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Alan Barnosky // Lonesome Road EP (Jan 17)

Durham, NC (by way of Michigan) flatpicking guitarist and songwriter Alan Barnosky expertly crafts Americana songs that detail the life of a modern troubadour. His critically acclaimed debut Old Freight, which was noted as being “a fantastic album, full of clever guitar work, excellent vocal performances, and punchy arrangements“ put him on the map as an artist to watch. Since its release he’s been a festival and showcase regular, appearing at the 2018 IBMA Songwriter Showcase, receiving an honorable mention at the Telluride Troubadour Contest, showcasing at the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance conference, and opening for genre mainstays The Steel Wheels, Robbie Fulks, and Charley Crockett. In addition to his work as a solo artist, he has performed with bands at the IBMA World of Bluegrass, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, and Bristol Rhythm and Roots. 2020 sees Barnosky poised to build on this momentum with the release of his sophomore work, Lonesome Road, an EP that spotlights instrumental prowess while remaining true to the honest songwriting, authentic delivery, and no-nonsense production for which he has become recognized.

Lonesome Road begins with a driving guitar rhythm and shuffling fiddle, opening out into blistering layers of solo trade-offs between mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. On the title track, Barnosky delivers the perfect high country, old-timey vocal tone as he advises: “If you ever get trapped, if you get unlucky, get on down that lonesome road.”  

“It’s generally bad advice to run away from your problems,” he laments with a smile. “But once in a while a shift truly is needed and it’s time to cut your losses.”  

“Might Be a Call”– a standout track — was inspired in part by the music of genre luminary Bill Monroe, an influence made clear in both the song’s lyrics and minor-key, modal arrangement.  “A lot of Bill Monroe’s songs have themes of loss,” Barnosky reminds us. “I was listening heavily to Monroe when I wrote ‘Might Be a Call’. It is about somebody who’s gone but you still feel their presence, and there’s a palpable uncertainty there.”

The more tongue-in-cheek “Beer Cans and Quarters” uses tropes from classic country songs to tell the story of a lost soul rambling for a new home after hard times. Barnosky recounts that a friend had once used the phrase “beer cans and quarters” and the song idea immediately struck. He penned the lyrics and melody shortly thereafter. While not autobiographical, anyone who has experienced disappointment or struggle can identify with its themes.

Barnosky was compelled to face and conquer some testing medical challenges in the early stages of the EP’s production. An enigmatic physical malady caused vocal damage and he wasn’t able to sing — or even speak comfortably — for several months. The band had no choice but to put the project on hold, and Barnosky had to face the possibility that his singing career might be over. Luckily, with time the condition receded and he was able to resume recording in late 2019.

This challenge strengthened the tone of resolve within Barnosky’s songs, and the EP is all the better for the experience. This acoustic masterclass was recorded at Arbor Ridge Studio in Chapel Hill with Jeff Crawford serving as lead engineer. Performers on the album include fiddler Jack Devereaux (formerly of Town Mountain), Robert Thornhill (mandolinist for Hank, Pattie & The Current), and bassist David Kinton.

A lifelong musician, Barnosky began playing bluegrass in his late teens as an upright bassist and only started singing and writing in his mid-twenties. “I moved from Michigan to North Carolina in 2012, and fit my most essential belongings into a 4-door car,” he recalls. “Unfortunately an upright bass would have taken up just about the entire car, so that got left behind – but I did squeeze in an old acoustic dreadnought guitar.” Then, living in a new place without a bass or bandmates to play music with, Barnosky starting flatpicking, writing, and working on his singing voice. A couple of the songs on Lonesome Road were first penned during that period.

An avid backpacker and cyclist in his spare time, Barnosky grants that a lot of the album was inspired by nature and his extensive time outdoors. A two-month solo bicycle tour quite literally served as the material for the title-track “Lonesome Road.” His new EP channels this experience–the life of a modern hobo making his way down the road to see what the next moment brings.

Barnosky will be on tour throughout the coming months in support of Lonesome Road. 

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“A riveting composition of Appalachia and heartfelt folk. Barnosky delivers a kindred mix of Ralph Stanley and David Rawlings, an earthy joy where pioneering meets the modern.” – Glide Magazine

“His lonesome bluegrass-tinged folk sound is perfect for these haunting times. The subtle harmonies on the chorus seep through to your soul. If you’re looking for a sound that’s as fresh as these first few mountain snows, give Barnosky a spin.” – Ear to the Ground

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Jen Starsinic // Bad Actor

From the dreamy, confessional indie-rock that fills her newest release, Bad Actor, to the bluegrass and old-time roots music that soundtracked her upbringing in small-town Pennsylvania, Jen Starsinic has spent much of her 20s in a whirl of evolution. She’s been a frontwoman, a side musician, a songwriter, and a top-tier instrumentalist. As her music has deepened and diversified, so has her understanding of her own emotional makeup — an understanding that’s been shaped not only by the onset of adulthood, but also by her time taking care of a sick parent, navigating the twists and turns of modern-day romance, making a new home in Nashville, and taking a hard look at her anxieties. Bad Actor shines a light on that period of personal and musical growth, reintroducing Starsinic as a songwriter whose folk roots have blossomed into something bigger, bolder, and far more amplified. 

“I grew up playing fiddle in bluegrass bands,” she says. “In my heart, I’ll always be a folk writer, because what that means to me is a musician who writes truthfully about her own experience. But I also love weird pop music, indie-rock, and dream-pop. I’ve always wanted to be in rock bands. The opportunity had just never been presented before…so I made my own.”

Starsinic began writing the bulk of Bad Actor‘s songs in Nashville. She’d moved to town in 2014, having already cut her teeth in the old-time music communities of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. A graduate of the Berklee School of Music, she had also earned her stripes as a road warrior by joining the touring lineups of several bands, including the David Mayfield Parade. Moving to Nashville gave Starsinic the chance to concentrate more on her own music, and The Flood and the Fire — her critically-acclaimed debut as a solo artist, featuring cameos by icons like Molly Tuttle (IBMA’s Guitarist of the Year) and clawhammer banjoist Allison de Groot— was released the same year she relocated to Tennessee. As she began to settle into Nashville life, though, she found herself drawn back to Pennsylvania, where her father was busy battling a life-threatening liver disease. She became one of his primary caretakers, traveling back and forth between her childhood stomping grounds and her new home. It was difficult to find time for herself — time to focus on her own mental health — when she was investing so much effort in being somebody else’s support system.

Something needed to change. Starsinic began going to therapy, examining her past relationships, and experiencing an adult coming-of-age, while also updating her own art to reflect those changes within. The rustic, rural sounds of her musical roots began giving way to something more guitar-based, inspired by powerful female acts like Sharon Van Etten, Phoebe Bridgers, Courtney Barnett, and Alvvays. Written and recorded over a four-year period, Bad Actor is a reinvigoration of her sound, mixing Starsinic’s swooning, woozy vocals with synthesizers, distorted electric guitars, glittering waves of reverb, and autobiographical lyrics. The effect is reminiscent of War on Drugs’ expansive shimmer, and the studio band — including keyboardist Ben Alleman (Jenny Lewis, Grace Potter), guitarist Paul Niehaus (Calexico, Justin Townes Earle), and rhythm section/co-producers Parker McAnnally and John Wood, both of The Prescriptions — pairs Starsinic with a number of sympathetic musicians who, like her, have logged time in acclaimed acts. They do great work together. “Cold” is a coming-of-age heartland rocker that barrels forward at a steady clip, while the mid-tempo title track makes room for gauzy layers of pedal steel and ethereal keys, punctuated by lyrics about Starsinic’s struggle to a live more authentic, meaningful life. “Did the storm make you lonesome, or are you stronger?” she sings, weighing the pain of past trauma against the perspective gained from weathering the struggle.

“This record is really about learning to face ingrained, self-destructive habits with compassion, understanding, and genuine curiosity about where they came from, accompanied with accountability,” she says. “It’s about learning to admit to yourself that you’re not being who you really are, and allowing yourself to change.”

Those personal changes are reflected in the evolution of her music. Nowhere is Jen Starsinic’s artistic growth more evident, though, than on the EP’s final track, “Foreign Thing.” Originally released as a straightforward folksong on 2014’s The Flood and the Fire, the tune receives a musical makeover on Bad Actor, dressed up with an anthemic, cathartic arrangement that sweeps and soars. The idea to re-record “Foreign Thing” arrived one night in Nashville, after watching a friend’s rock band cover the song at a local show. Struck by the group’s new interpretation of a familiar track, Starsinic chose to revisit it in the studio. The result is an atmospheric recording that wraps up the EP on an appropriate note, nodding to the songwriter’s folky past while also showcasing her adventurous present.

“It’s a nice recap,” says Starsinic, who co-produced the album at The Smoakstack in Nashville. “It’s a revisiting of an older self.”

Meanwhile, the empowering themes of Bad Actor parallel Starsinic’s work with Girls Write Nashville, a non-profit organization that she co-founded in 2017. Launched as a mentorship program for teenage girls, Girls Write Nashville has provided creative musical experiences to almost 100 young female artists since its inception, encouraging those girls to identify and unleash their creative voices. It’s an organization rooted in many of the same tenets that fuel Starsinic’s own art, and it’s given her the chance to encourage the unabridged artistic development of the next generation of women. 

She leads by example with Bad Actor, a record that is equal parts coming-of-age soundtrack and personal battle cry from a songwriter who refuses to be defined by her past work. There’s not a single fiddle part here. Instead, there’s a lush, newly-expanded sound from a musician once hailed as the next big voice in folk — and despite the title, Bad Actor is pretty damn cinematic. 

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Sarah Peacock // Burn the Witch (March 27th)

American history is blood-stained with the dehumanization of entire communities. Casting her own harrowing spell, singer-songwriter Sarah Peacock draws parallels between current events and the 1692 Salem Witch Trials with the title song to her new record, Burn the Witch. Finger-picking guitar work cleanses the throat as her voice swells to mimic the havoc strewn through time, as well as present-day strife along our southern border. Such raw intensity boils over onto the rest of the 11-track record, and while her style is not easily defined, her storytelling prowess is irrefutably potent and unnerving.

“Hopefully, this song inspires people to take a look at what’s happening in our world today and how we abuse people,” she says of the song, which is delivered as a “catalyst for hope.”

Peacock has a bedeviling way about her, particularly in the way she harvests such influences as Brandi Carlile and Heart. She even filters heavy metal band Metallica through a rootsy, acoustic lens to emerge with a silky, sticky musical web of her very own. “Keep Quiet” slithers from her bones in a similar sinister fashion, twisting her lyrical mechanisms even tighter, while “Mojave” flourishes with a vibrantly polished hook. Her voice always rises to the occasion — switching between various styles as effortlessly as a chameleon.

Firm in her belief to use her platform for social and cultural change, the shift occurred after her tour bus burned to the ground in 2016. Then on a four-month tour, weaving up the west coast, she and her crew stopped for a quick bite to eat. Their generator caught fire and the blaze consumed nearly everything aboard. 

“After the fire, I signed with a Nashville label when I came home from the tour. I did two records for American Roots Records prior to parting ways with them in the fall of 2018. There was Beauty in the Ashes (2017) and then Hot Sheet Motel (2018). I think the connection piece and synergy between the bus fire and Burn the Witch was that the bus was a pivotal moment where I realized people really were listening. The fans showed up for me when I was ready to quit, and that made me internalize (probably for the first time) that the world was actually paying attention. I started writing differently. I wrote like the fate of the social climate depended on it. Burn the Witch is what happened after really letting the juices of that experience and those last two records soak in. It’s about the music, the songs, and the power they have to plant a seed of change.”

 Burn the Witch is a brawny, life-affirming set that digs into themes of perseverance, overcoming personal struggles, finding redemption in the ashes and what freedom should feel like. “The Cool Kids” recalls being bullied in school and the idea that “hurting people tend to hurt people,” she says in hindsight. “I feel sorry for all those kids who picked on me.”  

“I remember Billy Shane / Got beat up ‘cause he was gay / There’s worse things than sticks and stones / Bones will heal, but a heart just won’t,” she sings. Such a raw lyric is one of many essential pillars to Peacock’s latest opus, also accentuated with songs like “House of Bones” (“It’s a hell of a thing to do / Carve your heart out with a spoon”), the rain-soaked “The One” and “Take You High,” which offers a welcome reprieve of optimism and warmth.

A product of the Atlanta suburbs, growing up in the town of Lawrenceville, Peacock did what most youths do: she performed in the church as part of band and choir, as well as in stage musicals in high school. Forbidden to listen to any secular music, it wasn’t until much later that she sought out popular music like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt and country icons Dolly and Reba. 

In 2001, she left for Belmont University in Nashville to study commercial music. Her mid-20s evolution directly stemmed from flipping through catalogs of Top 40 country and pop-rock, while still drawing upon a heavily contemporary Christian music songwriting foundation. Her discoveries in rock ‘n’ roll music soon fused with her own burgeoning craft, and she later spent a few years teaching at a music school for kids in Atlanta — helping to build a curriculum that spanned ‘60s and ‘80s music to the present.

Meanwhile, as her musical endeavors expanded, she underwent a vital personal transformation. 

“A huge factor for me in coming to grips with my faith and sexuality was that I discovered the progressive Christian community during this time,” she recalls. “I learned that what I was told to believe about the Bible and the LGBT community isn’t exactly what the Bible really says when you read it with the full scope of the original text and a full understanding of the social and religious culture of the time. I was told that you couldn’t be gay and a Christian. Discovering that God really did make me who I am on purpose and learning that He didn’t want me to change gave me the freedom to be who I was more comfortably.”

An active touring musician since 2005, she met a smorgasbord of people who showed her the full breadth of what love and compassion meant.  

“I was finding these people opening their homes to me and preparing meals for me and just loving me,” she remembers. “They were good, solid, generous, kind people, and that really opened up my viewpoint, not to mention in a parallel way, I was discovering how to reconcile my faith and sexuality.” It took Peacock a good seven or eight years “to come to terms with and live comfortably in my own skin and find my voice and sense of belonging, as a woman in the business,” she says.

Causing even more emotional friction for her was an ongoing mental health battle. “I was feeling like who I was was so innately wrong that I simply didn’t want to exist anymore,” she says. “Having to come to terms with it all, there was no alternative for me. I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t invest in personal growth and in a spiritually-heightened awareness.”

At the time of the bus fire in 2016, everything came to a head. It was a turning point not only for her personal development but for her music as well. Burn the Witch is Peacock at her most vulnerable, and yet there rises a great strength within her songwriting. She’s unafraid to confront social issues of being a queer woman in 2019, bullying, and displaying unconditional compassion. “Hold Me in Your Heart” is an astonishing acoustic-rooted moment and quite a wallop of a performance to bookend what will undoubtedly be one of 2020’s most important releases.

These 11 songs seek to uproot what we think we know about the world. Peacock works her magic across every single moment, each syllable diligently carrying its weight and heart. The music is expertly packaged and delivered with a sense of urgency while never feeling heavy-handed or exploitative. Burn the Witch is about truth and understanding of humanity, and Peacock will not back down until the whole world is listening.

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“At the core of her sound is cunning songwriting and a commanding voice to deliver it. Pensive, raw, and fiercely communicated, her brand of Americana showcases a hardy core developed by rock, country, and blues sensibilities alike.” – PopMatters

“There’s a reason Peacock, with her bourbon-smooth alto and dramatic flair, has connected so fiercely with her fans.” – The Boot

“Peacock’s return could not be more climatic.” – B-Sides and Badlands