SAD DADDY RELEASES HILARIOUSLY HEARTWARMING VIDEO FOR "CHARLIE PICKLE"

SAD DADDY’S NEW VIDEO “CHARLIE PICKLE” PREMIERES VIA TWANGVILLE

 NEW LP WAY UP IN THE HILLS DUE OUT JANUARY 28TH

Photo: Annemarie Sundell

WATCH: “CHARLIE PICKLE”

 Arkansas/Texas four-piece roots powerhouse Sad Daddy has unveiled their hilariously heartwarming new video for “Charlie Pickle,” the lead single from their forthcoming LP, Way Up In The Hills, due out on January 28th. “It’s about an old-timer who just doesn’t care what other people think and is frequently spurred to dance,” says Twangville in the video’s premiere. “It always reminded the band how friends and fans dance at shows. Fiddler Rebecca Patek came up with the idea of having friends send clips of themselves dancing, and as luck would have it Halloween was upon them. The clips were edited together to create the video for Charlie Pickle...If this doesn’t leave you with a smile, you need some serious therapy.”

LISTEN: “CHARLIE PICKLE”

Since 2010, Sad Daddy has traveled down many a road--together and separately--at times focusing on their solo projects and then reuniting for a band project. The four members, Brian Martin, Joe Sundell, Rebecca Patek, and Melissa Carper, all conspired and united in the sudden spare time of 2020 to create their third album, Way Up in the Hills. 

They all met up at Brian’s cabin in Greers Ferry, Arkansas, and over a couple of bottles of chocolate milk and a few jugs of whiskey they collaborated, writing and arranging songs specifically for the new album. A first for Sad Daddy, they took the brand-new bones of each other’s ideas and worked on them as a band to construct and finish the songs. The collective decided on a down-home, back-to-the-country theme—a reflection on the state of the world and the desire to go back to simpler ways and self-sufficiency, goin’ way up in the hills and letting the chaos settle. 

Engineer Jordan Trotter brought his equipment into the cabin and the band recorded 14 original tunes live and in a circle. The feeling of being at a lakeside "home" studio in the serene Arkansas woods was distilled into sound and a genuine relaxed and good time vibe purveys the recordings. Sad Daddy explored using unique sounds, recording stomps on the cabin’s porch, hamboning, using the natural sounds of insects buzzing and bacon sizzling, mouth didgeridoo, handclaps, double clawhammer banjo, and more, along with the foursome’s strong vocals and harmonies. 

 With a long and dedicated history of making their audiences happy, Sad Daddy is emerging rejuvenated with Way Up in the Hills. With a more down-home and old-timey feel than their previous albums, they all stretched themselves a bit to create a common theme and new songs together. Unique to Sad Daddy, all of the members sing lead and write original tunes--the convergence of influences and interpretation of feeling into sound is a stylistic blend of the very best elements of American Roots Music. From the sounds of early blues, jazz, and jug bands to early country, folk, old-time, bluegrass, soul, and funk, they combine many influences, creating an indefinable genre of their own.  

AJ LEE AND BLUE SUMMIT UNVEIL LATEST SINGLE “WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND” VIA BLUEGRASS TODAY

AJ LEE AND BLUE SUMMIT UNVEIL 

LATEST SINGLE “WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND”  

VIA BLUEGRASS TODAY 

NEW LP I’LL COME BACK OUT ON AUGUST 20TH 

Photo: Hannah Ballinger

LISTEN: “WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND”   

Today, award-winning Bay Area-based roots powerhouse AJ Lee and Blue Summit (“AJLBS”) released “When You Change Your Mind,” the new single from their forthcoming LP I’ll Come Back, due out August 20th. Of the band, Bluegrass Today said that “it is hard to argue with their success. Lee is part of the same class of [Youth In Bluegrass] artists that produced Molly Tuttle. In fact, AJ was a member of Molly’s family band for many years, performing as The Tuttles with AJ Lee when they were teens. Now heading up her own group, Lee is out front on lead vocals and mandolin, supported by Molly’s younger brother, Sullivan Tuttle, and Jesse Fichman on guitar, Jan Purat on fiddle, and Chad Bowen on bass,” they added. “Like many young performers, when Lee started her group in 2015 they began to experiment and push against the boundaries of what they had grown up playing, but in the end the grass calls them home.” 

Lee said the song is about drinking and thinking about “how you’ll never be deserving of someone who loves you because you’ll only hurt them in the end. You’ve also got your own issues and it’s too much trouble to explain yourself to someone else.” While AJLBS enjoys stretching their creative muscles, Lee reveals that they always come back to their favorite genre—bluegrass.  

“When You Change Your Mind” follows the release of “Lemons and Tangerines,” and “Magdalene,” of which Country Queer noted, “This band is good in the bluegrass way…they use their skill not to show off, but to build songs that are sturdy as houses, with plenty of room for guests, and ready for any weather.”  

LISTEN: “LEMONS AND TANGERINES”  

LISTEN: “MAGDALENE” 

Unlike their first record, which featured experimentation with session musicians and electric instruments, I’ll Come Back is a pure reflection of the live sound of the group, hearkening back to their acoustic roots. Each band member performs at their peak, and the variety of songs on the record caters to their broad fanbase. Certain tracks (“Put Your Head Down” and “Faithful”) fall more in the classic bluegrass realm of songwriting, while others (“Lemons and Tangerines” and “I’ll Come Back”) fall into that hard-to-define realm of acoustic Americana that blends mesmerizing lyricism and acoustic mastery.  

Although falling loosely under the bluegrass label, AJLBS generally plays sans banjo, using their configuration effectively to create unique space and texture in the arrangements not as commonly found in the music of their peers. Drawing from influences such as country, soul, swing, rock, and jam music, the band uses the lens of bluegrass as a vessel through which to express and explore the thread that binds and unifies all great music.  

TOUR DATES  

AUG 7 - The Independent @ 8:00pm - San Francisco, CA [ALBUM RELEASE SHOW]* 

AUG 13 - Caffe Lena @ 8:00pm - Saratoga Springs, NY 

AUG 14 - Podunk Bluegrass Festival 2021 @ 12:20pm - Goshen, CT 

AUG 15 - Hardeman Orchards @ 7:30pm - Red Hook, NY 

AUG 16 - Truro Vineyards @ 8:00pm - North Truro, MA 

AUG 18 - Watermelon Wednesdays @ 3:00pm - Williamsburg, MA 

AUG 18 Watermelon Wednesdays @ 7:30pm - Williamsburg, MA *SOLD OUT* 

AUG 19 - Music Hall @ 6:00pm - Portsmouth, NH 

AUG 19 - Music Hall @ 8:00pm - Portsmouth, NH 

AUG 20 - Mauch Chunk Opera House @ 8:00pm - Jim Thorpe, PA  

AUG 21 - Della Mae's Fam Fest @ 2:00pm - Round Hill, VA 

AUG 22 - Stages Music Arts @ 7:00pm - Cockeysville, MD 

AUG 26 - Casa Flamenca, Inc. @ 7:30pm - Albuquerque, NM 

AUG 27 - Wildwood Sounds @ 7:00pm - Del Norte, CO 

AUG 28 - Taos Center for the Arts @ 7:30pm - Taos, NM 

AUG 29 - Number Thirty Eight @ 8:00pm - Denver, CO 

AUG 30 - MainStage Brewing Company @ 6:00pm - Lyons, CO 

AUG 31 - Sherbino Theater @ 7:00pm - Ridgway, CO 

SEP 1 - Dolores River Brewery @ 7:00pm - Dolores, CO 

SEP 3 -  Four Corners Folk Festival 2021 @ 7:00pm - Pagosa Springs, CO 

SEP 10 - Sierra Meadows @ 7:30pm - Ahwahnee, CA 

SEP 11 - Black Oak Concert Series @ 7:00pm - Tuolumne, CA 

SEP 18 - Whale Rock Music Festival @ 7:00pm - Templeton, CA 

SEP 19  - Lodi Grape Festival Grounds @ 6:00pm - Lodi, CA 

SEP 24 - FreshGrass Festival 2021 @ 11:00am - North Adams, MA 

SEP 22-25 - AMERICANAFEST -  Nashville, TN 

OCT 1 - Sisters Folk Festival 2021 @ 12:00pm - Sisters, OR 

OCT 8 - McCabe’s Guitar Shop @ 8:00pm - Santa Monica, CA 

OCT 9 - Paramount Ranch @ 3:00pm - Agoura Hills, CA 

OCT 30 - Felton Music Hall @ 8:30pm - Felton, CA 

NOV 20 - Hopmonk Tavern @ 8:00pm - Novato, CA^ 

* w/ The Sam Chase Trio & The Coffis Brothers 

^w/ The Coffis Brothers 

CONNECT WITH AJ LEE AND BLUE SUMMIT:   

WEBSITE || FACEBOOK || INSTAGRAM || TWITTER || YOUTUBE || SPOTIFY    

NASHVILLE DUO HAUNTED LIKE HUMAN RELEASE FIRST SINGLE “STAY” ON 7/23 ALBUM TALL TALES & FABLES COMING OCTOBER 15, 2021

NASHVILLE DUO HAUNTED LIKE HUMAN RELEASE FIRST SINGLE “STAY” ON 7/23 

ALBUM TALL TALES & FABLES COMING OCTOBER 15, 2021

Photo Credit: Caroline Voisine

“STAY” LISTEN

NASHVILLE, TENN. - On their new record Tall Tales & Fables (out October 15), Nashville duo Haunted Like Human - Cody Clark (multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter) and Dale Chapman (lead singer, lyricist) - delve deeper into inspired songwriting, sparse arrangements, and, naturally, the frisson-inducing harmonies that marked their previous two releases. Despite the album’s title, these songs are honest, above all else. Real, tender, messy honesty.

Today, they premiere the first single “Stay,” that deploys vocal counterpoint to heighten the friction at the heart of the song.

“The stirring acoustic number puts mental health at the forefront, as they ride ravaged waters with grace and ease, alongside a peaceful melody of guitar and strings complementing their haunting, yet serene harmonies.” -AudioFemme

“These are some of my favorite harmonies that we’ve written,” says Chapman. The song deals with a relationship fractured by mental illness, and the harmonies tell both sides of the story. “It’s about looking your demons in the eye, laying all your cards on the table, and reckoning with the damage that’s been done. In the bridge, it’s all stripped down to two people pleading for the other to not give up on them, which I think is so uncomfortably honest and powerful,” Chapman says. Clark and Chapman sing against each other, an iteration of the tension created by the rushed murmur of Chapman’s delivery and refined strings.

“We put a ton of emphasis on storytelling in each of our songs. We tell our own stories, we tell other people’s stories, we tell stories that we’ve seen from touring,” says Cody Clark.  

Limned with nostalgia, soaked in Southern gothic lore, the duo meticulously assembles songs to preserve the spirit of the stories they tell.

With a background in poetry and prose, Dale Chapman’s granular focus on language is simpatico with Clark’s background in classical guitar.

ABOUT HAUNTED LIKE HUMAN:

Hoping to find collaborators who were serious about music, Clark drove from Oregon to Nashville in 2017. Within a couple days, he met Chapman at a coffee shop. She deduced that he was a lost tourist and struck up a conversation, leading to a cowriting session. Next thing they knew, Clark had relocated to Nashville and they were making their first album, Ghost Stories.  On the heels of that, they offered up their Folklore EP, featuring standout single “Feels Like Fire.” While that EP sought to channel the minimalist, intimate spirit of their live shows, Tall Tales & Fables is the next step in their maturation. Polished but not shiny, the album benefits from Mitch Dane’s production. Together with skilled string players, the album developed its own life while staying true to Clark and Chapman’s partnership, one built on literal and metaphorical voices.

 Tall Tales & Fables will be self-released on October 15, 2021.

“STAY” AVAILABLE 7/23

LISTEN

KEEP UP WITH HAUNTED LIKE HUMAN

WEBSITE || FACEBOOK || TWITTER || INSTAGRAM || YOUTUBE || SPOTIFY

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Music Relief Fund Opens Grant Applications for Musicians

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Music Relief Fund

 Opens Grant Applications for Musicians

August 24th, 2020 - The Hardly Strictly Music Relief Fund: Bay Area is now accepting applications from local musicians. Created by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, this $1.5 million charitable effort seeks to recognize, appreciate, and care for the people who lend their creativity, heart, and hard work to the American roots music ecosystem in the Bay Area. The fund includes $450,000 for individual musicians’ relief and additional support for local music venues and their workers.

 The individual grant program is open to roots musicians living full time in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, or Sonoma Counties. Applications will be accepted through September 14, 2020, at 5 p.m. Applicants will be notified about their award status by September 25, 2020, followed immediately by the disbursement of funds.

“Our fund for roots music musicians, in the form of grants up to $2,000 in unrestricted funds, is available to all but will give priority to Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color,” says Frances Hellman, one of the directors of the Hellman Foundation, which since 2011, has focused on supporting local organizations and initiatives homegrown in the Bay Area, while bolstering the impact of partner organizations and engaging in strategic public-private partnerships such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. “This is not only because these communities have been historically under-funded by philanthropy, but also because they have been adversely affected by the pandemic.” 

The Fund will be administered by the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) and the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI). CCI has a longstanding practice of prioritizing those who have been marginalized in the conventional arts and culture field. They have mobilized their many years of expertise in supporting individuals to facilitate COVID relief funds for artists, and have successfully worked with the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, as well as the State of California, on COVID relief. Both ACTA and CCI bring their long commitment and experience as grant-making intermediaries supporting individual artists and cultural communities towards advancing racial and cultural equity.

"This music relief effort recognizes the impact of artists whose roots music reflects the expressions, histories, and values of their communities,” says Amy Kitchener, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Alliance for California Traditional Arts. “In these pandemic times, supporting artists also acknowledges the deep impact musicians have on cultural continuity."

The fund’s definition of American roots music acknowledges that the landscape of music in the United States has evolved from a wide variety of musical genres and peoples. Broadly, roots music is shaped by the American social, cultural, and environmental landscape. Roots music is characterized by its deep connection to people and the communities, reflecting a sense of place, history, values, language, and aesthetics. 

In addition to the musician grant program, The Hardly Strictly Music Relief Fund includes a grant program for Bay Area music venues with a track record of presenting American Roots styles. The nomination process for venues is now closed with funding announcements being made soon.

For more information on the individual musicians grant opportunity and to apply, visit:

actaonline.org/hardlystrictly.

 For more information on the venue grant opportunity, visit:

http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2020/music-relief/

Keep Up with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass:

Website || Facebook || Twitter || Instagram || Spotify 

ABOUT ACTA

The Alliance for California Traditional is a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports ways for cultural traditions to thrive now and into the future by providing advocacy, resources, and connections for traditional artists and their communities. As statewide and national leader dedicated to supporting cultural practitioners, our programs, services, and funding opportunities are weaving a more integrated, just, and empathetic social fabric across California, and around the country. ACTA works in partnership with communities, learning from their own articulation of assets, needs, and aspirations in order to craft responsive programs and services. Founded in 1997, ACTA proudly serves as the California Arts Council’s official partner in serving the state’s traditional arts field.

ABOUT CCI

The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) was founded in 2001 as a California 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. Its mission is to promote knowledge sharing, networking, and financial independence for individuals in the arts by providing business training, grants, and incubating innovative projects that create new program knowledge, tools and practices for artists in the field, and conditions that contribute to realizing financial self-determination. In addition, by acting as a cross-sector incubator with an informed point of view, CCI advances efforts to improve conditions for artists and all those who share artists’ conditions of low wages, high debt, and too-few assets. 

ABOUT HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a one of a kind free music festival that takes place in the iconic Golden Gate Park and attracts over half a million fans annually. Founded by Warren and Chris Hellman in 2001, the festival is the single largest activity of the Hellman Foundation. Unlike any other major festival, it is offered free to the public with zero corporate sponsors or advertising. The three-day, multi-stage event features an array of eclectic bands each year from roots and Americana, to funk, rock, soul and more. This year through Let the Music Play On the spirit of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass will be coming to living rooms and backyards across the globe the first weekend in October with the Hardly Strictly Broadcast. The broadcast will feature new performances from the expansive range of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass artists that include first-time performers to legends of American Roots music, along with archival footage from the festival’s past two decades and memories from fans, performers, and staff and priceless gems from the festival’s rich history.

OUT TODAY: KYSHONA RELEASES NEW LP "LISTEN"

“…she has that very real conviction that the act of listening and the feeling of being heard are fundamental human needs…there’s that sense of purpose in the language that she chooses, that sense of speaking in a collective way in the language that she chooses...It’s stately, noble language, and sometimes it’s optimistic, and sometimes it’s more confrontational…it’s always emphatic, but it’s also warm.” - NPR

"Listen highlights Kyshona’s descriptive songwriting and soulful vocals alongside a versatile blend of folk, rock and R&B influences. While Kyshona sings of fear, hope, community, love and understanding throughout the 10-track project, she also finds herself.” - Billboard

“…a soulful, Southern groove” - Rolling Stone

“This is protest music for a new generation, a musical treatment for social ills, a unique prescription that only works if you listen.” - No Depression

"Everyone is making political records. Everyone is making albums that speak to 'this moment.' Too few of them are making music that speaks to the people who inhabit this moment. Kyshona does." - The Bluegrass Situation

“With an ambition ‘to bring the light of music into places of darkness,’ it’s clear that ‘Fear’ and the other nine tracks from her upcoming LP unapologetically and convincingly do just that.” - American Songwriter

“Electrifying” - The Boot 

"Listen is refreshingly low-concept: a powerful, textured voice working its way through equally strong songs. But what's most striking about the album is how natural [Kyshona] sounds. The sincerity hits you hard…There’s a confidence, comfort, and catharsis in her vocals, effortless without sounding passive, warm without sounding too inviting. Listen feels therapeutic, not just providing enjoyable songs that range from soul to rhythm and blues to rock to pop, but maybe even providing a blueprint for how to be, as a human being.” - Albumism

"Kyshona...has a warm, rich voice that commands you to pay attention. On her new album Listen, however, she’s chosen to make a powerful statement about what we can learn when we close our mouths and truly take in what others have to say." - The Nashville Scene

"The melodies are catchy, but it’s the lyrics that really grab the attention on this album. [Kyshona] sings with the undeniable spirit and conviction that was more common in the tumultuous 60s. However, through all the turmoil of the times, the message is ultimately one of hope that leaves you believing things will get better." - Americana Highways

Today, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Kyshona has released her highly-acclaimed new album Listen. Co-produced with Andrija Tokic (St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Alabama Shakes, Hurray For The Riff Raff) and recorded mostly at his famed Nashville studio The Bomb Shelter, Kyshona’s album blends roots, rock, R&B, gospel, and folk with lyrical prowess to uplift the marginalized and bring awareness to the masses. 

STREAM: LISTEN

Kyshona, who has performed at Folk Alliance International, AmericanaFest-UK, 30A Songwriters Festival, and in an art installation at Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in the last two months, has made an indelible impression with her new LP. “The explorations on her brand new album, Listen — which are synopsized neatly on the title track — by many other artists could have easily and offhandedly devolved into a reactionary, ‘woke’ gasp into the void,” commented The Bluegrass Situation. “Kyshona (surname Armstrong), though, is a deft and empathetic songwriter, a storyteller with a penchant for shameless self expression and graceful introspection. Listen is not an admonishment. It’s not an imperative, or an oracle-given ultimatum. Kyshona does not implore her audience to hear her, but each other. Over ten original and co-written songs the album carries on this mission with empathy, connection, community, and spirituality (but not proselytizing.) It’s a remarkable feat that though society systemically attempts to render her and women like her invisible, assuming that they’ll stand aside or allow themselves to be tokenized, Kyshona compassionately defies those expectations and opts to design her selfhood — and thereby, her art — to interact with the world on her terms and not the world’s.” 

WATCH:  "LISTEN”

“Since completing this album, there has been a theme that keeps coming up: fear,” Kyshona told Billboard in their premiere of the album. “Fear of being ignored, fear of being seen. Fear of being misunderstood. Fear of being abandoned and alone. But every night I have walked on a stage or into a space and stood in that fear, I’ve been shown that I can not only conquer them, but that those fears allow me to connect with people. That’s what I have wanted this album to be: a reflection that allows connection.” 

WATCH:  "FALLEN PEOPLE”

“People feel permission. This allows them to feel they can have control, they can build a community through music,” Kyshona told The News & Advance of the connection she forges with her audiences. “Her new LP, Listen, released this month, asks the audience ‘are we even listening to each other?” continues The News & Advance. “Even when she’s writing about others, she said, their stories are also hers — ‘This is the gospel of the people.’ In a crowd of people, all with differing beliefs, political stances or conflicting ideals, it’s music, [Kyshona] said, that offers unity.”

Kyshona has always lent her voice and music to those that feel silenced or forgotten. She began her career as a music therapist, writing her first songs with her patients – the students and inmates under her care. She soon found the need to write independently and find her own voice, an endeavor that led her to the fertile ground of the Nashville creative community and its collaborative songwriting culture. Kyshona has successfully melded her music career with her passion to heal the hurting; audiences will find a common thread of empowerment, overcoming adversity, and finding hope in her work. It's for every silent scream, every heavy load, every fearful thought, and a simmering sense of anger that the repressed, the lost, and the forgotten try to hide from the world. "I’ve been thinking a lot about purpose," she says. "When I write and when I perform I am often thinking of what my point is. What is my purpose? What is my mission? At this particular moment in these particular times, my mission is to be a voice and a vessel for those who feel silenced and forgotten." After her powerful performances, concertgoers often ask, "What can I do?" Her response? “Listen."

TOUR DATES:

3/5 - 20 Front Street - Lake Orion, MI

3/6 - The Robin Theatre - Lansing, MI

⅜ - Hines Hill Conference Center - Peninsula, OH

3/13 - WMOT Finally Friday @ 3rd & Lindsley - Nashville, TN

3/13 - Gray’s On Main - Franklin. TN

3/22  - The Frog Pond at Blue Moon Farm - Silver Hill, AL

3/24 - Tin Pan South 2020 - Nashville, TN

3/26 - Agnes Scott College - Decatur, GA

3/27 - Hendershot’s - Athens, GA

3/28 - Music On Malphrus - Bluffton, SC

4/3 - South Bay House Concert - Los Altos, CA

4/4 - Fog House Concerts - San Francisco, CA

~

4/9 - National Folk Festival 2020 - Canberra, ACT, Australia

4/17 - 4/19 - Fairbridge Folk Fest 2020 - Perth, WA, Australia

~

4/24 - Gray’s On Main - Franklin. TN

4/29 - White Gull Inn - Fish Creek, WI

5/1 - Severson Dells Nature Center - Rockford, IL

⅚ - Purple House Concerts -Tallahassee, FL

5/7 - WUWF Radio Live - Pensacola, FL

⅝ - The Rep Theater - Santa Rosa Beach, FL

5/22 - Kerrville Folk Fest 2020 - Kerrville, TX

6/7 - NPR Mountain Stage - Charleston, WV

6/21 - Chestnut House Concerts - Lancaster, PA

6/25 - Iredell Arts Council - Statesville, NC

MISS TESS RELEASES NEW LP "THE MOON IS AN ASHTRAY"

From a historical perspective, one could say that rebellious music that doesn’t necessarily fit a certain genre or time period leaves a lasting effect on people. Think of David Bowie..or Johnny Cash…Both went against what the mainstream audiences wanted and lived on to be legends. For Miss Tess, she wants to become a legend in her own right but wants to use some of Bowie’s and Cash’s rebellious tools to do so - American Songwriter 

Captivating - Billboard

Rooted in a retro groove that’s equal parts blues, mid-century rock & roll and Booker T-worthy R&B - Rolling Stone 

Old-time warmth, 21st-century sass. It’s a potent recipe for that few artists successfully pull off — and Miss Tess is one of them - No Depression 

A voice that recalls artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Patsy Cline and Lindi Ortega - The Boot 

Soulful - Wide Open Country 

Miss Tess swings, swaggers, seduces, and soothes on The Moon Is An Ashtray - Glide Magazine 

This album is tremendous display of Miss Tess’s range as an artist. She bounces from soul to country to jazzy vocals with no difficulty. In fact, she makes it seem effortless - Americana Highways 

An eclectic mix of country, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll - Americana-UK

Miss Tess has a musical vocabulary that continues to confound.  Country, blues, rock, folk, jazz – you name it – you’ll find shades of it infused into her music…The Moon Is an Ashtray is both warm and raucous, not to mention a damn fine listen. - Twangville

LISTEN: THE MOON IS AN ASHTRAY 

Nashville chanteuse Miss Tess has released her lauded new album The Moon Is An Ashtray today via Tone Tree Music. “The moon is an ashtray. I fell in love with this metaphor,” Miss Tess told American Songwriter in its premiere. “The album cover draws inspiration from an old picture I came across from what must have been a 1930s movie, where the women sitting on the moon looked well, kind of pissed off. I loved that attitude captured as a juxtaposition against the classic romanticized ‘woman on moon’ image, and wanted to recreate that sentiment for the title track. Things are not always what they seem, especially when you’re used to filtering them through an illusion of childlike romanticism. Objects such as the moon, and ideas of love often fall into this category, but are too often followed by disappointment. when you realize that this type of idealistic, cruel optimism is just an illusion. From far away the moon is a mystical glowing entity, yet in reality is cratered and dusty, sort of like … an ashtray.” 

The sentiment was deftly captured in the video for the title track, directed by Tom Krueger (Bruce Springsteen, U2, David Bowie). “With a distinct old timey flair, the singer transports the listener to another time period with the throwback number,” Billboard remarked of the whimsical video, which involves an evil villain luring in souls for his wonderland vignettes.

WATCH: “THE MOON IS AN ASHTRAY” 

To help capture and shape her own unique sound, Miss Tess enlisted not only her trusty 1930s Weymann archtop, but also heavy input from co-producers Andrija Tokic (Margo Price, Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff) and Thomas Bryan Eaton, her full-time bandmate and musical partner. Combining Eaton's' arranging ideas and skilled instrumental work with Tokic's studio full of vintage mics, tube amps, keyboards, and tape machines, the resulting record has a rich, buttery warmth well-suited to Miss Tess' voice and authentic, retro-contemporary songwriting style. 

When most people think of defiant music, they think of punk rock or outlaw country. But defying genres while transcending eras and resisting clichés is hard to pin down when it comes to artistry unless you're talking about Miss Tess, who does all of that and more on The Moon Is An Ashtray. Swinging for the fences and from the branches of jazz, country, blues and old school rock and roll, she has employed all of her influences and talents on a tour-de-force, while cleverly taking standard perspectives and ideas - like the definition of a love song - to task. From soulful swagger to jazz, blues, a little old school country, and even a touch of psychedelia, Miss Tess shows both the pluck and poise to fold a multitude of styles into her own. 

The Moon Is An Ashtray is available for purchase on iTunes, Google Play, and at her website. Miss Tess will be performing today on Nashville roots radio station WMOT’s Finally Friday show which broadcasts live from 3rd & Lindsley. Tune in HERE to listen at 1pm CST. She’ll also be celebrating the album’s release on her upcoming tour, see dates below.

TOUR DATES: 

2/19 Nashville, TN @ The 5 Spot

2/20 St. Louis, MO @ Focal Point 

2/21 Chicago, IL @ Honky Tonk BBQ

2/22 Indianapolis, IN @ Duke's

3/04 Charlotte, NC @ The Thirsty Beaver

3/05 Fayetteville, NC @ Cameo Art House

3/06 Aberdeen, NC @ Rooster’s Wife

3/07 Saluda, NC @ Purple Onion

3/11 Knoxville, TN @ TN Shines

3/12 Bristol, TN @ Farm & Fun Time

3/13 Charlottesville, VA @ The Front Porch

3/14 Washington, DC @ The Soundry

3/15 Philladelphia, PA @ Philadelphia Folk School 

3/17 New York, NY @ Voices on the Hudson at City Vineyard 

3/18 Northampton, MA @ Parlor Room

3/19 Cambridge, MA @ The Lizard Lounge

3/20 Portland, ME @ One Longfellow Square

3/21 Peacedale, RI @ Roots Hoot House Concert

3/22 Cazenovia, NY @ Nelson Odeon

3/25 Rochester, NY @ Abilene

3/26 Buffalo, NY @ Sportsmen's Tavern

3/27 Peninsula, OH @ GAR Hall

3/28 Columbus, OH @ Natalie's