Best New Music from the Blue Ridge and Beyond
Every month our editors curate a playlist of new music, mainly focusing on independent artists from the South. In September we’re highlighting new tunes from Billy Strings, Carbon Leaf, and Gillian Welch & David Rawlings.
Carbon Leaf
“Backmask 1983”
On “Backmask 1983,” the first single from the band’s first long player in a decade, Carbon Leaf combines arena rock power chords with spacey keyboards and a bevy of eighties references, including Farrah Fawcett posters, the Challenger explosion, fear of the Bermuda Triangle and Bigfoot, and the inherent dangers of playing a vinyl record backwards, to provide a deep sense of nostalgia for Gen X listeners who came of age in the mysteries of the pre-internet age. For fans of the band who date back some thirty years—and are old enough to remember its allusions—this song is like a little bit of time travel. – D.S.
Skylar Gudasz
“Truck”
North Carolina artist Skylar Gudasz takes a soul-searching journey in “Truck,” a track from her newly released album, “Country.” In the laid-back roots-rock tune, Gudasz calls out comforting voices from the radio, including Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, before turning the lyrics to question what’s on the road ahead (“What are you looking for out there, girl?”). – J.F.
Billy Strings
“Highway Hypnosis”
Billy Strings has turned bluegrass into an electrifying arena spectacle, blending fast picking with wild light displays and psychedelic pedal effects. Strings’ sonic evolution into large rooms is on full display throughout the new live album, Billy Strings Live Vol. 1, a 10-track effort compiled from shows in 2023 and earlier this year. The standout “Highway Hypnosis” is a wayward traveler’s anthem that starts out as a traditional-sounding foot-stomper but gradually drifts into a blissful deep-space exploration, with distant whiffs of the Grateful Dead’s “Eyes of the World.” – J.F.
Fruition
“Saturday Night”
Fruition returns with their first record in four years and the first single, “Saturday Night,” is a down-tempo ode to a simple message: life’s joys are uncomplicated when you have your lover close by. The band delivers a groovy acoustic rhythm, accented by some tasty slide guitar, that buoys the stellar harmonies of Kellen Asebroek, Jay Cobb Anderson, and Mimi Naja. In a world driven by the relentless hustle and bustle of our modern schedules, this is a nice reminder that happiness is close at hand if we only pay attention. – D.S.
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
“Empty Trainload of Sky”
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have just returned with their first batch of new songs in seven years. The August-released album “Woodland” pays tribute to the duo’s longtime Nashville studio, which they have been rebuilding since it suffered devastating tornado damage back in 2020. The album’s first track leans into the bluesy side of the pair’s rustic folk sound, with earthy harmonies and fluid acoustic strings highlighting their incomparable chemistry. – J.F.
Wayne Graham
“A Silent Prayer”
Shooting a bottle rocket at a traffic light from the window of a van is exactly the type of shenanigan you would expect from a band out on the road. This seemingly harmless pursuit became the inspiration for the chorus for “A Silent Prayer,” establishing a disconnect between actions and consequences, while serving as a metaphor for how our own efforts—benign or otherwise—can leave us on shaky ground within our relationships. The first single is from the band’s new record, “Bastion,” which releases this month on Hickman Holler Records, Tyler Childers’ imprint. – D.S.
Fancy Gap
“Strawberry Moon”
Fancy Gap is the new North Carolina-based project featuring the Love Language’s Stuart McLamb and songwriter/producer Charles Crossingham. A highlight from the collaborator’s recently released self-titled album is this contemplative heartland rock ballad that includes a radiant vocal assist from Sharon Van Etten. With celestial pedal steel providing some twilight hues, McLamb and Van Etten trade contemplative verses about indecision and mixed signals in a relationship. – J.F.
Kevin Gordon
“Keeping My Brother Down”
Nashville songwriter Kevin Gordon ferociously channels his empathy in this call for social justice. Rooted in a dream punctuated with imagery of lynching and our country’s history of social injustice, Gordon connects our transgressions of the past with the continued misdeeds of the present. The message herein is simple: until there is justice for all, there is justice for none, and the combined burdens of tragedy and progress are there for all of us to bear. – D.S.
