JD & The Straight Shot Announce New Album, Ballyhoo!

Courtesy: Conqueroo

NEW YORK, NY — As described by The Daily Echo, JD & The Straight Shot’s most recent work is “steeped in the quiet fire of Americana with distinctive elements of the blues and rustic New Orleans flavoured roots music.”Led by musician, founder and frontman Jim Dolan, the band is set to release their new album Ballyhoo!, which was recorded in Nashville and New York and produced by Grammy® Award winner Chuck Ainlay (Mark Knopfler, Miranda Lambert, Randall Bramblett, Jewel).JD & The Straight Shot will celebrate the release with an official showcase performance at City Winery Nashville on September 15 during the annual Americana Music Festival and Conference. The showcase will also feature Jewel, JD Souther and Donnie Fritts & John Paul White.

The video for the first focus track from Ballyhoo! “Better Find a Church,” originally produced by esteemed songwriter/musician Rodney Crowell, was shot in a 100-plus-year-old church. A new version was later recorded for the album. As Dolan recently told The Nottingham Post about the transformative theme of the track, “It's a song of contrition.” No Depression describes, “The new song features the spare, mesmerizing voices of Jim Dolan and violinist Erin Slaver’s weaving under around each other, punctuated by guitarist’s Marc Copely’s shimmering Spanish guitar solo.” Dolan’s son Aidan also performs on the track, co-authored by all four band members along with bassist Byron House.

For Ballyhoo!, the group’s fifth full-length record, Dolan made a conscious decision to make the entire album acoustic. The songs were almost all written by the core band in various configurations with additional contributions by actor-musician Chris Carmack (ABC’s Nashville) and guitarist/singer-songwriter Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman). The lone cover is an inspired, string-laden version of the Spirit hit “Nature’s Way,” written by the late Randy California.

JD & The Straight Shot, who have played shows with the Eagles, Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban, tour consistently throughout North America and Europe. Visit jdandthestraightshot.com for their current itinerary. 
The band recently debuted “Better Find a Church” on WNYW-TV’s Good Day New Yorkwith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PszozSTwmb4  

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