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We have another new musician to introduce you to: Nat Myers, who has teamed up with Dan Auerbach (Black Keys) and Pat McLaughlin (John Prine, Nathaniel Rateliff, Nanci Griffith, Taj Mahal) for this blues-based collection. You’ll hear his fondness for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and other legends here, as the Korean-American from Kansas, Tennessee and Kentucky confronts the dark aspects of Asian hate that accompanied the global pandemic, with eyes set on seeking tranquility, stability, and peace.

Doug Sahm: an oft-underrecognized Tex-Mex music pioneer, who was a member of the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados. Son Volt’s Jay Farrar immersed himself in Sahm’s music during the COVID-19 pandemic, and found him to be “kind of a musical shapeshifter.” “From Tex-Mex to country to blues to San Antonio rhythm and blues to ‘60s pop to Cajun fiddle music. He’s always mostly following the inspiration – and then, occasionally, follows the money enough to find inspiration. He’s kind of a role model in that respect.” Check out this great tribute to him with Son Volt’s renderings of a dozen songs of his you may or may not know!

It was her first live performance in 20 years, and a surprise appearance at that. The legendary Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island was the perfect place for this monumental experience, and we have Brandi Carlile to thank for coaxing one of our favorite singer/songwriters out of retirement following her brain aneurysm in 2015. We also have writer, actor, playwright and major Mitchell fan Cameron Crowe to thank for some wonderful liner notes.

We air an hour of regional acts on Mondays at 8pm, and for this New Tunes at 2 spotlight, we’ll feature three of them in a Local Color preview: We have brand new material from The Late Shifters out of Asheville, The Big Hungry out of Hendersonville, and Jupiter Coyote, which formed in Brevard in 1990 and currently has two bandmates in Macon, two in Augusta, One in Atlanta, one in Brevard, and one in Weaverville.

Darrell recently came through the area and wowed crowds with his terrific Electric Trio (Bryn Davies on bass, Jeff Sipe on drums). Now he’s got a stringband trio backing up on this latest record: he and Bryn are joined by mandolinist Matt Flinner and fiddler Shad Cobb. John Cowan and a few others join as well, as they pick some originals as well as fully reformed covers. Check out one of our favorite songwriters in this, his first full-length studio album since 2016.

It’s been a remarkable 2023 for Giddens. The multi-faceted artist, GRAMMY-winner, and MacArthur fellow was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her collaborative opera, Omar. This new album, her first of all original material, was produced by Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Alicia Keys, Valerie June, Tank and the Bangas). The collaborators include Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi plus American fiddler Dirk Powell, bassist Jason Sypher, and Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu.

“I knew that I needed this record to be full of joy because if we’re standing at some kind of finish line of human civilization—and I’m not saying that we are, but some days it sure feels that way—then I want to go out dancing,” laughs songwriter and Durham, NC resident M.C. Taylor. “That’s what I wanted Jump for Joy to feel like: Dancing at the end times.” Produced by Taylor and engineered by longtime Hiss compatriot Scott Hirsch over two weeks in the late fall of 2022 at the fabled Sonic Ranch studio in Tornillo, TX, just a short walk from the Mexican border, Jump for Joy dances with joyful, spontaneous energy that feels like a fresh chapter in the Hiss Golden Messenger oeuvre. Taylor is accompanied throughout the album by his crack live band: guitarist Chris Boerner, bassist Alex Bingham, keyboardist Sam Fribush, and drummer Nick Falk, a collection of musicians that have helped make Hiss Golden Messenger’s live performances legendary affairs.

She was one of our favorite new artist discoveries last year with her debut Pohorylle (“That River, “Tehachapi”…). This one picks up where that one left off, with references to a place she can’t return to: California’s Santa Clara Valley before its lush orchards were replaced with Silicon. Both albums were produced by Sera Cahoone.

One of our most highly anticipated album releases is here! Molly captures that great California bluegrass & newgrass sound with her great band here, with songs like “El Dorado” (about the Gold Rush), “Yosemite”, and “Down Home Dispensary”. There’s an East Coast connection too, though, as this was recorded in Nashville and co-produced by Jerry Douglas, and all of the songs were co-written with Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show.

One of our most highly anticipated album releases is here! Molly captures that great California bluegrass & newgrass sound with her great band here, with songs like “El Dorado” (about the Gold Rush), “Yosemite”, and “Down Home Dispensary”. There’s an East Coast connection too, though, as this was recorded in Nashville and co-produced by Jerry Douglas, and all of the songs were co-written with Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show.