 (Press Release) Following the release of 2016's breakout LP, 'Blindfaller,' Mandolin Orange have rapidly grown from North Carolinian upstarts into under-sung heroes, selling out tours across the world, serenading the legendary stages of Red Rocks, Bonnaroo, Newport Folk, and the Ryman, and amassing praise from NPR Music, Paste, Vox and more. Today, they release their Spotify Singles, a surprise gift to the fans who have helped the duo earn over 75 million streams.
Listen to the exclusive, live renditions of "Echo" backed with "Amsterdam" here (session photos below): https://spoti.fi/2GXvZP7 And familiarize yourself with the band's discography through Spotify's official This is Mandolin Orange playlist: https://spoti.fi/2q4GTYC Inspired by downtown Chapel Hill's high-rise influx and its impending deforestation, 'Blindfaller' standout "Echo" is a poignant match of Mandolin Orange's socially conscious lyricism and "low-key instrumental heroics" (Vox). Their "angelic harmonies" (NPR Music) are on full-display in "Amsterdam," however, offering a rich and raw re-imagining of the Gregory Alan Isakov hit. Led by multi-instrumentalists and singers Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, Mandolin Orange fuse windswept romanticism with astute social critique. Mandolin Orange begin an expansive spring/summer tour this month, including an already sold-out Red Rocks date with the Avett Brothers in June, a headlining return to the 3000-cap North Carolina Museum of Art, and appearances at MerleFest, DelFest, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Kate Wolf Music Festival, and more. Most headlining dates have sold-out already. Check their website for dates. Mandolin Orange On The Web Website
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 Courtesy: Green Room PR Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Brothers Osborne, Elle King, LANCO, Del McCoury Band, Sam Bush, The Cadillac Three And More Will Converge At 8,000 Feet To Play The Three-Day, Multiple-Stage, Jam-Packed Gathering
Weekend Passes Go On-Sale On April 20 Nashville, TN - April 5, 2018 (Press Release) - Multi-PLATINUM entertainer Dierks Bentley and the world's leading live entertainment company Live Nation announced the inaugural SEVEN PEAKS MUSIC FESTIVAL today. Destined to be the most fresh and eclectic country festival this summer, Seven Peaks Music Festival will converge over three days with multiple stages and a campground set in front of the awe-inspiring collegiate peaks mountain range in Buena Vista, CO this Labor Day Weekend (Aug 31-Sept. 2). Bentley, who will take the stage several times over the course of the weekend, has invited friends and collaborators Miranda Lambert, Brothers Osborne, Elle King, LANCO, Del McCoury, Sam Bush and The Cadillac Three as the first announced artists to play, with more to be revealed in the coming weeks. Three-day passes for the one-of-a-kind experience will go on-sale beginning April 20 at 10am MST on sevenpeaksfestival.com.  Balsam Range is, from left, Marc Pruett, Buddy Melton, Tim Surrett, Darren Nicholson and Caleb Smith. Photo by David Simchok Arden, North Carolina (Press Release) - Balsam Range is traversing the musical landscape from their acoustic, award-winning Mountain Voodoo to that of the orchestral with their newest work, Mountain Overture, a recording that transforms the band’s most-loved songs from their first decade of recordings and features the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble. It’s an epic new branch of their music that captures not a new, but an additional direction.
With an augmented version of the Balsam Range Bluegrass sound, Mountain Overture becomes the band’s album of greatest hits, plus! 
Nashville-based singer-songwriter Ellen Starski is set to release her solo debut album, The Days When Peonies Prayed for the Ants, on May 11, 2018. Written over the course of 12 years, the autobiographical collection explores Starski's homeland and herself, traveling from the coal country of rural Pennsylvania to the roots-music hotbed of Nashville, Tennessee, creating a soundtrack to a period of self-discovery.
Today TDC is excited to share "Honey I'm Not Him" a foreboding, banjo-led track which finds a determined, protective Starski issuing chilling words of caution to another to steer clear of her man. "Hey I’ve heard you've been hangin’ round my home Girl you better find another man to adore The stars shine brightly on my pistol and this whiskey sure tastes fine Time passes slowly in the middle of the night Shadows dancin’ slowly playin’ tricks with my mind I'm not sure what he told you, but honey I got some news for you"  Credit: Amelia Booth
Despite the tune's overall tone, Starski says she felt relaxed during the recording process, "While we were recording this particular track in the studio I can remember feeling very at ease. Anne McCue was truly behind the helm. There was a window in my vocal booth that looked out of the engineering room of Joe McMahan's Wow and Flutter Studio. It's there, through that window, I still see Anne dancing freely to this song as we laid down the track. Anne brought a lightness and beauty to the creation of this album filling the air with a rare serenity." Starski further relays the story behind the song, "This song was written driving around the country roads that are easily found on the outskirts of Nashville. I had the radio down low as my infant lie sleeping in her car seat... one of the rare moments in her baby years I could even imagine writing lyrics let alone a melody to a song. The lyrics were inspired by missteps and revelations I've encountered throughout my life. There were times I witnessed other women tempting men, men tempting other women, and myself standing victim on both sides. The lyrics stand on a platform that represent both of the feminine characters in the song, but ultimately side with the steadfast protector of the home. Being the Mama bear of a family will do crazy things to a lady when threatened!" The autobiographical album is filled with songs about loss, heartbreak, and family, all of them with details from Starksi’s own life. “Miss You Mary” pays tribute to her mother, who helped steer her daughter out of a dark hole as a teenager, “Ode to Nanny and Cookie” salutes Starksi’s two grandmothers, while her own daughter inspired the lovely “Daughter of the Sea." So what does Starski hope listeners take away from having heard this song and the album overall? She says, "My wishes for what listeners take away from this track are that they think twice about their decisions as they pave the road to their future. We have to stand together and try not rip apart the foundations other loves have laid so carefully. My wishes for the album in its entirety are that it becomes a solace for others. I hope listeners find comfort in knowing there's someone who empathizes with the roads they have visited and the roads they will travel." Website: www.ellenstarski.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ellenstarski Twitter: https://twitter.com/starskiellen Instagram: www.instagram.com/ellenstarski  WILKESBORO, N.C. (April 3, 2018 Press Release) – Today, the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest announces the 2018 finalists that will perform at MerleFest. The final round of the competition will take place Friday, April 27; first place winners will receive $600 cash and a Friday night performance slot on the Cabin Stage. Now in its 26th year, CASC is an extraordinary opportunity for songwriters to have their original songs heard and judged by a panel of Nashville music industry professionals, under the direction of volunteer contest chairperson, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale. MerleFest, presented by Window World, spans from April 26-29 in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, at Wilkes Community College.
The following twelve talented writers were selected from over 1021 entries and will compete Friday, April 27 on the Austin Stage:  Courtesy: September Gurl April 3, 2018 (Press Release) - Jerry Joseph will release Full Metal Burqa (Cavity Search Records) on vinyl as a Record Store Day exclusive on April 21. In addition to Joseph, the 5-song album features his band, the Jackmormons, Steve Drizos on drums and Steven James Wright on bass.
In 2014, Jerry Joseph traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan to teach music in an underground, co-ed, rock school. On the streets and in the markets of the capital city, the iconic blue burqa and its diamond-shaped mesh veil, synonymous with Taliban-era Afghanistan, is still a commonplace sight. It had a lasting impression on Joseph, and inspired the title and artwork of his forthcoming new album, Full Metal Burqa. Joseph describes, Full Metal Burqa as a record of outtakes, but not in the usual use of the word. “I hate that it conjures up ‘less than’ and these are not that. With the exception of ‘Peace Lights,’ these were recorded at TRI Studios with the Jackmormons and friends with Dave Schools producing. We loved them, they just didn't fucking fit. We are very pleased they are coming out now.” The album was inspired by experiences of traveling the world, with songs written and inspired by different countries and cultures. Two were written in Kabul. “When I was in Afghanistan, writing many of the songs that ended up on By the Time Your Rocket Gets to Mars, I was trying to stay away from ‘war songs’ as God knows that's the last thing anyone in that city needs. The one ‘war song’ that made it in the record, ‘Brother Number 1,’ was about war zones I'd recently been in, other than Afghanistan. A couple of these songs were left off the record because of the subject matter or because Jackmormons’ songs tend to run a million minutes long.”  (Press Release) Fredericksburg, VA-based country/Americana singer-songwriter Karen Jonas is set to independently release her new album, Butter, on June 1, 2018. With four kids at home and a touring schedule of 150+ shows per year, Jonas has a full plate. “Whether I’m finishing up a gig atmidnight or getting pounced on by my kids at 6:30 a.m., I usually feel like my life is a circus,” she says. “So I started writing songs about my circus.” She shines a light on the triumphs and challenges of that busy life with Butter, which will be available for pre-order beginning April 2nd on Kickstarter (see her website and social media for details).
Butter was tracked at Wally Cleaver’s Recording Studio in her hometown of Fredericksburg, and Jonas would head over to the studio after putting her kids to bed. Tim Bray, her guitarist and musical partner for nearly half a decade, joined her for those nighttime recording sessions, as did a number of other musicians who laced Butter’s ten songs with pedal steel, B3 organ, upright piano, layers of guitar, and vintage-sounding, seven-piece horn arrangements.  Courtesy: Q Prime (Press Release) The Wild Feathers return with “Big Sky,” their new single, which was debuted on Friday, March 30th on Sirius XM The Highway as a “Highway Find”, which is the station’s premiere discovery program. While never previously receiving prominent country radio airplay, “Big Sky” was heard by Highway program director JR Schuman who immediately identified it as something that his audience would embrace. “We’ve always just made our music regardless of what genre it’s supposed to fit in”, says guitarist and vocalist Taylor Burns. “We were surprised but excited when we found out that the Highway wanted to play it right away. It just reminded us of the old school way that radio used to discover bands.”
 Courtesy: Q Prime (Press Release) This morning, Alison Krauss announces her extensive 50-date tour which will begin on May 16th in Tulsa, OK. The tour will find the accomplished bluegrass-country singer and musician performing headlining dates in cities including Memphis, Toronto, Austin, & New Orleans. Tickets for most dates will go on sale here on April 6th at 10 AM Local Time, with the exception of Pittsburgh (4/13, 10AM Local Time), Selbyville (4/16, 10AM Local Time), South Bend (4/20,10AM Local Time), and Milwaukee (4/6, 12PMLocal Time). The first seven dates on this tour will be co-headlining shows with Willie Nelson and Family, and the two will share the stage for a total of 17 dates throughout the summer. Tickets for the May co-headlining dates are on sale now, and most newly announced dates with Nelson will go on sale here on April 6th at 10 AM Local Time, with the exception of Saratoga (4/9, 10AM Local Time), and San Diego (4/7,10AM Local Time).
Windy City, her latest solo album, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and Top Bluegrass Albums charts and received two Grammy nominations. The album was produced by Buddy Cannon, whose vocal harmonies Krauss grew up listening to and were the soundtrack to her childhood. “Buddy sang harmonies on everything back then,” Krauss says. She also reveals of Cannon, “I don’t do something unless I feel like I’m called to do it. That’s what I felt like, so I honored it. It’s like the same feeling of when you know something is right musically, with a song or a batch of songs – the same feeling, but this was attached to a person instead of a batch of songs.” |
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