Acoustic Guitarist of the Year Christie Lenée announced the release of her third single from her upcoming album, Coming Alive, due out November 18. She will also be touring in support of the album.
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PopMatters Highlights Good Grace’s New Song
It’s been 16 years since Kim Ware and the Good Graces made a splash in the Atlanta indie scene. The songwriter has since blossomed into an intuitive folk artist, attuned to crafting atmospheric works that have carried her around the country and back to her Georgia and now North Carolina home. Ware recently moved back to her hometown of Kings Mountain, a small town where she first picked up her musical streak through drumming. Alongside the move, Ware teed up for the September release of the Good Graces’ sixth album, Ready, produced by Jerry Kee (Superchunk, Polvo).
American Songwriter Features Singing River’s New Single
Mikey James, the former drummer for Longwave, is back on the scene and releasing work under a new name: Singing River. Within this career shift, James decided to jump from his old genre of power pop to an Americana feel. His latest release, “Everyday Love,” especially embodies his new chapter as Singing River. The track, exclusively premiering on American Songwriter today (August 5), will be out on all streaming platforms on August 6.
The Americana tune features James’ gritty and emotion-filled voice as he sings about longing for how the world used to feel. The lyrics amble on about missing the feeling of normalcy when society felt steady and non-chaotic.
Under The Radar Premieres Shay Martin Lovette’s New Music Video
Indie folk troubadour Shay Martin Lovette shared his evocative sophomore effort, Scatter & Gather, this May, establishing himself in the same raw Americana lane as Jason Isbell, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, or Townes Van Zandt. Alongside production from Joseph Terrell of Mipso, Lovette delved into story and character portraits, one of the most moving of which was album highlight “For Rose Marie.” Now Lovette is back with a new animated video for the track, premiering with Under the Radar.
No Depression Reviews Shay Martin Lovette’s New Album
On the title track of Shay Martin Lovette’s second LP, Scatter & Gather, he muses on the magnetism of certain people in our lives. Whether it’s a partner, family member, or friend, there is a person, or people, who, no matter how far you roam, you will find again and again. The Boone, North Carolina-based singer-songwriter summarizes this enduring connection best when he sings: “When where we’ve been wears us thin, we scatter and gather again.”
American Songwriter Praises Shay Martin Lovette
“Over the last few years I’ve been obsessing over story songs and short stories, in general,” says Americana musician Shay Martin Lovette. “In my opinion, they are the hardest songs to write because you have to compress a story that would fill up a notebook into just a few minutes of melody and rhyme.”
Such a new-found fascination fuels his latest song called “For Rose Marie,” in which he unravels “the story of a troubled woman who has led an arduous life but has somehow managed to maintain a sense of optimism throughout,” Lovette tells American Songwriter. Rose Marie is “a wild spirit with a knack for party tricks, storytelling, and making close friends out of strangers. At the end of the song, she mysteriously vanishes, leaving the town to wonder if she’s found what she’s been seeking: the meaning of life and what comes after.”
Musically, Lovette turned to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album, as well as the work of Willis Alan Ramsey and Townes Van Zandt, for inspiration─all the while digging deeper into author Ron Rash’s vast collection of short stories. “I aimed to capture the darkness and beauty of [the song] and wanted every word to carry the weight of her story,” he says.