William Tyler composed the music for First Cow, the new A24 film directed by Kelly Reichardt, almost entirely on several of his guitars and a dulcimer. In First Cow, Kelly Reichardt once again trains her perceptive and patient eye on the Pacific Northwest, this time evoking an authentically hardscrabble early nineteenth century way of life. A taciturn loner and skilled cook (John Magaro) has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon Territory, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) also seeking his fortune; soon the two collaborate on a successful business, although it's longevity is reliant upon the clandestine participation of a nearby wealthy landowner's prized milking cow. Reichardt again shows her distinct talent for depicting the peculiar rhythms of daily living and ability to capture the immense, unsettling quietude of rural America.

A new studio album from the time-defying legend who has won Grammys for his last two albums (2019’s Ride Me Back Home just won Best Solo Country Performance and 2018’s My Way won Best Traditional Pop Album). While his last few albums have focused on facing the reality of mortality and crying or laughing in its face, this one is focused much more on celebrating the now and embracing life, love and friends & family. The album includes new songs written by Willie and long time producer Buddy Cannon combined with new songs written by Chris Stapleton and Toby Keith plus a handful of classic songs that Willie interprets his way, all performed with an amazing band of Nashville gunslingers.

The Mastersons are singer-songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore. Longtime members of Steve Earle's band the Dukes, the musical and marital twosome make inspired albums of their own vivid, deeply humanistic songs. Their fourth album, No Time for Love Songs, marks the 10th anniversary of their partnership and creative journey with a collection of songs that could easily serve as the soundtrack to our lives-or at least one version of it. Produced by Shooter Jennings and recorded at L.A.'s legendary Sunset Sound Recorders, the album was engineered and mixed by five-time Grammy Award-winning engineer, Ryan Freeland.No Time for Love Songs explores the emotional challenges of a morally compromised era, and reflects the experiences that the pair has accumulated in their travels. Those experiences helped to inspire the big-hearted songcraft of such compelling new tunes as "Spellbound," "Circle the Sun," "Eyes Open Wide," "The Silver Line," "There Is A Song to Sing," and the album's poignant title track, and showcase the Mastersons' organic harmonies, stirring melodies and insightful lyrics, which consistently offer clear-eyed optimism in the face of loss and discouragement.

On What It Is, the Houston, TX troubadour Hayes Carll is leaving the past behind. “I want to dig in so this life doesn’t just pass me by. The more engaged I am the more meaning it all has. I want that to be reflected in the work,” Carll says. The new album covers a broad range of topics both timely and constant; the desire to bridge the country’s political divide, the ups and downs of relationships, and the challenge to stay present in your life as it goes by. What It Is continues the artistic risk-taking initiated by 2016’s Lovers and Leavers; his voice is strong and assured, and his songwriting as truthful as ever.

On What It Is, the Houston, TX troubadour Hayes Carll is leaving the past behind. “I want to dig in so this life doesn’t just pass me by. The more engaged I am the more meaning it all has. I want that to be reflected in the work,” Carll says. The new album covers a broad range of topics both timely and constant; the desire to bridge the country’s political divide, the ups and downs of relationships, and the challenge to stay present in your life as it goes by. What It Is continues the artistic risk-taking initiated by 2016’s Lovers and Leavers; his voice is strong and assured, and his songwriting as truthful as ever.

Lamentations is a 10-song rumination on the current state of the world around me. I was raised in the faith and the book of Lamentations was always one that caught my attention. A broken man crying out to the heavens, asking why God sat back and let his country fall apart. Questioning the sheer existence of a higher power in the lowest of times. How could an all loving God sit back and let an entire nation’s cry for he

lp go unanswered? I saw many parallels in that story and the current climate of this country in 2020. There are a large group of people who were promised something in 2016. They are still waiting for those promises to be fulfilled. This is a record about the things that break people. Religion, politics, addiction, love, money, family, history. I believe it is an empathetic look at the other side. A group of stories about losing everything and still finding the will to stand back up and fight for the things that matter the most.  - BJ Barham

In the lush tobacco fields of North Carolina where BJ Barham was raised, people work hard. Families stay nearby, toiling and growing together. BJ loves those farms and his tiny Reidsville hometown, but he had to run off and start American Aquarium, a band now beloved by thousands. BJ couldn’t stay. But he couldn’t really leave, either: he’s still singing about the lessons, stories, and lives that define rural America––and him. Recorded at 3CG Records in Tulsa, Oklahoma, American Aquarium’s seventh studio album, Things Change was produced by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter John Fulbright and features cameos from Americana standouts including John Moreland and Jamie Lin Wilson. Stacked with BJ’s signature storytelling––always deeply personal but also instantly relatable––Things Change questions and curses current events, shares one man’s intimate evolution, and leaves listeners with a priceless gift: hope. BJ’s candor has fueled American Aquarium’s runaway appeal, visible most clearly in consistently sold-out shows across the country and throughout Europe - between 200 and 250 dates a year. Much has changed for the band and BJ since their acclaimed last effort, Wolves. In 2017, every American Aquarium member save BJ quit the group. American Aquarium has featured about 30 players since BJ founded the outfit in 2006, and while each member has left indelible marks, the band has always been anchored by the literary songs and sometimes roaring, sometimes whispering, drawl of BJ Barham. Featuring a new band lineup that includes Shane Boeker on lead guitar, drummer Joey Bybee, bassist Ben Hussey, and Adam Kurtz on pedal steel and electric guitar, as well as a reinvigorated frontman in BJ, Things Change is American Aquarium’s first release on a label after selling thousands of records on their own.

...Listen to this record with the lights low. Listen to it on an old radio, cradled next to your ear. This is the sound of two people, singing and playing their songs. Forget the years in between.

“The way you made it
That’s the way it will be.”

– Colin Meloy
Portland, Oregon
May 5, 2011

Jim Lauderdale comes back to his roots with When Carolina Comes Home Again, a bluegrass album of songs old and new. Chocked full of rich stories, tremendous foot stompin' tunes, and extraordinary musicianship, the album will delight bluegrass enthusiasts and beyond. With urgency and precision, the song 'When Carolina Comes Home Again' tells the tale of a man awaiting his lover, Carolina, to return home. In the cheeky 'Cackalacky' Lauderdale sings of his love of biscuits. Brimming with real life, there's a little something for everybody here.

Lilly Hiatt felt lost. She’d just returned home from the better part of a year on tour in support of her acclaimed third album, Trinity Lane, and, stripped of the daily rituals and direction of life on the road, she found herself alone with her thoughts for the first time in what felt like ages.

So Hiatt did what’s always come most natural to her in times of questioning and uncertainty: she picked up a guitar. Over the course of the ensuing winter, she wrote new music that grappled with her sense of self and place in the world, reckoning with issues that had been bubbling beneath the surface of her subconscious in some cases for years. The result is Walking Proof, Hiatt’s fourth and most probing collection to date. The record walks the line between Hiatt’s rough, rock and roll exterior and her tender, country roots. Lilly Hiatt’s not feeling so lost these days, and with Walking Proof, she’s crafted a roadmap to share with the rest of us.

Enhanced with PlayARt - Augmented Reality

2019 release, the debut album from award-winning guitar virtuoso Molly Tuttle. An insightful, gifted songwriter who was crowned "Instrumentalist of the Year" at the 2018 Americana Music Awards on the strength of her EP Rise, Tuttle has broken boundaries and garnered the respect of her peers, winning fans for her incredible flatpicking guitar technique and confessional songwriting. Graced with a clear, true voice and a keen melodic sense, the 25-year-old seems poised for a long and exciting career. When You're Ready, produced by Ryan Hewitt (The Avett Brothers, The Lumineers), showcases her astonishing range and versatility and shows that she is more than simply an Americana artist.

Cauthen first earned his reputation as a fire-breathing truth teller with the acclaimed roots rock band Sons of Fathers, but it wasnt until the 2016 release of his solo debut, My Gospel, that he truly tapped into the full depth of his prodigious talents. Rolling Stone called the album a triple-barreled blast of Texas country, soul and holy-roller rockabilly delivered by a big-voiced crooner, while Vice Noisey dubbed it a somber reminder of how lucky we are to be alive, and Texas Monthly raved that Cauthen sound[s] like the Highwaymen all rolled into one: hes got Willies phrasing, Johnnys haggard quiver, Kristoffersons knack for storytelling, and Waylons baritone. The album landed on a slew of Best Of lists at the years end and earned Cauthen dates with Elle King, Margo Price, Billy Joe Shaver, and Cody Jinks, along with festival appearances from Austin City Limits and Pickathon to Stagecoach and Tumbleweed. He followed it up two years later with Have Mercy, an EP that prompted Rolling Stoneto dub him one of the most fascinating, and eccentric, new voices in country music and NPRs Ann Powers to proclaim it the year of Paul Cauthen.