Archives for 2024

Americana Highways is hosting this premiere of Grace Morrison ‘s song “Put the Bottle Down,” from her forthcoming album Daughter. The album was produced by Jon Evans at the Studio at Brick Hill, mastered by John Mailloux at Bongo Beach Productions with album photography by Corinna Raznikov and graphic design by Paula Mailloux.

“Put the Bottle Down” is Grace Morrison on vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, electric guitar, banjo, synth, and hand claps; Jon Evans on bass, guitar, background vocals, and B3; Matthias Bossi on drums, and Lloyd Maines on pedal steel, papoose, and dobro.  

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Dominique Pruitt’s ridden a tumultuous past few years. Now, she’s come out on the other side with an EP coming on 2 July. From losing her job, to navigating a global pandemic, and moving out of Los Angeles, it’s been one hit after another. Yet, the artist has persevered, and the end result is smoother tides and one heck of a five-song collection with Praying for Rain.

It’s a soulful vintage, spanning Americana influences the years over. Throughout, Pruitt’s voice rings clear, resonant whether she’s navigating jangly rockabilly melodies towards darker beats of country noir. Ahead of Praying for Rain’s release, Pruitt joined For Folk’s Sake in its ongoing ‘FFS 5’ series.

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Three years ago, Dominique Pruitt made a cannonball splash with her Nancy Sinatra shaker “High in the Valley.” The singer-songwriter now returns with a grand gesture in the form of her teary-eyed “Even My Roses are Blue,” co-written with her father and legacy act Larry “L.A.” Brown (The Association, Smothers Brothers). “My heart’s in a million pieces,” she laments over golden horn blasts.

When you were in my life, I thought I had it all / I really had no clue, she confides, tugging the listener ever closer. Just how many tears could fall / I thought you were someone else / But in the end I found out who.

“Inspiration can strike any place. Pretty sure I saw dyed blue roses at the market and thought of the title,” Pruitt tells American Songwriter, with a laugh. “But really, when you’re breaking up, it feels like the whole world is tinged with a somber hue. I thought, ‘If your whole world is so blue with sadness and heartache, that even the roses are blue.’ This song came from an urge to write something very retro at that moment.”

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Cathing a few bad breaks is one thing, but imagine if your record label folded and right when you’re about to play the prestigious Stagecoach Festival in Spring 2020…well you know the story. Dominque Pruitt was on the short end of this musical stick, yet we can bet her shag-carpeted neon light-hued rock with surf guitar, twangy vocals, and pop splendor would sound damn perfect out via Palm Springs way.

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Malin Pettersen is a Norweigan singer – songwriter / musician who is a rising star in both Nashville and the Nordicana movement. She has shared bills with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Brad Paisley, Jim Lauderdale, Colter Wall, Charlie Crockett, Kelsey Waldon, Mollie Tuttle, Erin Rae, Nikki Lane, and Jaime Wyatt and has toured as support for Sam Outlaw, Whitney Rose and Joshua Hedley. Her new album Wildhorse , which was recorded in Nashville and features an all-star band of musicians including Aaron Goodrich, Misa Arriaga, Ryan A. Keith, and Eddy Dunlap, is due to be released October 16. Recently I spoke with the charismatic and talented Pettersen about her songwriting process, her love of American music, and her new album.

Americana Highways: How would you best describe your songwriting process?

Malin Pettersen: It often differs on how long it takes for me to write a song. Some are written in hours, some in days, weeks, or years. And the process itself used to be pretty monotonous in that I would just sit down with my guitar and start playing something and try to sing something on top of it, making up the words as I went along. But after a long writer’s block in my early 20’s I decided to start exploring different techniques and that has definitely helped make me a better and more diverse songwriter. Sometimes I’ll improvise melodies and see if something appears that I like and that I can work with. Sometimes I’ll look through old notebooks and look for single lines to see if they spark something. Sometimes I’ll sit down with my guitar and just start playing to see what comes out. Sometimes I’ll slap a capo high on the guitar to see if it brings new melody ideas to me. And sometimes, if I’m in a period of writer’s block – I’ll just write all the bad songs in my head, and then something worth moving forward with will suddenly reveal itself.

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