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It’s the legendary band’s first new studio album in 12 years, first-ever all-blues album, and the first one to feature percussionist Sam Clayton on lead vocals on every song. The current lineup also has Bill Payne on Keyboards and Vocals, Fred Tackett on Guitars and Vocals, Kenny Gradney on Bass, Scott Sharrard on Guitars and Vocals, and Tony Leone on drums and vocals. Bonnie Raitt is featured on one of a couple Muddy Waters tunes, and they also cover Willie Dixon, Walter Jacobs, Preston Foster, and Bobby Charles.

"This whole project grew out of a box of old four-track tapes from the ’90s that I found recently,” singer/songwriter Eric Earley explains. “The tapes were full of songs I’d written and recorded back when I was 19 or 20 years old, and the sound and the spirit of those recordings got me excited to start writing music again, to go back to working the way I did when I was first starting out.” See if you can pick up on that ‘90s psychedelic and classic rock-inspired sound on this one, which will be available May 17th via Yep Roc Records. The Portland, Oregon band will host an online listening party on May 15th, FYI.

"Katie Crutchfield's voice is the centerpiece of her music as Waxahatchee. It's shaky in a way that feels resilient...She's finding herself on Tigers Blood. You can hear the confidence shining through." (NPR). Saint Cloud was a breakthrough album for Waxahatchee, a welcome musical escape and comforting reflection for many from the pandemic, and it cemented her status as an important voice in the indie-Americana scene. We also loved her 2022 collaboration with Jess Williamson for the project called Plains. Now with Tigers Blood we see Crutchfield dig even deeper; the result is a complex and beautiful album that is sure to find a special place in people’s hearts once again. She plays in Asheville on Tuesday April 30th.

We wrap up our New Tunes at 2 series this week with three sneak peeks at some future albums coming our way. The Songs From the Road Band has helped keep Western NC as ground zero for some of the best new bluegrass music, and they’ve got a catchy foot-stomper about musicians’ life on the road with “Get Me Where I’m Going.” Sam Burchfield, from Upstate SC and now North GA, has a beautiful new song about spending time on “The Ridge”. And, well, we lost The Man in Black in 2003, but back in 1993 he’d recorded some great songs he’d written over the years that then got put aside when he signed on with Rick Rubin for that great “American Recordings” series. His son John Carter Cash has recovered these demos, and completed the tracks with work from musicians who played with Johnny in the past including guitarist Marty Stuart and the late bassist Dave Roe, along with others. “Well Alright” is the first single from an album “Songwriter” that will be released on June 28th.

On the heels of two Grammy-winning albums in succession, with her band Golden Highway—2022’s Crooked Tree and 2023’s City of Gold—plus a nomination for Best New Artist, Molly Tuttle returns with a solo album that captures her moving in a pop direction. “I like to be a bit of a chameleon with my music,” she says. “Keep people guessing and keep it full of surprises.” The album was recorded with a group of musicians that includes drummer/percussionists Jay Bellerose and Fred Eltringham, bassist Byron House, and producer Jay Joyce on multiple instruments. Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show) also plays banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, as well as singing harmony; he is Molly’s partner in both songwriting and life.

September 12th sees the release of Shawn Camp’s The Ghost of Sis Draper, which features 10 songs co-written by Camp and the late Guy Clark, as well as one solo Clark composition. All of the songs are centered around their famous character, immortalized in the song you may already be familiar with (we featured one of the variations of the title track for “New Tunes at 2” last week). We’re looking forward to seeing Shawn at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival coming up this weekend, both with his Earls of Leicester (he sings Lester Flatt’s part) and with another of Clark’s frequent collaborators, Verlon Thompson.

“Eight and a half years separated Total Freedom and its predecessor, Voyageur, so the five years between albums for Kathleen Edwards now feels like the blink of an eye. For her new one, Billionaire, the Ottawa musician teamed up with producers Jason Isbell and Gena Johnson for 10 tracks of chugging rock and razor-sharp songwriting.” -Pitchfork

Canadian native Tami Neilson has another powerful album of Americana styles with this tribute to the larger-than-life statue “towering over Broadway like the patron saint of heartbreak in downtown Nashville as she smiles coyly over her shoulder in red cowboy boots.” She was first mesmerized by Music City during a trip at age 16, and was excited to show her New Zealand-raised children the source of her inspiration during a 5-month coast-to-coast trip that was nearly scuttled by a sudden hospitalization. As she says, “We zig-zagged across the country, from the ghostly halls of Graceland to the technicolor desert of Salvation Mountain, across neon graveyards in Las Vegas to driving alongside herds of buffalo in Montana. I collected the seeds for these songs in each place along the way. When they blossomed, there were crossbreeds of Presley and Patsy, Orbison and kd lang- the blues of Memphis, the twang of Texas, the cinematic torch of Judy Garland on a Hollywood soundstage. But, mostly, it became a love letter to my Neon Cowgirl.”

We’ve been playing music from Western NC’s Resonant Rogues the past few years, featuring singer and banjo/accordion player Sparrow Smith and her husband, Keith Smith. Sparrow is excited to release her solo album, which will be available on September 5th, and she’s celebrating with a release show at Rare Bird Farm on Saturday, August 30. Songs on Carolina Mountains stem from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene (the title track), traditional tunes like “Wayfaring Stranger” (“Mercy”), and a Mary Oliver poem (“Strawberry Moon”). Also, wineberries! The Blue Ridge region is featured throughout the album, in instrumentation, stories, and luminaries. She and Keith are based in Marshall, Madison County. She and her band will be live in Studio B on Thursday, just past 11am!

Happy Independence Day Week! Our New Tunes at 2 features this week spotlight two of the most American of art forms, Jazz and Country. Today’s comes from renowned saxophonist, composer, and educator Jeff Coffin of the Flecktones and the Dave Matthews Band. This collection of original compositions showcases Coffin’s extraordinary compositional vision and arranging prowess, blending traditional African rhythms with contemporary composition.