Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for September 8th, 2023. Click the artist or album links to find out more. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon, iTunes, Bandcamp or the artist’s site for ordering or downloading. A + sign means although not a featured release, it’s a notable album that’s still worth checking out. Also, this page will be updated as I find out about other new releases so check back again.
Tyler Childers
Rustin’ In The Rain (Hickman Holler Records/RCA Records)
Rustin’ In The Rain was recorded in the home studio of Tyler’s pedal steel player and guitarist James Barker above his garage. The new album was produced by Tyler and his backing band The Food Stamps. Childers says of the album via press release, “This is a collection of songs I playfully pieced together as if I was pitching a group of songs to Elvis. Some covers, one co-write, and some I even wrote in my best (terrible) Elvis impersonation, as I worked around the farm and kicked around the house. I hope you enjoy listening to this album as much as I enjoyed creating it.” Tyler says that the album is mostly love songs, with the deeper tie-in being the mules that make numerous appearances in the lyrics. (from Saving Country Music review)
Nick Shoulders
All Bad (Gar Hole Records)
As All Bad unspools, Shoulders’ “conversation” with country music sharpens into focus: Shoulders dares to speak the quiet part aloud, eloquently illustrating how the country music most people think of — Nashville’s primary export — is white supremacist propaganda. Yet the part that people connect with, the storytelling, the sounds of resistance, intergenerational bonds — these are the parts of country music that are actually worth saving. But this is a slow build: Shoulders slowly tweaks our noses by overlaying traditional country sounds with sly parodies. He pokes at revered country songs with titles like “Mama Tired” (about the ills of doom-scrolling) and “Won’t Fence Us In.” But Shoulders never even approaches parody or camp on All Bad: His own reverence for classic country sounds is as deadly earnest as his lyrics. In a year that has seen just about every facet of the “culture war” flame its way across the commercial country music world while industry insiders drop their jaws in dismay, All Bad transforms those questions into conversation. (edited from No Depression review)
Steep Canyon Rangers
Morning Shift (Yep Roc Records)
The North Carolina Bluegrass band leans into their Appalachian musical instincts heavily on this, their 14th studio album. The band worked with producer Darrell Scott on Morning Shift, with everyone moving into the Inn Bat Cave, eating and sleeping together when they weren’t in the studio recording the album. “We’re a product of who the band was in the past as well as who we want to be in the present and future,” says Graham Sharp, the band’s lead vocalist and banjo player. This record also marks the first one with new band member Aaron Burdett on guitar and vocals. “This recording session felt really good, because there was no pressure to be anything but ourselves in that moment. It was important that we came in without any preordained expectations about what kind of record this would be, and Darrell Scott was the perfect producer to provide guidance from an open perspective.” (edited from Americana Highways review)
Also new this week…
Sandy Bailey – Daughter Of Abraham (Red Parlor Records)
Bill and the Belles – To Willie from Billy (self-released)
The Blind Boys of Alabama – Echoes Of The South (Single Lock Records)
Blue Water Highway – Year of the Dragon (self-released)
Goldpine – Two (self-released)
Logan Ledger – Golden State (Rounder Records) +
Lillie Mae – Festival Eyes (s||c records)
maeve & quinn – Another Door (self-released)
Ashley McBryde –The Devil I Know (Warner Music Nashville)
Joan Osborne – Nobody Owns You (Womanly Hips Records)
Joyann Parker – Roots (self-released)
Jobi Riccio – Whiplash (Yep Roc Records) +
Allison Russell – The Returner (Fantasy Records)
The SteelDrivers – Tougher Than Nails (Gaither Music Group)
String Cheese Incident – Lend Me A Hand (SCI Fidelity Records)
Various Artists – A Song for Leon: A Tribute to Leon Russell (Primary Wave Records)
Coming out soon… Margo Cilker, Brent Cobb, Willie Nelson, Briscoe, Jim Lauderdale, Viv & Riley, Jenny Owen Youngs, Charles Wesley Godwin, Charley Crockett, Cruz Contreras, Owen Temple, Adam Hood, Jeff Plankenhorn, John Surge and The Haymakers, Ray Bonneville, Mick Flannery, Buddy & Julie Miller, The Steel Woods, John R. Miller, Tré Burt, Robert Rex Waller Jr., Jessi Colter, Chris Stapleton and more!
