Announcing the latest albums released to Folk Radio. Check out the links and descriptions provided by promoters for more information.

May 2022

Esbe I Might Be Dreaming

Release Date: May 10, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promo: Angie Lemon www.ethnocloud.com/Angie_Lemon_PR

Dreams can be mysterious and multi-layered, often leaving us haunted by a particular emotion well after we have woken. Inspired by thoughts that seem to hover between the night and the reality of the day, I Might Be Dreaming is the new album from London composer and producer, Esbe. Atmospheric grooves with Esbe’s signature orchestration create the perfect bedrock for far-reaching vocals and lyrics which explore lost love, creative ambitions, climate change and our delicate ecosystem, set within some beautiful poetry from Esbe that gently questions the nature of the human soul. 

Barney Bentall Cosmic Dreamer

Release Date: May 1, 2022
Label: True North Records
Radio Promo: Kari Estrin www.kariestrin.com

Soaring with sentiments of love, longing, and loss, multi-Platinum selling and Juno award-winning artist Barney Bentall plots a sonic constellation of Americana to traditional Folk with the upcoming release of his new album, Cosmic Dreamer. This album marks the seventh solo release for Bentall and now tallies over 20 overall when including his JUNO Award-winning band The Legendary Hearts, and his other releases with The High Bar Gang, Bentall Taylor Ulrich and The Cariboo Express.

Vanessa Lively Truth Is

Release Date: May 1, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promo: Kari Estrin www.kariestrin.com

Vanessa Lively wrote the songs for Truth Is while undergoing incredible challenges in her personal life, as her marriage of 20 years came to a close. Within this transformation, she was ending the parts of herself that were unbreakable, and connecting with the depth of her own strength and resilience. She was in away going through a metamorphosis. This album showcases the brilliance that can be witnessed against the backdrop of storms in one’s life.

Graeme James Seasons

Release Date: April 29, 2022
Label: Nettwerk
Radio Promo: Kari Estrin www.kariestrin.com

Internationally acclaimed folk artist, multi-instrumentalist and New Zealand native Graeme James contemplates life’s cycles on his new album Seasons, out April 1. With Seasons, James contemplates the cycles of life and the human condition, as measured by nature’s own time clock. These are on idle musings about mundane situations. Though he might use tiny brush strokes to define minute details, James paints panoramas.

Kim Beggs Steel and Wool

Release Date: May 1, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promo: Kari Estrin www.kariestrin.com

Mr. Sun Extrovert

Release Date: May 13, 2022
Label: Compass Records
Radio Promotion: Wendy Brynford-Jones www.compassrecords.com

Mr. Sun brings together four of the most virtuosic musicians in acoustic music. Led by Darol Anger, an iconic fiddler and founding father of new acoustic music, the four musicians in the band span three generations and offer some of the most jaw-dropping instrumental prowess to be found in any genre. Their sophomore release Extrovert picks up where their much-lauded debut left off, exploring the grooves and melodies that exist at the intersection of bluegrass, jazz and swing. In spite of their technical chops, Mr. Sun never loses sight of the light-hearted, musical playfulness that has made them a must-see act on the roots music scene.

Mama’s Broke Narrow Line

Release Date: May 13, 2022
Label: Free Dirt Records
Radio Promotion: Devon Leger www.hearthmusic.com

Canadian folk duo Mama’s Broke have spent the past eight years in a near-constant state of transience, pounding the transatlantic tour trail. They’ve brought their dark, fiery folk-without-borders sound to major festivals and DIY punk houses alike, absorbing traditions from their maritime home in Eastern Canada all the way to Ireland and Indonesia. Nowhere is the duo’s art-in-motion approach more apparent than on their long-awaited sophomore record Narrow Line; it’s the sound of nowhere in particular, yet woven with a rich synthesis of influences that knows no borders. 

April 2022

Bob Jensen For the Sake of the Song

Release Date: April 27, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promo: Jensen Music International Jensen@jproductions.com

Atlantic Canadian singer-songwriter and spoken word poet Bob Jensen has released “Tomorrow is a Long Time” from his current album, For the Sake of the Song.  “I cut my teeth as a young performer on early Bob Dylan songs,” says Jensen, “And this one was always part of any live shows I did. I love this period of Dylan’s work, before he got too wordy.  It’s just a plaintive, heartbreaking ballad about unrequited love.  The imagery is beautiful.  Sixty years after it was written, it still shines.”

Amy Speace Tucson

Release Date: April 8, 2022
Label: Proper Records/Windbone Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

It took Amy Speace just a day and a half to record her new album, Tucson, out April 8 via Proper Records/Windbone Records. Don’t think it’s some rush job, though—Speace spent most of her life finding her way to write it. The award-winning, critically revered singer follows up on her acclaimed 2021 album, There Used To Be Horses Here, with a new, seven-song collection of Speace’s most intimate material yet. While long known for penning emotional, often personal folk songs with strong narrative bents, Speace lays herself bare on Tucson in a way she’s never done before, for an album that, in some ways, serves as a reintroduction to one of our finest songwriters, two decades into an already remarkable career.

Susan Cattaneo All Is Quiet

Release Date: April 8, 2022
Label: Rockin’ Fairy Music
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

On her new album All is Quiet, Susan Cattaneo sings softly and carries a big song. Nine big songs, actually. Responding to these extraordinary and challenging times, Susan looked inward for inspiration, creating sparse and delicate arrangements and harmonies to support her personal lyrices. All is Quiet is an album of depth and intimacy that traces one artist’s salvation through music.

Martin Joseph 1960

Release Date: April 1, 2022
Label: Pipe Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

1960 is Martin Joseph’s 23rd studio album in a songwriting life spanning four decades from the opening track, Born Too Late, where he asks “how long does it take for a man to know himself,” through the closing This Light Is Ours, lifting its eyes to hope within community. The 11-track album is Martyn Joseph’s most personal record for years and is a kind of statement and stopping place on the long and winding road from the year of his birth. It will resonate widely, its particular themes always speaking to those more universal ones which touch us all as the years go by.

Noah Reid Adjustments

Release Date: June 24, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Cortney Harkin baselineMUSIC.ca

Noah Reid has earned a permanent place in the music industry as a result of his powerful vocals and honest delivery. Evident on his debut album Songs from a Broken Chair (2016) and sophomore album Gemini (2020), which collectively have garnered nearly 145 million streams, two nominations at the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards in the ‘Songwriter of the Year’ and ‘New/Emerging Artist of the Year’ categories and landed Noah on four Billboard charts.  Reid’s songwriting style is reminiscent of singer-songwriters of the seventies but with a contemporary twist, resulting in a signature polished, albeit slightly rusted over, tone. Rivers Underground is the second single from Reid’s highly-anticipated, forthcoming third record  Adjustments which is set to release June 24, 2022.

Mike Stevens Breathe In the World Breathe Out Music

Release Date: April, 2022
Label: Stony Plain Records
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

On his 8th solo album, Breathe In The World, Breathe Out Music, Mike Stevens plays his harp, takes lead vocal on four tracks and shares the spotlight with several notable guests including vocalists Polly Harris, Cory James Mitchell, guitarists Kevin Breit, Jeff Getty & Jesse Wells, drummer Art Hratchian and bassist Jeff Bird. From bluegrass to West African music, Country to Blues, fiddle tunes to soundscapes and experimental music, for Mike it’s simply a matter of Breathing In the World and Breathing Out Music.

Wolf & Clover Twelvemonth & A Day

Release Date: April, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

When the pandemic swept in to slow down life, Wolf & Clover found their plans for a new album would just have to fit with this radical change to everyday activities and expectations. These pedigreed players had the kind of passion required to make sure that nothing would be rushed, and rushed it was not. The do-it-right-or-not-at-all ethos runs right through the very core of the band. The new album, entitled Twelvemonth and a Day, could quite easily have been renamed “Two Years and More (in the Making).” It’s clear from the get-go that the six-piece ensemble has taken great delight in expanding on its 2018 self-titled album and the follow-up from 2020, Live at the Silvan Sessions.

Cheryl Cawood Bullet in the Cabin Wall

Release Date: April 5, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

Calling her music “Kentucky jams melded with jangly folk rock,” Cheryl Cawood invites listeners on a journey to a bygone era, back to her homeplace, The Cawood Settlement of the 1700’s, which was later inhabited by the hundreds of migrant coal workers in the camps that sprang up in Harlan County, Kentucky when the big fossil fuel industry boomed. Cawood’s roos are as deep as a cast iron skillet is strong. Imagine Mama frying up a Sunday chicken supper while Pappy scratched out banjo tunes on the front porch. This rich and rustic history can be visualized, heard, and felt on her debut solo album Bullet in the Cabin Wall.

Annette Adler Mama Proud

Release Date: April, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

Building on the success of her FAI-charting Color My World, singer-songwriter Annette Adler returns with her new album, Mama Proud, a love letter to her sons and to moms everywhere just in time for Mother’s Day.

The album is dedicated to Adler’s late mother and mother-in-law, both of whom inspired her as a daughter and mom. “I couldn’t think of a better way to honor their memory than recording an album with songs written for my boys and their grandsons,” Adler said.

March 2022

Wally Barnick New Road

Release Date: March 22, 2022
Label: Sustainable Tunes Records
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

On his third solo album, NEW Road, veteran central coast of California musician Wally Barnick makes a recognizable departure from the ‘grass-fed material that has made up much of the recorded output that those familiar with Barnick’s music have come to expect, what, with the sound of banjo showing up on only one track. Producer David West and session man Jesse Siebenberg contribute tasteful electric and slide guitar that adds soul and enhancement to the solid acoustic guitars, mandolin, and fiddle elements. Just enough percussion and drums locks everything firmly in place on several of the tracks.

February 2022

Rupert Wates For the People

Release Date: February 8, 2022
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

“This CD is a love song to humanity. It’s also a return to my roots in English Folk. Most of the songs are loosely based on old English folk tales, which tell stories of ordinary people over the last few centuries. Here are soldiers on the eve of war; sailors on a smuggling ship; jilted lovers. The accompaniment is simple, and the lineup is sparse. I hipe it sounds both ancient and contemporary, or in other words like folk music – which may be defined as music of the people, by the people, for the people.” (Rupert Wates)

November 2021

Oliver James Brooks Storm Chasing

Release Date: November 12, 2021
Label: Tourbo Music
Radio Promotion: Cortney Harkin baselineMUSIC.ca

Storm Chasing was written over the course of the last five years with some of the tracks having been composed while Oliver James Brooks was living in Brooklyn, New York. The introspective and emotionally driven alt-folk-rock album was recorded between 2020 and 2021 at Gavin Gardiner’s All Day Coconut studio in Toronto, Ontario and all of the sounds were captured using an old Tascam 388 8” track tape machine (with the exception of a few overdubs). Oliver takes his listeners on a musical journey reminiscing on childhood memories, sadness, love and optimism.

Mala Oreen Awake

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Tourbo Music
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Awake is the culmination of artistic discovery – of Mala Oreen carving out her own niche with her writing, highlighted by her transcendent, lilting vocals, and surrounded by a welcoming production that take us all on a journey with Mala full of adventure and satisfaction. Mala Oreen is a Swiss-American folk singer-songwriter and fiddler who makes her home in Lucerne. Her music has been described as “healing” “powerful” “magnetic” “passionate” and “as pure as an Alpine stream”. 

Brooksie Wells Stops Time

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Sown Home Dive Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Stops Time, Brooksie Wells’ third folk release, brings her songwriting journey into the full circle of love. This group of songs reflect, highlighted by the isolation brought on these last 18 months, our various needs for connection. Brooksie reminisces about old friends, dusted off and polished up previous songs and curated some of her old radio gems. Her elegant fingerpicking and grounded vocals are supported by warm, acoustic arrangements.

Over the Moon Chinook Waltz

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Borealis Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Canadian roots/swing duo Over the Moon live and breathe real cowboy country. Living on a ranch in the foothills of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, it’s inevitable there will be a strong sense of place – and the rhythms of the land – when you pick up an instrument and start to make music. When the couple released their debut album, the resonances were there for all to hear, reflecting the pulse of life in a territory that is both dirt-hard rugged and stunningly beautiful. It was a wild ride that took in styles from 40’s western swing and Appalachian old-time, to cowboy blues.

Bett Padgett Turning Over Stones

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Ceildhe’s Music
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Turning Over Stones is a perfect release for the coming of winter. Grab a hot drink, light a fire and cozy up with this new album. Although Bett Padgett musically provides a safe and welcoming space for us, she also writes consequential songs for the times. The album’s theme is derived from the hope (and phrase, “no stone left unturned”) of doing all one can do to find what one is looking for. In this album, Bett searches for answers to many of the problems that plague the well-being of our country and its citizens. She questions and searches for what is important in her life but learns to appreciate the history and surroundings within her own environment. She also takes a light-hearted approach of several issues with humor and brave honesty.

Carole Wise The Long Way Home

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Soulful Cricket Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Carole Wise’s new album The Long Way Home, is a compilation of lyric and melody that grew from its creative seed: a calling of the heart. Listeners will connect their own life journeys home – to a physical space, self or new beginnings – in Carole’s songs of gratitude and courage. Themes of nature, social justice, emotions and feelings infuse her songs with meaning: The album is about our human journey and each song, a chosen path. On what journey will our paths cross?

Rick Faris The Next Mountain

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Dark Shadow Recording
Radio Promotion: www.darkshadowrecording.com

The Next Mountain, the sophomore follow-up to the critically acclaimed Breaking in Lonesome album features original compositions by Rick Faris and songwriting colleagues: Rick Lang, Brink Brinkman and Becky Buller.

Mandy Marylane Blues Shack

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Y&T Music
Radio Promotion: Michelle Castiglia macradiopromo@gmail.com

Y&T is very proud to announce the upcoming release of Mandy Marylane’s new EP Blues Shack. The EP was produced by Fernando Perdormo and features Mandy’s new interpretations of 5 classic blues, gospel and country classics. Each copy of the EP comes with a numbered and signed art print by Mandy and Fernando.

T. Buckley Frame By Frame

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Label: Fallen Tree Records
Radio Promotion: Jill Kettles www.fallentreerecords.com

Acclaimed Calgary, Alberta-based Americana artist T. Buckley returns with his second solo album Frame By Frame. Backed by his top-notch band of multi-instrumentalists, Buckley delivers another of the trademark smooth and soulful vocal performances that make him one of the most talked-about artists from western Canada. With songs taken from stories etched in the trappings of prairie grasses and campfire ashes, T. Buckley commemorates the Western arena while paying hushed homage to the greats of songwriting and story-telling.

Joe Nolan Scrapper

Release Date: November 11, 2021
Label: Fallen Tree Records
Radio Promotion: Jason Schneider www.jasonschneidermedia.com

Eleven songs form his latest heavyweight album, Scrapper. Covering themes of loneliness, the struggles of being on the road and the misunderstandings that divide friends and lovers. Joe Nolan’s honest, intimate, original music can be hard to define. Simply, it’s Roots music, “because that’s where everything I do stems from.”

Antonio Andrade Jingle All the Way

Release Date: November 11, 2021
Label: Life Shakes Records
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

Jingle All the Way is the seventh full length release by Antonio Andrade, and his fourth since 2014, when he concluded 38 years of full time human service work. The root of this project was the covid pandemic, the shutdown, and the changes and adjustments. These eight songs, written between 1934 and 1962, range in age from 59 to 87 years old. All widely known, people of all ages sing them. In a certain sense, they have become folk songs. These songs provided a big part of happy days and happy years in Antonio’s life.

October 2021

Billy Strings Renewal

Release Date: October 8, 2021
Label: Rounder Records
Radio Promotion: Ayappa Biddanda www.concord.com

Renewal adds to an already triumphant career for Billy Strings, who won Best Bluegrass Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards for his 2019 record Home. Renewal solidifies Strings’ position as a singular artist–one who honors the history of music that inspires him, while continually pushing it forward. With the record’s sixteen tracks, Strings shares a more personal and honest perspective through his songwriting, while incorporating his wide range of influences with elements of bluegrass, classic rock, metal, psychedelic music, and more.

Natalie Hemby Pins and Needles

Release Date: October 8, 2021
Label: Fantasy Records
Radio Promotion: Ayappa Biddanda www.concord.com

Natalie Hemby’s astounding career has been decades in the making–she has earned two Grammy Awards, written eight No. 1 singles, become a founding member of standout female supergroup The Highwomen alongside Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires. The culmination of her unparalleled journey is reflected on her brilliant sophomore record Pins and Needles out via Fantasy Records.

Rachel Sage Poetica

Release Date: October 4, 2021
Label: MPress Records
Radio Promotion: Andy Cahn www.truetonegroup.com

Cinematic and stylistically expansive, Poetica is a creatively ambitious musical spoken word project distilling a poetic spirit through text, voice and music in the spirit of Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith and Laurie Anderson. Adventurous yet familiar in its intimacy, Rachel Sage’s voice is perfectly at home in the absence of typical song structure, while her musical arrangements fuse elements of jazz, classical and Appalachian folk with surprising agility.

The Accidentals Vessel

Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

The Accidentals (Sav Buist, Katie Larson, and Michael Dause) are a female-fronted, indie-pop power trio whose long-awaited Vessel album is being release October 1. “The whole album is about perspective, the parralax effect of feeling like you’re in slow motion while simultaneously things are flying by at an incredible pace. Depending on where you’re standing, your perspective one what’s really happening changes. If you simply widen your viewpoint, things become clearer.”

Eric Lambert Beating the Odds

Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: Woodpicker Music
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

With his new release, Beating the Odds, Eric Lambert has fully emerged from his journey as a talented sideman and instrumentalist to now also adding powerful songwriting to his musical profile. Lambert celebrates life and its ups and downs with songs about overcoming adversity, climate change, civil rights, abuse and living one’s dream.

Shane Cook & The Woodchippers Be Here For A While

Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

A Canadian and US National fiddle campion, Shane Cook leads a jouous and diverse musical journey through fresh original fiddle tunes and songs on Be Here for a While, the debut album from his band, Shane Cook & The Woodchippers. Shane Cook & The Woodchippers rely on their deep foundation in the traditional music, song and dance of Ontario for the core of their sound, yet also draw on styles as broad as folk, Celtic, roots, country and swing. Their superbly crafted compositions and arrangements are a modern, exhilarating approach to fiddle tunes, song and dance.

Jonathan Edwards Right Where I Am

Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: Rising Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Right Where I Am is a passionate and introspective collection of brand new Jonathan Edwards songs that reverberate with the wisdom and skills acquired in his successful and storied life. Along with a well-seasoned career spanning more than five decades, Jonathan took the last 18 months to record seven songs and one spoken-word piece that colorfully reflect upon the dynamic nature of human experience common to us all. Right Where I Am is Jon’s eighteenth album! A milestone in his more than fifty year career and one he can legitimately call his own.

Ilana Katz Katz In My Mind

Release Date: October 8, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Jill Kettles https://missjillpr.com/

Ilana Katz Katz’s signature blues and roots fiddling, alongside her distinctive scat singing with the fiddle, emerge stronger than ever on her latest record, In My Mind. Her beautifully seasoned vocals evoke the essences of Ricki Lee Jones, Alison Krauss, and hints of Joni Mitchell. Her songwriting skills and refreshing musicality are showcased with ten originals and one traditional.

Mary Lou Fulton We’ll Tell Stories

Release Date: October 12, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

Mary Lou Fulton’s first single won a national songwriting contest. Now the new folk-country artist is building on that success with her debut album We’ll Tell Stories. This collection of political story songs is shaped by her life as a journalist at The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, as a social justice advocate, and daughter of a Mexican immigrant who grew up in the border town of Yuma, Arizona. Mary Lou’s music takes on some of the big themes of our time–patriotism, the immigrant experience and living through the pandemic–in a personal and hopeful way.

Gordie Tentrees Mean Old World

Album Release Date: October 12, 2021
Label: Yukon
Radio Promotion: Art Menius www.artmeniusradio.com

Gordie Tentrees‘ 8th album in a 16-year career, Mean Old World, explores humour, serious reconciliation issues, abandonment, glory, love, affection, danger, safety, fighting, fleeing, winning, and losing. Each song is a treasure on its own; beautifully sung, great instrumentation, wonderful production, fantastic lyrics, yet fitting together as a whole album. The former boxing champ from the Yukon has always had muscle and confidence in his music, but this project represents increased nuance and depth. The works reveal wit and poignancy. The album inspires the hero in us: courage, boldness, honour, strength, and confidence. Gordie reminds us that there are hardships, but change is possible.

Ina May Wool Rewrite the Ending

Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Erik Balkey www.facebook.com/hudsonharding

On the way to a gig in October of 2018 an SUV plowed into me as I was crossing the street on foot. When I got out of the hospital after surgery for broken leg bones, I spent a couple of months in rehab, and I attended the Songwriter’s Exchange weekly meetings online. My new songs kept piling up. Then came the pandemic. I got hit with a strong hankering to tell my story and to reconnect with the musical world. I realized I’d have to handle the recording on my own while the virus raged all over the planet. With the encouragement and help of Carolann Solebello, Sloan Wainwright, and Mark Dann, I chose 12 of the 67 songs and learned how to record myself for this project. I am so proud to share this music with you. Wool writes excellent songs and sings with passion.

Gordonville, U.S.A. US in the U.S.

Release Date: October 1, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Erik Balkey www.facebook.com/hudsonharding

US in the U.S. is the second Gordonville, U.S.A. release and meets these troubling times head on with socio-political songs in the spirit of Gordon’s songwriting influences (Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle). Gordon returns to political roots with US in the U.S. under the belief that desperate times call for desperate measures and that every lyric in a song equals valuable real estate not to be taken for granted.

September 2021

Bruce T. Carroll First Bird To Sing

Release Date: September 5, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Michelle Fortier www.trespassmusic.org

“I’ve been carrying this song around with me for 40 years, since the unexpected passing of my brother by his own hand during a tortured adolescence that carried him, in a flood of drugs and alcohol, to the shores of self-annihilation. That same flood carried me in the same direction for ten years thereafter, through three hospitalizations, a ruined career, a failed marriage and a damaged family, until, by the grace of God, in 1991, I washed up on a different shore, in a different land (metaphorically speaking), and set about putting my life in order.” ~Bruce T. Carroll

John McCutcheon Bucket List

Release Date: September 17, 2021
Label: Appleseed Productions
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

For fifty years John McCutcheon has toured the world, with the exception of the past year and a half. Without planes to catch, soundchecks to make, concert halls and clubs to fill, he stayed home and wrote–a lot. He famously composed his last recording, Cabin Fever: Songs from the Quarantine, in a mere three weeks but he didn’t stop there. The result is the first of a series of new recordings, Bucket List, out nationally on September 17th. Filled with his well-known storytelling prowess, McCutcheon explores a small town in France that has harbored refugees for centuries, the piano that first played “We Shall Overcome,” his own musical mentors, moonshine, kids’ crayon art, the atonement of a former white supremacist, and even the World Lacrosse Games.

Brett Ratliff Whitesburg, KY

Release Date: September, 2021
Label: June Appal Recordings
Radio Promotion: Airplay Direct

June Appal Recordings presents WHITESBURG, KY, the third solo album by Brett Ratliff. WHITESBURG, KY showcases Ratliff’s trademark innovations in the Kentucky repertoire, presenting songs like the rarely performed Harlan County Farewell, a surprising mash-up of Cacklin’ Hen and Morphine, and the title track, Whitesburg, alongside Ratliff’s own, Glory Up Above. The collection, named for an important arts town in East Kentucky, pays homage to Ratliff’s teachers and influences, including George Gibson, Sarah Ogan Gunning, Si Kahn, and Mike Seeger. Haunting archives of neighborly gatherings are spliced in among the driving performances, remembering times once casually shared. Recorded during the 2020-21 quarantine, WHITESBURG, KY explores that old lonesome sound, while asking new questions about how we heal each other through community.

Barney Bentall & Geoffrey Kelly Ranchwriters

Release Date: September 17, 2021
Label: True North Records
Radio Promotion: Eric Alper www.ThatEricAlper.com

When two multi-Platinum and Gold-selling Canadian artists pass time together the best way they know how, the result is certain to turn ears. And such is the case for award-winning musicians Barney Bentall and Geoffrey Kelly and their newly announced album, RanchWriters — available this Fall via True North Records. This 12-track instrumental album ranges from acoustic Americana to Traditional Folk to instrumental New-Grass in genre, described by RanchWriters as “Cinematic Canadiana.” Ultimately, it’s two great musicians passing time the best way they know how.

Michael Gay Make It Right

Release Date: September, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Ellen Stanley www.efspublicity.com

Almighty American’s Michael Gay releases his highly anticipated debut solo album Make It Right. It comes hot on the heels of his lauded double single “Good Night/Long, Cold Winter,” which received wide airplay across North America and was hailed for its “songcraft reminiscent of John Prine” (The Current). Now, with the release of this first full-length album, he confirms his place as the Midwest’s next great Americana songwriter.

Art Vandalay Champagne & Chandeliers

Release Date: August 20, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Ellen Stanley www.efspublicity.com

Art Vandalay blends the classic roots sounds of The Band and the modern indie sounds of Chuck Prophet and The Black Keys, the album is raw Americana rock with songs that are “impossibly catchy” (Duluth News Tribune). Capturing that retro rock sound, Champagne & Chandeliers is the perfect companion to a late-night drive, taking the long way home.

Efrat We Just Need Love

Release Date: September 1, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Denise Kovalevich www.dmkpublicity.com

Efrat believes in the power of music to transform, heal, and evoke change. This belief shines through in her powerful performances and poignantly personal songwriting. We Just Need Love is the result of her own transformation as a mother, an artist, and an empathetic soul-searcher looking to connect with the world around her. She is featured on Spuyten Duyvil’s Temptation album and has performed onstage as a fiddler and vocalist with top-charting folk musicians such as Reggie Harris, Joe Jencks, Pat Wictor, Mara Levine, Gathering Time, and David Amram.

Cosy Sheridan with Charlie Koch A Beautiful Sound

Release Date: September, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Erik Balkey www.facebook.com/hudsonharding

A Beautiful Sound is Cosy Sheridan’s pandemic album. Cosy wrote these songs for herself and for her livestream audience who were also living through the pandemic ad having similar overwhelming feelings and weird experiences. She first appeared on the national folk scene in 1992 when she won songwriting contests at The Kerrville Folk Festival and The Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Linda Marks Monuments of Love

Release Date: September, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Erik Balkey www.facebook.com/hudsonharding

The pandemic context we have lived in for more than 15 months could have stopped heart-centered singer-songwriter Linda Marks in her tracks, but “unprecedented circumstances became a creative hot bed for songwriting,” says Marks. Marks’ epic pandemic album, Monuments of Love, is filled with songs written during the first year of Covid-19.

Lili Anel Better Days

Release Date: September, 2021
Label: Walli-I Records
Radio Promotion: Erik Balkey www.facebook.com/hudsonharding

Better Days (remastered) is a re-imagining of Lili’s October 2019 album Better Days, with two additional tracks. One of the special bonus tracks is a live version of her song “Got Me Thinking,” recorded at NPR station WRTI in Philadelphia. This stunning live track has never been publicly heard until now.

Sloan Wainwright Bright Side of a Rainy Day

Release Date: September, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Erik Balkey www.facebook.com/hudsonharding

Sloan Wainwright’s 2021 release Red Maple Tree charted No. 4 on FAI FolkDJ charts in May and has been on the charts since. Hudson Harding Music is re-releasing another great collection of songs from Sloan to folk radio–her 2016 release Bright Side of a Rainy Day. Sloan is a member of an acclaimed family of artists (brother Loudon Wainwright, sister-in-law Kate McGarrigle, nephew Rufus Wainwright and nieces Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche), she has charted an artistic path all her own, one based in close observation, joy, and spiritual connection.

August 2021

NOÉ LIRA Latiendo La Tierra

Release Date: August 27, 2021
Label: In Tempo
Radio Promotion: Cortney Harkin baselineMUSIC.ca

First generation Quebec-Mexican, actor, activist and dancer, Noé Lira, is thrilled to be releasing her debut EP, Latiendo la tierra Available everywhere under the label InTempo. Latiendo la tierra is a colorful musical journey, imbued with Latin rhythms, organic and textured with the sounds of nature. The trilingual lyrics (in Spanish, French and English) are committed, feminist and aim for solidarity, empowerment and celebration of women and nature. 

Ray Lambiase The Road Ahead

Release Date: August 27, 2021
Label: Self

Ray Lambiase is a veteran Long Island singer-songwriter who has performed in concert with Marshall Crenshaw, Dave Van Ronk, Pure Prairie League, Suzanne Vega, Dave Mason, Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Buzzy Linhart, The Mamas and the Papas, Dr. John, Karla Bonoff, Brewer and Shipley, Eric Andersen and many others. His fifth full length CD, The Road Ahead, features eleven new songs that celebrate a range of Americana musical genres, and stories that will introduce listeners to a number of memorable characters.

Laura Love Uppity

Release Date: August 31, 2021
Label: Octoroon Biography
Radio Promotion: Art Menius Radio www.artmeniusradio.com

Laura Love’s responds to the alarming rise of hatred in America with an explosive, unexpected album, Uppity. A 61-year-old African American woman, Love has been a performing, touring, and recording folk musician and political activist since 1976. After announcing her retirement from live performance at the onset of the Covid Pandemic in April 2020, she canceled her website and hung up her microphone, feeling satisfied that she’d said and done all she needed to say and do. Then came the events of January 6th, 2021. They sparked an outrage that she realized had been steadily building throughout the benighted Trump years. She described feeling as though she’d “been grinding her jaws and clenching her fists for 4 years watching angry white men wail incessantly about the ‘insults to their rights.’” All this, while police killings of People of Color soar to unimaginable heights as does voter suppression and horrific hate crimes.

David Potts-Dupre Vladimir and Irene

Release Date: August 31, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Art Menius Radio www.artmeniusradio.com

On his third recording project, Vladimir and Irene, David Potts-Dupre offers an ode to his 3½ year old granddaughter Irene and his father Vladimir, who passed away in November 2020 at 100. “Many of my songs are based on my life and my family, most especially my wife Lori who I met at the age of 16. We will celebrate 50 years of being together this September, and I have dedicated this recording to her.”

Trevor Tchir Sun & Moon

Release Date: August 10, 2021
Label: Self
Radio Promotion: Art Menius Radio www.artmeniusradio.com

Canadian singer-songwriter Trevor Tchir finally returns with the release of his fifth album, Sun & Moon. Tchir’s first album in twelve years, its songs speak to the midlife experiences of raising kids, losing loved ones, following dreams in a precarious economy, and acting as a citizen at a time when democracy faces stark challenges. The sound is steeped in in the folk roots tradition, while Tchir’s imagery and stories are grounded north of the border, where he has entertained audiences for over two decades with his intimate voice and guitar playing.

Joy Zimmerman The Canvas Before Us

Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Joy Zimmerman Music
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Joy Zimmerman’s soulful vocals and thought-provoking lyrics light up her new acoustic roots album, The Canvas Before Us. Listeners will hear echoes of their own journeys in Joy’s songs of hope, heartache and resilience. With splashes of social commentary and humor, Joy’s new album invites the question: What story will the canvas of our lives tell?

Rob Lutes Come Around

Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Lucky Bear Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Recorded during Fall 2020, Come Around is the 8th album from acclaimed Canadian songwriter and Kerrville New Folk winner Rob Lutes. The follow-up to 2017’s Walk in the Dark, which earned a Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Vocals, and multiple nominations, Come Around was co-produced by Lutes and longtime collaborator Rob MacDonald. It features 11 original songs, a gritty cover of the traditional acoustic blues classic “In My Time of Dyin’,” and gorgeous backing vocals from celebrated singer-songwriter Annabelle Chvostek. Replete with Lutes’s literate, melodic songcraft, Come Around highlights his unmistakable voice and acoustic fingerstyle guitar, in a unique blend of Americana, blues, folk, and pop.

Jackson Grimm Sober Again

Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Vault Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Jackson Grimm’s second album is an authentic insight into the millennial experience. Grimm manages to critique politics, toxic masculinity, and capitalism while balancing humor, frivolity and earnestness. Simultaneously, he explores some familiar and some not so familiar acoustic string band arrangements. Produced by Josh Goforth, this collection of songs, Sober Again, has a tighter, more concentrated feel than Grimm’s first album, The Bull Moose Party.

Kate Taylor Why Wait!

Release Date: August 2, 2021
Physical Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Red House Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Kate Taylor, of the renowned Martha’s Vineyard via North Carolina musical clan that includes brothers James, Livingston, Alex, and Hugh, is returning from a long hiatus with a new studio album, Why Wait!, which reunites her with many of the key players, including renowned session musicians Russ Kunkel, Danny Kortchmar, and Leland Sklar, who backed her on her 1971 debut, Sister Kate. This new album marks the 50th anniversary of Kate’s foray into the music biz. Rolling Stone recently extended an interview with Kate and premiered Kate’s cover of the Beatle’s “Good Day Sunshine” today (Paul McCartney’s Birthday!).

July 2021

Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs Through the Smoke

Release Date: July 30, 2021
Label: N/A
Radio Promotion: Michael J. Media Group http://www.michaeljmedia.com

Montana’s Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs, the five-member bluegrass ensemble with the soaring harmonies and the rapid-fire picking, bring modern authenticity to the bluegrass genre. With Through the Smoke, Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs crafted an opus that straddles tradition and innovation as it conveys heartbreak and fortitude. It’s the fourth studio album from the Americana influenced bluegrass quintet.

John R. Miller Depreciated

Release Date: July 16, 2021
Label: Rounder Records
Radio Promotion: Ayappa Biddanda www.concord.com

Today, merging singer-songwriter and guitarist John R. Miller released his haunting and insightful debut album Depreciated, on historic record label, Rounder Records. Depreciated blends a vast array of classic sounds from countrypolitan and swamp rock to the Tulsa sound, which attracted multiple-Grammy nominee Justin Francis and renowned guitarist Adam Meisterhans to produce the album.July, 2021

Jared Rabin Cold Rain and Snow

Release Date: July 2, 2021
Label: Golden Twine Music
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

American Songwriter called Jared Rabin, “a remarkable multi-instrumentalist who brings a dynamic and delicate warmth to everything he touches.” This has never been more evident that on Cold Rain and Snow, the award-winning songwriter’s first all acoustic release. It was conceived and recorded during 2020 when there were no live performances and swerved as an important outlet for a musician accustomed to constantly playing live.

Murray McLauchlan Hourglass

Release: July 2, 2021
Physical/Digital Release Date: July 9, 2021
Label: True North Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Iconic Canadian folk singer Murray McLauchlan is an eleven-time Juno award winning artist. He has received the Order of Canada, The Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, has been inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and is soon to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Hourglass is a collection of songs that address the shocking events of the recent past and the ongoing trajectory of a troubled world but also the sweetness of life itself.

Diana Jones Song to a Refugee

Original Release Date: September 25, 2020
US Release Date: June 11, 2021
Label: Goldmine Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Folk singer/songwriter Diana Jones is known for giving voice to dispossessed people from the past. Song to a Refugee (Goldmine Records) artfully considers the times we live in, speaks for those often without a voice and encourages a humanitarian response to the refugee crisis around the world.

Jackson Browne Downhill From Everywhere

Release Date: July 20, 2021
Physical/Digital Release: July 23, 2021
Label: Inside Recordings
Radio Promotion: Art Menius Radio www.artmeniusradio.com

A half-century ago, Tom Rush’s recording of “These Days” introduced the folk music world to Jackson Browne, who was 16 years old when he wrote the song. His debut album soon followed in 1972 with its hit “Doctor, My Eyes.” Nearly five decades since, the songs on Jackson Browne’s new album Downhill From Everywhere sustain the soulful intimacy of his first release, combined with a power and wisdom gained from a life pursuing positive change.

Jake Eddy Jake Eddy

Release Date: July 6, 2021
Label: N/A
Radio Promotion: Art Menius Radio www.artmeniusradio.com

A professional musician since age 14, Becky Buller Band guitarist Jake Eddy explores a set of seven classic fiddle tunes on his eponymous debut. Influenced by both bluegrass and gypsy jazz, Jake showcases his playing thinking with the support of an all star quartet featuring Rob Ickes, Bryan Sutton and Kenny Smith. “I made this record with one thing in mind,” Jake says.
“Fans of flat top picking will have a full plate with this collection of classics. The picking is clean, and the tones are pure.” – Dan Tyminski

Jesse Brock Streamliner

Release Date: June 29, 2021
Label: Sound Biscuit Productions
Radio Promotion: Art Menius Radio www.artmeniusradio.com

Two-time IBMA Instrumentalist of the Year, Jesse Brock, had some clear ideas going into recording his first solo album in a score. As he tells it, “Closing in on the 20-year mark from my first solo project, I decided to step into the studio once more. You may have expected an instrumental recording, but I produced an all-star band recording.” Streamliner features Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Jason Carter, Josh Swift, Rob Ickes, Felecia Mikels, Russ Carson, Ron Block, Greg Blake, Barry Reed, and Dale Perry.

June, 2021

Chris Ronald Light & Dark

Release Date: June 4, 2021
Digital Release Date: May 26, 2021
Physical Release Date: May 28, 2021
Label: Borealis Records
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Light & Dark, the fifth album from Canadian Chris Ronald is steeped in his British roots, poetic lyrics, and signature blend of folk and rock instantly reminiscent of 60’s-era revivalists and 70’s-era singer-songwriters. This time leaning towards a more rootsy sound, Ronald’s powerful vocals and accomplished musicianship (guitar, harmonica, and ukulele) serve up a delicious folk-Americana, roots-rock release that lands just where Ronald and his long-time collaborator – award-winning producer/multi-instrumentalist John MacArthur Ellis – set their sonic sights a few years ago.

Mark Schatz & Bryan McDowell Grit & Polish

Release Date: June 4, 2021
Label: Patuxent Music
Radio Promotion: Kari Estrin Mgt www.kariestrin.com

Grit & Polish presents a striking and colorful range of traditionally oriented music, both old and new, by two of the most versatile and respected players in today’s American acoustic music scene. Mark Schatz and Bryan McDowell bring their different humor, beauty, and ease, taking the listener on a delightful, toe tapping journey through a landscape of fiddle and banjo tunes, songs, lilting waltzes, and searing guitar solos. Stir in some clogging, hambone, and jaw harp, then sit back and enjoy an eclectic musical feast!

Charlie Mosbrook Together Alone: Songs from the Pandemic

Release Date: June 2021
Label: Self

Charlie Mosbrook is an award-winning songwriter, performer, and advocate for American folk music. Today he performs for major festivals and concert series throughout the US. His recordings of original and traditional songs have earned him rotation on many popular fold radio programs around the world. He continues to organize local open mics and serves as the president to FARM (Folk Alliance Region Midwest) and Folknet of Northeast Ohio. On his latest album, Mosbrook says, “I wrote of the pandemic, insurrection, the new civil rights movement, and the struggles we all faced during the past year, Together Alone.”

May 2021

Bumarang Echo Land

Release Date: May 21, 2021
Label: Fallen Tree
Radio Promotion: Peter Chapman www.fallentreerecords.com

Despite Echo Land being Bumarang’s debut, there is a clarity, confidence, and focus that reveal the Montreal-based “Celtic power trio’s” storied past. Together with their Scots Gaelic name, literally meaning boomerang, and the album title, Echo Land, they allude to a reflection, a return and a resolution to find answers in the past. Brought together on stage in 2015, the three virtuosic players combine diverse influences of classical, jazz, African, and Indian music together with a love and appreciation for Celtic folk songs. It results in a unique and innovative take on what was once old.