Finest New Music from the Blue Ridge and Past
Cowl Photograph: Seth Avett launched the brand new solo album, “Feathe,” final month. Photograph by Mallory Money
Each month our editors curate a playlist of recent music, primarily specializing in unbiased artists from the South. In October, we’re highlighting new tunes from Alabama Shakes and Mavis Staples, plus a direction-turning solo effort from the Avett Brothers’ Seth Avett.
Timothy Seth Avett as Darling
“Schooling”
Seth Avett is often discovered harmonizing by big-hearted folk-rock anthems along with his brother Scott as a part of North Carolina heroes the Avett Brothers. However on this new single from an upcoming solo album launched as Timothy Seth Avett as Darling, Avett takes a stunning flip in direction of hip-hop, rapping uplifting bars about life classes and intimate moments along with his son. The brand new document, “Feathe,” is out now, and it was co-produced with Dana Nielsen, identified for working with SZA, Adele, and Weezer. – J.F.
Ramona & The Holy Smokes
“This Little Coronary heart”
Ramona Martinez, who traces her familial roots to South Texas and whose vocals present the bedrock for Mexi-tonkers Ramona & The Holy Smokes, sat on “This Little Coronary heart,” a dandy of a breakup track, for a decade earlier than the band that bears her title was based in 2022. Persistence proved a advantage right here, because the Virginia-based Martinez and her mates fleshed this one out with simply the correct quantity of fiddle, pedal metal, and two-step swagger. – D.S.
Mavis Staples
“Stunning Strangers”
At 86 years younger, soul legend Mavis Staples continues to be singing her coronary heart out, and he or she’s acquired a brand new guest-heavy solo album on faucet. “Unhappy and Stunning World,” Staples’ 14th album options appearances by Buddy Man, Bonnie Raitt, Derek Vehicles, Jeff Tweedy, and Justin Vernon, and it finds the singer lending her voice to a variety of fascinating covers. Right here she provides a tackle indie singer-songwriter Kevin Morby’s “Stunning Strangers,” imbuing the introspective track with light heat and knowledge. – J.F.
Alabama Shakes
“One other Life”
After embarking on this yr’s profitable reunion tour, Alabama Shakes have dropped their first new track in 10 years. Soulful and atmospheric, the observe options bandleader Brittany Howard meditating on how an individual’s life has many phases, in addition to threads that finally join these completely different private eras. It’s the band’s first launch on their new label, Island Information, and extra new music is on the best way. – J.F.
John Fogerty
“Proud Mary”
John Fogerty’s contentious relationship along with his former bandmates in Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the authorized wrestle over the rights to his music, which was lastly resolved in 2023, is the stuff of music enterprise legend. Fogerty, now with management over his CCR songbook, has revisited most of the band’s traditional hits on “Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Years.” Joined by his sons Shane and Tyler on this recording of “Proud Mary,” the 80-year-old Fogerty sounds simply as crisp as when the one dropped in 1969. – D.S.
Rhett Miller
“Come As You Are”
Rhett Miller, frontman of alt-country pioneers Previous 97’s, is prepping launch of a brand new solo album, “A lifetime of driving by night time,” which will likely be launched on October 10. The album’s lead single is a co-write with Turnpike Troubadours’ Evan Felker, who sings concord on the observe, a melancholy ballad a few musician’s burden of leaving family members behind for in depth excursions and different rigors of the enterprise. – J.F.
Luther Dickinson
“Who Do You Love”
Admittedly unfamiliar with the music of the Grateful Useless previous to becoming a member of Phil & Pals in 2013, singer/guitarist Luther Dickinson has definitely change into nicely versed within the iconic band’s catalog over the following years. Dickinson’s newest launch, “Useless Blues Vol. 1,” is a group of blues tunes lined by the Useless all through their legendary profession. Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love” is underpinned by a drum and bass roll from Memphis primarily based funksters MEM_MODS, a Dickinson aspect venture, and options the soulful vocals of Asheville’s Datrian Johnson. – D.S.
Bobby Osborne, C.J. Lewandowski, & Pals
“Sweetheart You Performed Me Unsuitable”
Simply previous to bluegrass icon Bobby Osborne’s demise in 2023, Po Ramblin’ Boys mandolinist C.J. Lewandowski hung out within the studio along with his mentor and hero, recording what would change into the final tracks of Osborne’s storied profession. Lewandowski gathered a cohort of bluegrass heavyweights, together with Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, Vince Gill, and Sam Bush, to complete the document as an homage to Osborne. Tuttle gives a beautiful harmonic counterpoint to Osborne’s excessive lonesome lead vocal on “Sweetheart You Performed Me Unsuitable,” a Invoice Monroe traditional. – D.S.
