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We have a relatively personal album from the Nigerian Afrobeat legend -- and son of the original Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti -- with this year’s release. Femi balances his signature “sweet music with a bitter message” with introspective reflections on family, life, and personal growth. Revisiting old tracks with fresh perspectives and producing entirely on his own for the first time, the album captures his journey as an artist, activist, and father. -
We’re pleased to present this set of 15 new originals by O’Brien and Fabricius, many of them in co-written with the great Tom Paxton. A West Virginia native who burst on the scene with Colorado bluegrass group Hot Rize in the late 1970’s, O’Brien has since earned renown with a solo career built on his soulful songs, heartfelt vocals, and collaborations with everyone from Steve Earle to Steve Martin. The multi- instrumentalist started dating Kansas native Jan Fabricius in 2011. A cardiac ICU nurse and single mother, Jan grew up singing in church and school, playing mandolin and singing informally around festival campfires on weekends. Moving to Nashville in 2013, she took a crash course in the music business as tour manager and bookkeeper for Grammy winner O’Brien. It wasn’t long before she started joining him onstage, in the studio, and in the songwriting room. (Coincidentally, Tim’s sister and brother-in-law Mollie O’Brien & Rich Moore have a new release this week, too!)
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An Oklahoma native, 22-year-old Ken Pomeroy is already receiving widespread attention and has established herself as “a new voice reviving the age-old Native Americana sound” (Teen Vogue). Anchored in her Native Cherokee heritage, Cruel Joke is a powerful collection that showcases Pomeroy’s raw songwriting and engaging voice. She is embarking on a tour with I'm With Her and Iron & Wine, making her Newport Folk Festival debut this July, and was recently seen performing in the blockbuster film Twisters and its soundtrack, and had music featured in FX/Hulu show Reservation Dogs. -
Check out this album that celebrates inclusivity, togetherness and the deep African imprint on American roots music. “The porch is a metaphor for a perfect world - with the kind of smiles like those between the two of them on the cover,” said MIX Magazine in a recent front-page profile. It’s their 2nd “TajMo” collaboration, the first being in 2017. Singers Wendy Moten and Ruby Amanfu are among the musicians joining them here; for the TajMo duo though, there was one collaboration that felt particularly moving: “We had our sons in there playing with us and all the other musicians and writers were hanging the whole time,” remembers Keb’ Mo’. “So it was a really fun place to be.” -
The Akron, Ohio band led by Ryan Humbert is back with their 4th album. They’re already known for their Western Swing and honky-tonk flavors of country music, but this might be their most expansive album yet, bringing Vince Gill, Logan Ledger, and Sam Bush in to join them. “This might sound more like us than any of our other records,” Humbert says of this version of their “Red Dirt Americana” sound. “It feels like the beginning of a new chapter.” -
We’re breaking from our usual album-oriented format to do something we haven’t done before: different versions of the same oldie! This 1962 song is experiencing a remarkable resurgence, captivating a new generation of listeners around the world with its infectious, lilting melody and wholesome lyrics of a bygone era, thanks to it now being streamed in multiple languages. The song, which wasn’t a big hit for the then-23-year-old Francis, has become a viral sensation 63 years after it was first released, with millions of TikTokers lip synching to the timeless track while showing off stylish, often retro, outfits and using it to soundtrack videos of their babies, kids, pets, and more over the past few weeks -
One of the more defining indie-rock/alt-country voices of the ‘90s and adjacent decades spent the better part of five years (including the Covid era) recording this 28-songs solo album, and it plays like a most revealing autobiography. As Big Takeover Exclusives has written, “He’s been writing songs about people on the fringe for damn near a lifetime. 40+ years of detailing the idiosyncrasies of outcasts, losers, freaks and outliers in society in his two acclaimed, if not totally different, bands – Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven. David Lowery, chief singer-songwriter and frontman from the aforementioned bands, is now taking a much different approach to his songwriting and is singing about something he’s really never dug that deep into – himself.” The album will be released on Friday May 30th: the very day he returns to Studio B! Live session just past 11am. -
How can a band last for some 56 years and keep its legacy so strong? By maintaining its identifiable groove and sound, and by doing so while evolving with different members over the years. Such is the case with Little Feat, formed by Lowell George, Bill Payne, Richie Hayward, and Roy Estrada back in 1969. -
Get to know this artist’s wonderful hybrid of jazz, blues, and honky-tonk country, and signature mix of vintage influences and modern edge. After years touring with Postmodern Jukebox and leading a Cirque du Soleil country project, she’s now got her most personal work yet. -
June 27th sees the release of this release from the innovative fiddle player for the Infamous Stringdusters. We thought we’d debut it on May 22nd in anticipation of our live interview with the Stringdusters, Thursday around 4pm from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Mill Spring where they play that evening. This is Garrett’s 8th studio album but his first release with the Stringdusters’ Americana Vibes Record label. Garrett’s collaborators on the record included banjo player Ryan Cavanagh, guitarist Chris Luquette, singer Lindsay, songwriting partner Josh Shilling, fiddle players Luke Bulla and Casey Driessen, bassist Travis Anderson, and Stringdusters colleague Andy Hall on Resophonic guitar/dobro. Garrett recorded the album in a one-room studio outside of Fort Collins, CO, at the foothills of the mountains, before adding his parts at his own Storm Mountain home studio, where he lives off the grid. -
Raised, and still rooted in West Texas, her songs have been shaped by the desolation of the desert, the rough and rowdy crowd that comes through these small oil towns, and early signs of depression and an ever present sense of melancholy. She’s got a pretty sharp-tongued, sarcastic sense of humor, too. She’s already racked up over a 100 million streams as she releases this, her 2nd album. -
Andrew Marlin & Emily Frantz started performing together in 2009 in coffee shops and restaurants of Chapel Hill and other NC towns under the name Mandolin Orange. They now have their 2nd album under the Watchhouse name, and an extensive tour of North America that comes back to us over Labor Day weekend for the Earl Scruggs Music Festival. They are certainly a grassroots success story that’s been driven by Marlin’s poignant songwriting, that has earned them a reputation for creating music that “redefines roots music for a younger generation” (Washington Post), with songs that touch on the unknowable mysteries, existential heartbreak, and communal joys of modern life.
