal life,” Owen told American Songwriter. “A few years ago, I was on tour opening for Parker Millsap, driving myself to all the dates in my little Honda Civic. I was in a new relationship that ultimately couldn’t withstand that stress. It just didn’t work, and I can’t blame her really.” 

LISTEN: “NO ONE TO SAVE YOU” 

“No One To Save You” follows the release of “Hour In The Forest” and lead single “These Modern Times,” which Atwood Magazine called “a gust of sweet, somber, and seductive folk.” “These Modern Times” features Owens’ take on our society’s addiction to technology and constant digital connection, fleshing out the lyrics on one of his regular sojourns to the Brazos River, where he finds peace in the “dis-connection” of being in nature. Owen’s love of nature is ingrained in his DNA - his earliest memories involve frequent trips across the Serengeti and backyard wildlife most of us only experience at our local zoos. The son of missionaries, he grew up in Tanzania and Kenya, riding on the luggage rack of the family’s Nissan Patrol, with vast clear skies above him and gazelles running beside.  

LISTEN: “HOUR IN THE FOREST” 

LISTEN: “THESE MODERN TIMES” 

After leaving Africa, the family completed a stint in Ecuador before Owen’s parents moved the family back to Texas. Life as he knew it became a difficult endeavor; rimmed with the sharp edges of reality in an unfamiliar place, his attempts to settle into a culture he didn’t understand resulted in distress and a suicide attempt - a far cry from the idyllic landscape of his upbringing.      

Now, the award-winning artist, who calls to mind legends like Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, and Jesse Winchester, is gearing up to release his second full-length album, Quiet Lives. Though he revisits familiar subject matter such as the push-pull of relationships, love, and loss, Quiet Lives is about growth. The diverse 10-track collection delves into more experimental musical territory, as Owen toyed with complex chord changes, melodic dissonance, and intriguing storylines.  

“At its core, all art is based on a ‘true story,’ and by true, I mean the version we carry in our head and heart - the one that can lift or crush your spirit with equal capacity,” the golden-voiced Owen, who has shared stages with artists like Parker Millsap, Charlie Sexton, and Marty Stuart, explains. “Some suggest that your upbringing explains quirks of personality like my shyness, a tendency for introspection, and streaks of perfectionism. Maybe. I’m not so fatalistic as to believe our earliest experiences necessarily determine the arc of adult life, but my slightly foreign childhood never leaves my music or me. Everybody’s got a story to tell,” he adds. “I’m no different.”  

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MARKET JUNCTION ANNOUNCES NEW LP WITH THE RELEASE OF LEAD SINGLE "NEBRASKA"

MARKET JUNCTION UNVEILS NEW SINGLE “NEBRASKA” VIA AMERICAN SONGWRITER

NEW LP BURNING BRIDGES SET FOR RELEASE  ON AUGUST 7TH

Photo Credit: Jason Allison

Houston, Texas-based folk/Americana band Market Junction has announced their forthcoming album Burning Bridges, due out August 7th, with the release of lead single “Nebraska.” “Home is not a place. It is a connection to another person,” golden-voiced vocalist Matt Parrish told American Songwriter of the songs’s inspiration. “When you lose those people, you feel uprooted, disconnected, and lost. Being out on the road is hard on a relationship, yet the constant war inside us wages between the dreams we chase and the people we love. Sometimes the road wins and we are left with nothing but our own wanderlust.” American Songwriter called its lyrics “particularly poignant,” saying they “perfectly capture this sense of lonely restlessness.”

LISTEN: “NEBRASKA”

Burning Bridges“features the kind of deft songwriting that has earned Parrish and guitarist/keyboardist Justin Lofton accolades since the band’s debut,” adds American Songwriter. Parrish and Lofton, both award-winning songwriters, set out on a journey to create the kind of music they not only loved to listen to but music that they loved to play. Since those early days, the band expanded its lineup to include Taylor Hilyard on bass guitar and Michael Blattel on drums, sharing stages with Cory Morrow, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jack Ingram, Radney Foster and more. 

“We’ve done nothing the conventional way”, says Parrish. “It’s taken us nine years to figure out who we are and what direction we want to take our careers,” adds Lofton. The combination of lyrical prowess and Lofton’s fretboard mastery has resulted in a sound that is rooted in place and time, but that transcends both. While the band has found success in their beloved home state of Texas, they are ready to show the rest of the world what they can do. The wait will have been well worth it for Americana music fans across the country - each of the 10 tracks on Burning Bridges tell one story, one of a young man learning about love and its consequences. Sometimes the heartbreak spurs the traveling, and other times the traveling is the cause of the heartbreak. Either way, Burning Bridges will break your heart in the best kind of way, and have you reaching for the keys.   

TRACK LISTING

   When Your Heart Begins To Ache

Out Of Love

I Hope It Breaks Your Heart

Nebraska

Western Coast

A Stone Will Sink

Hello My Dear

Bird In A Cage

Livin’ A Lie

Burning Bridges

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NATALIE SCHLABS PREMIERES NEW SINGLE “HOME IS YOU” & ANNOUNCES NEW LP "DON’T LOOK TOO CLOSE" SET FOR RELEASE ON OCTOBER 16TH

PHOTO: FAIRLIGHT HUBBARD

Singer/songwriter Natalie Schlabs has announced her forthcoming album Don’t Look Too Close,  due out October 16th, with the release of lead single “Home Is You.” The song was co-written with Bekah Ham and features backing vocals from Katie Herzig. “Romantic, timeless love songs are great, but what about other kinds of love? Best friends, childhood neighbors, brothers and sisters, a mentor and mentee, family. This is just the kind of angle singer-songwriter Natalie Schlabs poses in many of her songs, including her latest, “Home Is You,” said American Songwriter in its premiere of the track, inspired by that person who is your “person.” “Schlabs’ voice possesses an audible kindness to it, that allows her to carry her performance with the calmness and sincerity necessary to portray a song crafted on the kind of love that overreaches any one type of relationship.” “Home Is You”

LISTEN: “HOME IS YOU”

The nine tracks that comprise Don’t Look Too Close, the second full-length effort from the Texas-bred Nashville-based artist, live in the tension between the beauty and heartbreak surrounding our closest relationships. The songs were written when Schlabs was pregnant with her first child, which caused a lot of reflection on her own upbringing and how she wanted to raise him. The album’s title came from the idea that "he’s going to see all the worst of me, be hurt by the worst of me, as much as I don’t want him to, and, as much as I want to be the best for him. I was thinking about how to raise a child, how to pass down values. There’s a dismantling of what I thought I knew,” she explains. “What do I value in my life and where did those things come from? What do I want to share with my children and what do I want to spare them from?” 

The tracks on Don’t Look Too Close traverse the spectrum of feelings that tend to coincide with love, from bittersweet consideration of “the wilderness caused by depression or illness” in “See What I See,” to the haunting gentleness of “Ophelia,” written for a friend who lost her daughter. The title track addresses the everyday aches and pains people tend to hide from loved ones, and reflects on love’s blindness, how “sometimes the ones you love will never know how much you love them.” The album as a whole represents a place, a time, and a pocket of feelings that are as distinctly human as they are beautiful. “Growing up surrounded by family in the flatlands, there’s not a whole lot going on outside of the people. The climate is extreme, and isolation binds you to the people around you. Everyone’s in each other’s business, and you learn that love can go in many directions. Sometimes it’s about solidarity and sacrifice, sometimes it’s obsessive or painful,” Schlabs says. “This record is about navigating those feelings within our closest relationships.”

Don’t Look Too Close steps into indie territory with a compelling mix of instrumentation laced with solo vocals that bloom into easy, delicate harmonies. Co-produced by Juan Solorzano and Zachary Dyke, with Caleb Hickman on saxophone and Joshua Rogers on bass, the album swells and ebbs with elegant, absorbing shapes. The songs are moody, candid, and tender, each featuring Schlabs’ characteristically sleek vocals front-and-center, backed by charming instrumental moments that add form and depth to the melodies.

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MATT LOVELL RELEASES SINGLE "90 PROOF" & ANNOUNCES DEBUT LP OUT 6/5

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Matt Lovell has announced the upcoming release of his debut album, Nobody Cries Today, out on June 5th. The video for the album’s soulful lead single “90 Proof,” which premiered via American Songwriter, was written during attempts to let go of a relationship that had ended. “I was also broke,” Lovell told American Songwriter. “I was what me and my friends laughingly call a ‘singer-songwaiter’ - employed by an upscale-ish burger restaurant in Nashville’s touristy Gulch neighborhood.” The song came to Lovell while he was working, and he ventured into the bathroom to record it on his phone. “I was in the middle of singing ‘I’ve been trying to lose your number, but my fingers won’t forget’ when one of my customers walked into the restaurant bathroom on me,” he recalled. “They probably still talk about their silly Nashville waiter singing in the bathroom.”

WATCH: “90 PROOF”

“Just one listen to Lovell’s voice as he delivers assertive but smooth blue eyed-soul during the song’s conflicted refrain (‘I got 90 proof / that I ain’t over you’) and that’s all the authentic connection the song needs,” said American Songwriter. “Lovell knows how to tap into a part of himself that can bring the emotions of ’90 Proof’ to the surface and doing so is all the more honorable, knowing the story he’s trying to tell, isn’t a made up screenplay; it’s one man being willing to revisit challenging parts of his life and do so with performative solemnity and grace.”

LISTEN: “90 PROOF”

All but one of the album’s songs were recorded in 2016 - just months before  Lovell nearly lost his life. On January 20, 2017, he was shot in the chest by a sixteen-year-old who attempted to steal his car. Miraculously, he lived. “This moment created a new center of gravity and re-ordered my understanding of everything I’ve experienced in this lifetime,” he explains. “Many people who experience an acute trauma go through somewhat of a euphoric period immediately after the incident occurs, and this was definitely my experience. The level of peace I felt was something I had never touched before. I wrote profusely, I gardened, I brought new life and vigor to my musical ventures, and I made peace with complicated friendships. More than anything, I found a level of great self-acceptance, and this created space for me to begin to learn how to live this life.”  

This era ended with the abrupt onset PTSD, causing the most difficult time Lovell had ever faced. He began to question everything, and struggled to find a way to articulate the horrors he was experiencing.  Now, on the other side of recovery, Lovell is excited to sing these songs again for anyone who will listen. “In these years of writing and recording, I have gathered quite a wild palette of paints,” he says. “In a way, Nobody Cries Today has actually been my teacher.  As I have written these songs, each of them has been like a tiny rowboat to get me from one day to the next. They have witnessed me in the years that I was in the throes of trying to find acceptance for myself and for the world I’m living in.  As a gay man of southern origin, this proved to be a tall order. These songs have also helped me to explore things like zest for life, discontent, hunger, truth, and hope,” he continues. “Nobody Cries Today contains every bit of earnestness, desire, and love that I have to give.”