Country & Folk

American Folk is the soundtrack to the award-winning 2018 independent film, American Folk, starring Joe Purdy and Amber Rubarth. In addition to both original compositions and classic folk song renditions by Purdy and Rubarth, the soundtrack includes John Prine's ''Some Humans Ain't Human'' and Jerry Garcia & David Grisman's ''Freight Train.''

Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton is a new album of old-time music produced from archival recordings by two legendary musicians. These largely unheard tapes were recorded at Doc Watson's two earliest concerts, presented in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1962. Those shows were among the rare appearances Doc's father-in-law, fiddler Gaither Carlton, made outside of North Carolina. The instrumental pieces, including Gaither's signature tune "Double File," include intricate musical interactions developed through years of family music-making. On the songs and ballads, Doc's instantly recognizable baritone voice is accompanied by his own guitar and Gaither's fiddle, or by the traditional combination of fiddle and banjo. Shortly after these recordings were made, Doc Watson embarked on a career as one of America's premier acoustic guitarists, earning the National Medal of Arts and eight Grammy Awards.

See You Around is the full-length debut from I'm With Her, featuring multi-Grammy-Award-winners Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O'Donovan. Before coming together these artists co-founded seminal bands (Nickel Creek and Crooked Still) and since have collectively contributed to critically acclaimed albums from esteemed artists including Yo-Yo Ma, The Civil Wars, Kris Kristofferson, John Mayer, Alison Krauss, John Prine, and many more. This much anticipated release reveals the commitment to creating a wholly unified band sound. With each track born from close songwriting collaboration, I'm With Her builds an ineffable magic from their finespun narratives and breathtaking harmonies. The result is a collection both emotionally raw and intricate, with layers of meaning and insight within even the most starkly adorned track. Co-produced by Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Laura Marling, Paul McCartney) and the band and recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in a tiny English village near Bath, See You Around delivers a warmly textured sound that proves both fresh and timeless.

180g black vinyl w/ download card.

LANCO's story begins in the small towns where all five bandmates Lancaster, bassist Chandler Baldwin, multi-instrumentalist Jared Hampton, drummer Tripp Howell and lead guitarist Eric Steedly were raised. Spread across Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia, they lived normal lives full of late nights, long weekends, hard lessons and young love. Alongside award-winning producer Jay Joyce, LANCO focused on capturing the spirit of their exuberant live shows, sharing the same goal to make everything sound authentic and human. If a particular song didn't click, LANCO would take it on the road and perform the new tune every night until things fell into place.

2017 release. One of Rolling Stone's 2017 "Country Artists to Watch," Hayes gained national attention last year with 8Tracks Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Sixteen self-written and recorded songs, released through SMACKSongs and Rarespark Media Group, catapulted the singer/songwriter from working night shifts at Costco to the top of the music charts - and onto tours with Dan + Shay and Bobby Bones' Funny and Alone Comedy Tour. Entertainment Weekly noted Hayes' unique hybrid's "genre blending" and NPR's World Café raved Hayes is "writing these really autobiographical songs and delivering them in this way that feels very intimate, very close range." Rolling Stone concurred, "... he writes songs that are damn near impossible to classify, and that's what makes them so interesting." The album was produced by Grammy-Award winning producer Shane McAnally.

2018 release from rapper Big Smo AKA Boss of the Stix. "This album is definitely about growth." So says Smo, whose growth as a force in American music cannot be denied. Having topped 50 million views on YouTube, sold more than 450,000 tracks and dominated both the country and rap charts, the charismatic Tennessee-bred artist, outdoorsman and family man draws fans from across all social boundaries. How does he do it? He speaks truth. He lays down epic rhymes that challenge listeners to party when they can, to champion the values on which they were (or should have been) raised, to look straight into the eyes of life, to laugh and love and even get angry every once in a while if that helps make things right. These many sides of Smo are represented proudly on this album. Yes, Special Reserve is about growth, in creative horizons as well as in a worldview nurtured by time and trial. But it's also about the growth it inspires among his ever-expanding audience, who see their own stories mirrored in his.

The sessions that produced Out In The Open were brisk and instinctive, expansive yet intimate, visceral and immediate - and they would have had to be, for herein are songs that tell the big story by drawing the small ones. There is, to my ear, as much of Raymond Carver's literate and humane influence on display as the Osborne Brothers, as much Welty in the pointed details - both sublime and confounding - as Clark and Van Zandt. Compassion and determination act as connective tissue when, throughout this song cycle, the bones, muscle, and blood of daily life dance with loose-limbed motion toward the inevitable, guided by an ethos best articulated by Sam Beckett who directed that when we falter, we try again and ''fail better.''

While in the studio, the Rangers stood in a circle - facing each other and the music with a well-worn brotherhood that was as well open to all they could not imagine transpiring between them. The songs were written as a map, and their shared history a compass blade, but the road itself - the journey - was a moving target and, as with all relevant music, remains one. And the Steep Canyon Rangers are moving along with it. - Joe Henry

Four-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer/musician/songwriter Glen Campbell is an American treasure. Known for his music and comedy show on CBS, 80 top-charting hits and sales of 45 million albums over his 50-year career, his heartwarming voice graces some of the most popular hymns of today on this special collection. Featuring 'Amazing Grace,' 'The Old Rugged Cross,' 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus' and more, Campbell showcases his ability to transcend musical styles and his love for gospel music.

Chris Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 2 will be released December 1 on Mercury Records Nashville. The multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM Award-winning musician first shared the album news from stage during the first of two sold-out shows at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena this past Friday. Of the special hometown concerts, CMT praises, “…cemented his status as one of music’s greatest talents to emerge from the current decade.”

The forthcoming album takes its name from Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A (the capital “A” in “From A Room”) where it was recorded over the last year with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb. Along with Stapleton on vocals and guitar and Cobb on acoustic guitar, the album features Morgane Stapleton on harmony vocals as well as longtime band-members J.T. Cure on bass and Derek Mixon on drums. In addition to seven songs co-written by Stapleton, the album features versions of Kevin Welch’s “Millionaire” and the Homer Banks/Lester Snell-penned song made famous by Pops Staples, “Friendship”.

Volume 2 follows the release of From A Room: Volume 1, which debuted earlier this year at #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, #2 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and, with its RIAA Gold certification, remains the #1 best-selling country album of 2017. Stapleton’s 2015 double-platinum solo debut, Traveller, is currently the #2 best-selling country album of the year.

With a sound that recalls Country music's acid washed golden era, the '90s influenced band Hot Country Knights has finally revealed more details about their debut album THE K IS SILENT, from Capitol Nashville, available May 1st. Produced by Dierks Bentley, the multi-Platinum entertainer also serves as a co-writer on over half of the 10 brawny tracks, serving up one of the most musically satisfying debut albums since 1999. Standout track "You Make It Hard" best represents their High-T philosophy.

Penning seven of the 10 tracks, Bradbery embarked on a four-year songwriting journey in preparation of I DON’T BELIEVE WE’VE MET, alongside ACM Awards Male Vocalist of the Year Thomas Rhett as well as GRAMMY® Award-winning songwriter Emily Weisband and GRAMMY®-nominated songwriter Jeff Pardo to create songs that were an honest reflection of her story. Chart-topping songwriters Rhett Akins (Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean) and Nicolle Galyon (Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert) also penned tunes on the project.

Co-producers Josh Kerr, Afterhrs (One Direction), Alysa Vanderheym, Jason Gantt (Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Brooks & Dunn), Julian Bunetta (One Direction, Thomas Rhett) and Sam Ellis (Marina McBride, Hunter Hayes) all helped to fine-tune the “fresh new sound” (Rolling Stone Country) of the album.“I am more than ready to re-introduce myself with music that is true to my story and my sound after diving into the writing process over the past four years,” said Bradbery. “With I DON'T BELIEVE WE'VE MET, I got the opportunity to work with amazing writers and producers that brought out my unique style and allowed me to tap into so many different influences. This is the beginning of a new chapter for me, and I am so excited for everyone to hear what we've made."

A lot can change in a year: markets boom and bust, trends come and go, presidents get elected. In 2015, Margo Price was a country underdog just trying to keep enough gas in the tank to get to the next gig, but by the end of 2016, she was one of the genre’s most celebrated new artists and a ubiquitous presence on late night television and at major festivals around the world.

It’s the kind of year most musicians can only dream of, and the arrival of Price’s spectacular sophomore album, “All American Made,” proves that she hasn’t taken a moment of it for granted. Delivering on the promise of her debut and then some, the record finds Price planting her flag firmly in the soil as a songwriter who’s here for the long haul, one with the chops to hang with the greats she so often finds herself sharing stages with these days.

A prolific writer with a knack for candid self-reflection, Price has never had to look too far for inspiration, and on ‘All American Made,’ she and her songwriting partner/ husband, Jeremy Ivey, continue to depict the trials of everyday life with un inching honesty, painting poetically plainspoken portraits of men and women just trying to get by.

Highs and lows, long nights and hard days, wild women and cocaine cowboys, politics and sexism, it’s all in there, singularly filtered through Price’s wry, no-bullshit perspective. Throughout the album, her contemporary take on classic sounds is at once familiar and daring, an infectious blend of Nashville country, Memphis soul, and Texas twang that tips its cap to everyone from Waylon and Willie (who makes a guest appearance) to Loretta and Dolly, all while flipping a middle finger to the cookie-cutter pop that dominates modern country radio. Rich with swirling pedal steel, honky-tonk rhythms, and Price’s stop-you-in-your-tracks vocals, ‘All American Made’ is deeply reverent of tradition even as it challenges conventions, a nuanced exploration of conflicted emotions for our deeply conflicted times.

On his sixth album, Bryan wants to bring us together. “Let me hit you with some hometown truth,” he sings in the album’s title track, before sketching a series of country cliches—cowboys, ploughboys, kids running through Georgia pines—linked by their Southern roots. “We’re all a little different, but we’re all the same/Everybody doin’ their own thing.” Through philosophical musings on faith and fatherhood (“Most People Are Good,” “Pick It Up”) he bids listeners—and, notably, his sons—to be open-minded: “I believe you love who you love/Ain’t nothin’ you should ever be ashamed of.”

Nonesuch Records releases mandolinist, singer, songwriter, and radio host Chris Thile's Thanks for Listening on December 8, 2017, with the vinyl to follow on December 15. The album is a collection of songs that were originally written for performance on A Prairie Home Companion. Since becoming the American Public Media program's host, Thile has, each week, written one new (often topical) "Song of the Week" that gets its debut performance on that Saturday's live broadcast—with Thile, the house band, and some of his guest musicians. For Thanks for Listening, Thile and producer Thomas Bartlett chose ten songs from nineteen possibilities and created new studio recordings of them, rather than merely documenting them as originally performed.

Vinyl LP pressing. 2017 release. Fifteen is the first recording in six years from contemporary folk's most popular group, The Wailin' Jennys. An entrancing collection of cover songs, it includes tunes by Tom Petty, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, and is their first new music since 2011's acclaimed album, Bright Morning Stars. For founding members Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody, along with longtime member Heather Masse, Fifteen celebrates a 15-year musical partnership that has resulted in four award-winning studio albums and one live recording on Red House Records, three of which landed the trio on the Billboard charts, while garnering the band a worldwide fanbase. All three band members sing and play a variety of instruments (acoustic guitar, accordion, banjo, ukulele) to create a shimmering tapestry of rich vocals and instrumentals. Additional musicians include Richard Moody (Ruth's brother), Sam Howard, Adrian Dolan and Adam Dobres. Produced by The Wailin' Jennys, Fifteen is a gorgeous feather in the cap of the band that has thrilled millions of listeners to A Prairie Home Companion radio

2017 release, the fourth studio album by country music artist Chase Rice. In the wake of multiple platinum singles and his #1 country album Ignite the Night, Chase tones down the party vibes of his previous recordings and puts his heart on the line on this album-starting with the single "Three Chords and the Truth." That joins "Saved Me," "Eyes on You," "Lions," "Amen" and the rest of the latest by this still-rising star! Rice gained fame as a contestant on Survivor: Nicaragua, where he was the runner-up. Although he received national media attention on the show, he says that reality show stardom did not help propel his country music career; instead, he cited it as an important life event that was more valuable than money and that put his life in perspective.

2017 release, the sophomore album by this band featuring guitarist/vocalist Michael Sweet of Stryper, legendary guitarist George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), bassist James LoMenzo (Megadeth, White Lion, Black Label Society) and drummer Brian Tichy (The Dead Daisies, Whitesnake). Says Sweet: "George and I couldn't be more excited about this album! We've worked very hard to bring you the best of both worlds - a throwback of the chart-topping Stryper/Dokken days yet with a modern production that fits right in with anything out there now in the rock world today." The album gives both Sweet and Lynch the opportunity to operate outside of the boundaries of their most well-known work and really stretch their wings. Pummeling, traditional heavy metal combines with hook-laden melodic rock and traditional hard rock for a recipe that will satisfy the hungriest of rock fans! An absolute must hear for fans of all of Michael Sweet and George Lynch's previous work and of course for those who enjoyed the band's excellent debut album!

Tyminski (Dan Tyminski) will release Southern Gothic October 20 on Mercury Records Nashville. All 13 tracks on the album were co-written by Tyminski who describes the album as holding up a mirror to society without judgment or opinions. What started out as songwriting for other artists, resulted in the 14-time Grammy winner finding himself jealous to give up the songs he was writing and realizing that he had an opportunity to explore these songs within his own project.

Warner Music Nashville's Gabby Barrett is setting the trend. Recently spotlighted as one ofCMT's Next Women of Country (Class of 2020), a 2020MusicRowNext Big Thing artist, aSiriusXM+PandoraAll-Genre and Country Artist to Watch, Radio Disney's Next Big Thing, andAmazon Music's Weekly One best performing Country female of 2019, she continues to rise through the ranks as "country music's next female superstar" (Country Now). Garnering critical acclaim, Barrett's current single "I Hope" was named one ofRolling Stone Country's "10 Best Country and Americana Songs To Hear Now" and claimed the #1 spot onSiriusXM's The Highway Hot 30 Countdown and onRadio Disney's Country Top 50 chart. "A voice you must hear, " (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) Barrett has opened forDierks Bentley, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Toby Keith, Chris Lane, Dustin Lynch, Jake Owen, Bebe Rexha, Cole Swindell, Sugarland, andCarrie Underwood, and will take the stage at mile marker festivals like Stagecoach, Tortuga Music Festival, and Country Jam in 2020. With over 130 MILLION on-demand streams to her credit, Barrett previewed her upcomingRoss Copperman-produced album releasing new song "The Good Ones." The Pennsylvania native began singing in her local gospel choir at nine years old, and performed 136 shows in 2017 alone before rising to national prominence as a Top 3 finalist on ABC'sAmerican Idol.

A Long Way From Your Heart is the fourth release from the fiercely independent outfit whose three previous albums received critical accolades while amassing a massive and highly passionate nationwide fanbase. With his vivid character sketches and blue-collar narratives, Evan Felker continues to solidify his place as one of the finest songwriters to come out of the dustbowl in recent years. Felker’s vocals are honest and affecting, combined with his virtuosic band mates – RC Edwards (bass), Kyle Nix (fiddle), Ryan Engleman (guitar), Gabe Pearson (drums) and Hank Early (pedal steel) –Turnpike Troubadours are a force. The band has achieved a rare feat with A Long Way From Your Heart by creating an album that is immediately accessible, yet continues to reveal greater depth upon each listen.

2017 release from the a cappella group. The group competed in and won the fourth season of The Sing-Off on NBC in 2013. In terms of musical roles, Home Free is structured like a traditional barbershop quartet, with a lead tenor, two harmony voices, and a bass. The lead tenor, who fronts the group and sings most of the solos, is Austin Brown. Tenor harmony is sung by Rob Lundquist, baritone harmony is sung by Adam Chance, and Tim Foust sings bass. In addition to the four voices, percussion sounds are provided by beatboxer Adam Rupp. Although Brown is Home Free's primary soloist, all of the other members occasionally sing solos as well.

Country superstar Blake Shelton remains firmly rooted as a proud Oklahoman with his forthcoming album, Texoma Shore. “Lake Texoma has always been a place of great memories, new and old,” said Shelton. “I literally recorded this album here at its shore so it’s full circle to have the love of this place and the love of country music come together here.” Texoma Shore follows in the footsteps of Shelton’s last album, If I’m Honest, which was the best-selling country album released in 2016. That album earned Shelton a number of awards, including Top Country Artist at the Billboard Music Awards in May.So what can fans expect to hear on Texoma Shore? According to Shelton: “When you listen to the record it will go from something traditional to something that will make your head spin back to something even more traditional. That’s just what you can expect from one of my albums. At this point in my career it’s always good for me to try something different, with different sounds, and I think you'll hear hints of that on this record. I've explored about every part of country music you can explore and it seems like I always keep coming back to my roots, which is traditional country music. I love great songs and there are so many talented writers in Nashville, but I do have a song on the album that I wrote and I'm very proud of it.”

2017 release, the second studio album by country music artist Kelsea Ballerini. The album's lead single is "Legends". Also includes "High School", "I Hate Love Songs" and the title track. Kelsea released her first album The First Time in 2015. She received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

Vinyl LP pressing. 2017 live release. Shooter Jennings was the 48th artist recorded Live at Billy Bob's Texas in November 2016. The show was part of the Billy Bob's Texas 35th Anniversary celebration. Shooter Jennings is a singer/songwriter active mainly in the outlaw country music and Southern rock genres. He is the son of country music legend Waylon Jennings. Billy Bob's Texas is a country and western nightclub located in the Fort Worth Stockyards, Texas, United States. It promotes itself as "The World's Largest Honky Tonk," at 100,000 square feet of interior space and 20,000 square feet of parking space.

2017 release from the country music artist. The familiar maxim of the triple threat - singer, songwriter, musician - doesn't begin to cover it for Toby Keith, one of the modern era's most complete self-directed hit makers. And Keith's most recent several months are a remarkably accurate representation of his entire career. He wrote, produced and released "Wacky Tobaccy," whose accompanying music video features Willie Nelson and has quickly become a surprise runaway viral hit, amassing millions of views immediately after it's posting. From the moment Toby's debut single, the engine driving everything else has been the music. He writes it. He arranges and produces it. And he releases it on his own record label, Show Dog Nashville. At the core is his songwriting, as recognized in his 2015 induction into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in New York City. The Nashville Songwriters Association International named him Songwriter/Artist of the Decade and he is a three-time BMI Country Songwriter/Artist of the Year. His songs have received more than 90 million BMI performances on commercial radio stations worldwide. Keith's albums have sold more than 40 million copies.

Country singer Ned LeDoux will be releasing his first full-length studio album "Sagebrush" on November 3, which pays homage to his musical roots.

2017 release. When The Good Guys Win is the ninth studio album by country music musician Granger Smith. The album's lead single is "Happens Like That". "Each of these 14 tracks fills an important space and it is my hope that they take you on a ride through peaks and valleys, from light-hearted to painfully honest and then back out again," Smith says in a press release. The artist goes on to say that he "wanted this album to be made of many moments. Moments that make you feel something down deep in your gut; moments that sound so familiar, yet bring a flavor you haven't heard from me before. This album is very special to me and I can't wait for the world to hear it!"

2017 release. Two queens of contemporary country music join forces on this powerful album, combining voices, vision and talents to create one of the most exciting country releases this year! Altogether, these two artists have sold well over 10 million albums worldwide, not to mention they both come from country royalty - Pam is the daughter of icon Mel Tillis and Lorrie, the daughter of hitmaker George Morgan! Pam's grit meets Lorrie's glamour on such country classics as the title track, originally made famous by Dottie West, Billie Jo Spears' "Blanket On The Ground," and Dwight Yoakam's "Guitars, Cadillacs" plus early rock favorites such as Roy Orbison's "It's Over" and The Everly Brothers' "Walk Right Back!" Special guest appearances by Joe Diffie and Darryl Worley!

Rather than a departure, Martin's musical career is an extension of the storytelling impulse that drove his work as a comedian, an actor, a screenwriter, a playwright, an essayist, and a novelist.

'The Long-Awaited Album,' Steve Martin's brand new project with the North Carolina Grammy-winning group the Steep Canyon Rangers, is full of stories that mix humor and melancholy, whimsy and realism, rich characters and evocative details. And lots of banjos. That instrument-so dexterously, even acrobatically picked and strummed-proves just as crucial to relating these tales as the lyrics themselves, each chord and riff revealing depths to Martin's narrators and to his musical talent.

Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Includes free full album MP3 download card.

Years is the new album from John Anderson

Hannah Walker and Jamie Elliott, better known as Vancouver based Indie-Folk duo Twin Bandit, return with their sophomore album Full Circle, releasing via Nettwerk. Inspired by day-to-day experiences reflecting on death, mental health and good ol’ fashioned heartache, this is a deeply personal album which aims to inspire those who hear it.

Midland intentionally nods to the wild west with Country music reminiscent of the 1970s and 80s, channeling idols Dwight Yoakam and Willie Nelson, both legends whom they previously opened for on the road. Their 2016 self-titled debut EP was featured in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Billboard and their music video earned them their first CMT Music Awards nomination for Group Video of the Year. ON THE ROCKS is Midland's anticipated first full-length release on Big Machine Records.

2017 release. Together at last! Two folk legends of Laurel Canyon's countercultural music scene join forces on this gorgeous album of all new recordings! Features captivating versions of classic tunes by fellow folk icons Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen plus a few of their own compositions!

This record is the product of a strange and interesting time. When I started writing Gathering, I felt tired of living in the shadow of my earlier self, my earlier work, but more than discouraged, I felt charged with the possibility and the freedom of cutting myself loose from my own and others expectations. I began with an exciting sense of dissatisfaction, and what emerged, as I began to find my voice, was a record full of storms. Some, like Feels Like Lightning or Friendamine, are physical storms. Others, like Dreams, are interior ones. Listening to these songs now, I hear uncertainty, mania, laughter and sadness, all vying for their place on the album. I was surprised by the new voice.

I have been writing records for almost twenty years now. Each one has been different from the last in subject and form, but with Gathering I feel I've found a new electric dissatisfaction, a new way to rejoice as the storm rolls in.