No Depression’s annual year-end readers poll is now open for voting, and this year’s list includes a handful of albums from some of our favorite NewSong artists, past and present, with two releases from our own NewSong Recordings label:
Idaho from DAVID ROBERT KING (2017 NewSong Music Competition finalist)
White Tiger from Ana Egge (2007 NewSong Music Competition finalist)
Lots of great releases featured in this poll, so head over to nodepression.com and cast a vote for your favorites!
From No Depression:
1) Select up to 10 albums from the list by clicking the checkboxes. (You don’t need to rank your picks.)
2) Choose carefully! Only one ballot per person is allowed.
3) When you’re finished, be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the ballot and click SUBMIT.
Please submit your ballot by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. We’ll report the results at nodepression.com soon after the polling closes, so stay tuned!
*** Click here to take the 2018 No Depression Year-End Readers Poll ***
We love to keep up with our past NewSong Music Contest finalists and winners, and, over the years, we have amassed a busy and hardworking group of musicians we admire.
NewSong songwriters live and perform across the continent and beyond, their work spans multiple genres, and these artists are always putting out new material. To keep track of all their news and upcoming shows, we will be highlighting NewSong artists in our weekly roundup.
We’ve put together a list of five shows, publications and recordings we think you should be paying attention to this week. The deadline for the 2018 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is coming up! You have until Sunday, Nov. 4 to submit your original music.
1. David Robert King & Crys Matthews – “Have Mercy” video Release
David Robert King and Crys Matthews have officially released the video for their first song collaboration, “Have Mercy.” The song is a heartfelt and powerful response to family separation along the U.S. southern border. All proceeds from “Have Mercy” will benefit RAICES.org, a nonprofit agency that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees in Texas. The song was recorded with producer Gar Ragland at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville, NC.
2. Kelly English records sophomore album at Echo Mountain Recording Studios
Kelly English will return to Asheville to record her sophomore album with producer Gar Ragland. Kelly was a finalist in the NewSong Music Contest and traveled to Asheville to compete at the Lake Eden Arts Festival in 2015. There, she found a home at Echo Mountain Recording Studios and eventually recorded her 2017 album, City Limits. A year later, she is returning with a host of new songs to record, and we can’t wait to see what is next for this talented artist.
Listen to Kelly English on Bandcamp and stay tuned for new music, coming soon.
3. Max Hatt / edda glass – Recording new album in seattle
Max Hatt / Edda Glass are recording a new album at David Lange Studios outside Seattle. The duo’s last album, Ocean of Birds, was recorded in 2016 with NewSong Recordings and has garnered praise from critics across the country. The band has been featured by NPR Mountain Stage, Sundance Film Festival, NYC’s Lincoln Center, & Daytrotter. This fall they’ve made a sweep of the highly competitive official juried showcases at Arts Midwest, South Arts PAE, and Arts Northwest, three top-tier booking conferences attended by major performing arts centers, presenters, agents, and artists.
Crys Matthews, Grand Prize Winner of the 2017 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition, has some exciting shows coming up this week. You can find Crys at the Cellar Stage in Timonium, MD on Oct. 26 and The Living Room in Ardmore, PA on Oct. 27. This hardworking and eclectic songwriting is on tour through the fall, so check out her tour schedule to see if she’s stopping in a city near you.
5. 11/4 deadline approaching for NEWSONG MUSIC PERFORMANCE & SONGWRITING COMPETITION
Now in its 17th year, the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performers and songwriters across an array of genres.The final deadline to enter this year’s competition is Sunday, November 4.
NEWSONG MUSIC COMPETITION GRAND PRIZE WINNER CRYS MATTHEWS AND RUNNER-UP DAVID ROBERT KING COLLABORATE TO WRITE AND RECORD NEW SINGLE.
“HAVE MERCY” INSPIRED BY FAMILY SEPARATION ALONG U.S. SOUTHERN BORDER.
PROCEEDS OF SALE TO BENEFIT RAICES, the largest immigration legal services provider in Texas.
October 19, 2018 (Asheville, NC) – Atlanta-based singer-songwriter and longstanding guitarist for Mary Gauthier, David Robert King, and Virginia-based singer-songwriter Crys Matthews are proud to announce a new collaboration, “Have Mercy.” The single is slated for release Friday, October 19.
“Have Mercy” was recorded at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville, NC and produced by Gar Ragland of NewSong Recordings. King and Matthews met as finalists last year in the esteemed NewSong Music Competition at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, where Matthews took the Grand Prize, and King was her runner-up. The songwriters kept in touch, and, less than a year later, they found themselves in Asheville, NC, recording the co-written single.
“I woke up one morning with the first verse running through my head,” says King, whose voice and songwriting style bears frequent comparisons to the likes of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen. “I had been digesting the 24-hour news cycle for too many days in a row and was crushed, specifically by the separation of families along our southern border.”
King is coming off a successful year of making music. His 2017 album, Idaho, was produced by Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, The New Pornographers, Sarah McLachlan). No Depression has praised the musician, calling Idaho “good for the soul,” full of “folk-drenched songs of the world class order.” King recently performed at the 30A Songwriters Festival, alongside Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Mary Gauthier, and others. He has collaborated with Emily Saliers of The Indigo Girls, Jonathan Brooke and others, which had led to a top 40 song on folk and roots radio, wide critical acclaim, and a featured spot at AMERICANAFEST 2017.
Earlier in the summer, King reached out Ragland, who also produces and co-founded the NewSong Competition, to tell him about the co-write. “David sent me a rough demo of the song,” says Ragland. “I was deeply moved … not just by the song but also the spirit of the collaboration that went into it. After just one listen, I insisted that the three of us get together here in Asheville to record it at Echo Mountain.”
The production is spare, relying on the power of the duo’s enchanting harmonies, acoustic guitar, and the emotional weight of their lyrics. While “Have Mercy” has elements of a classic protest song, is also contains a gentleness and optimism that transcends the merely political. King felt there was an “inherent hope” in the song and immediately thought of a collaboration with Matthews, whom he had met through the NewSong community. “I knew her voice and perspective would take the song where it needed to go,” he says.
Matthews’s career has taken a big step forward since winning last year’s NewSong Music Competition, with recent performances at the Sundance Film Festival and D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “My mom, who is a preacher, talks to me all the time about how hard she is praying for our country these days with all of the turmoil and despair that seems to be running rampant,” says Matthews. “The song to me just feels like that prayer.”
We love to keep up with our past NewSong Music Contest finalists and winners, and, over the years, we have amassed a busy and hardworking group of musicians we admire.
NewSong songwriters live and perform across the continent and beyond, their work spans multiple genres, and these artists are always putting out new material. To keep track of all their news and upcoming shows, we will be highlighting NewSong artists in our weekly roundup.
We’ve put together a list of five shows, publications and recordings we think you should be paying attention to this week.
1. David Robert King & Crys Matthews – “Have Mercy” video Release 10/19
Atlanta-based singer-songwriter and longstanding guitarist for Mary Gauthier, David Robert King, and Virginia-based singer-songwriter Crys Matthews are proud to announce a new collaboration, “Have Mercy.” The single, a response to family separation along the US southern border, is slated for release Friday, October 19..
“Have Mercy” was recorded at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville, NC and produced by Gar Ragland of NewSong Recordings. King and Matthews met as finalists last year in the esteemed NewSong Music Competition at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, where Matthews took the Grand Prize, and King was her runner-up. The songwriters kept in touch, and, less than a year later, they found themselves in Asheville, NC, recording the co-written single.
Look out for “Have Mercy” this Friday on your favorite music platform! In the meantime, listen to David Robert King and Crys Matthews on Spotify.
2. David berkeley – “This be dear to me” video release
David Berkeley recently released his shimmering lyric video for “This Be Dear
To Me” from his forthcoming EP The Faded Red And Blue, out November 2. The
imagery moving behind the words is a 40-foot watercolor painting by Santa Fe artist
Stan Berning that was used in the 2005 movie “Off The Map.” Berkeley’s eight-
year-old son Noah hand wrote the lyrics. PopMatters premiered the video, writing, “[This Be Dear To Me is] a hauntingly beautiful track that perfectly encapsulates all that David Berkeley does best.”
Berkeley has announced a Fall/Winter tour. See his website for confirmed dates. Listen to Berkeley on Spotify.
3. Chris velan – “Amateur Hour” album release + “All time record” video
Chris Velan’s single “All Time Record” held the #7 spot on the CBC Music chart this month, the latest in a string of critical acclaim for Velan’s latest album, Amateur Hour. The album, released in September 2018, unfolds like a series of monologues in a one-act play where the characters are locked in a room and forced to respond and react to unexpected news, discovering that what they thought to be true of themselves was in fact not.
“Both in its title and lyrics, [“Amateur Hour”] came to encapsulate for me the themes of the album, representing them in this imagined, psychic space; Some dingy bar with a tiny stage where we all assemble as eternally helpless beginners, forever witnessing each other’s efforts to surrender to that inescapable truth,” says Velan.
Asheville, NC-based indie folk artist Carly Taich has three great shows coming up in Asheville. The “fearless folk-pop” artist impressed judges at the 2018 LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition, and her unique brand of “fearless folk-pop” earned her first place.
The Music Modernization Act was signed into law on October 11, which may have big consequences for those working in the music industry. It is a comprehensive bill that aims to reform the current music licensing system and give music creators an opportunity to obtain compensation that more accurately reflects the value of music.
Elizabeth Matthews, chief executive officer of ASCAP, says, “The MMA’s unanimous passage in the House and Senate proves that the power of music is a great unifier.”
To read the entire statement from ASCAP, click here.
6. SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN FOR 2018 NEWSONG MUSIC PERFORMANCE & SONGWRITING COMPETITION
Now in its 17th year, the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performers and songwriters across an array of genres.The final deadline to enter this year’s competition is Sunday, November 4.
Every year, NewSong receives countless song submissions from talented artists across North America and beyond. Only a handful are chosen each year as finalists. And while not all of these finalists take home the grand prize, all of them leave a lasting impression on the NewSong team. Supporting and fostering new and as-yet-undiscovered musicians is what NewSong is all about, which is why we aim to celebrate past finalists and winners in our new video series, #WeAreNewSong. This week, we’re featuring David Robert King.
David Robert King, talented songwriter and 2017 NewSong Music Competition finalist, is certainly an artist to get to know. His 2017 album, Idaho, was produced by Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, The New Pornographers, Sarah McLachlan) and has been met with great critical acclaim for its unique sound.
No Depression has praised the musician, calling Idaho “good for the soul,” full of “folk-drenched songs of the world class order.” King recently performed at the 30A Songwriters Festival, alongside Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Mary Gauthier, and others. We caught up with David this week to find out what is new in his career, how his experience with NewSong has impacted him and to get his thoughts on songwriting. Stay tuned this fall for a single David recorded with fellow NewSong finalist and 2017 Grand Prize Winner Crys Matthews.
NewSong:How would you describe your songwriting style?
David Robert King: For me, songwriting is both a therapy and an itch. Sometimes I need to sit down and write in order to maintain sanity, other times an idea, tune, or phrase just keeps bugging me until I give it time and space, then the itch is scratched.
It has been almost a year since the 2017 NewSong Music Competition. How did your experience with NewSong impact you?
NewSong has been a place to build community. The group is both incredibly talented and incredibly kind… a rare combination. I’m only human, and NewSong’s recognition is validating and encouraging. Playing at Lincoln Center in New York, recording at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville — pretty awesome stuff.
What is coming up for you that readers should know about?
I have some exciting shows coming up in the Southeast, and I’m really excited about the songwriting workshop I am doing with City Song School and Jennifer Knapp (one of my favorite writers) in Decatur, GA
We hope you follow David Robert King’s music career, as we will, and check out his work on Spotify and iTunes!
To stay up-to-date with David’s news and schedule, visit his website.
To learn more and enter the 2018 NewSong Music Competition (deadline is Sunday, November 4), visit this page.
We love to keep up with our past NewSong Music Contest finalists and winners, and, over the years, we have amassed a busy and hardworking group of musicians we admire.
NewSong songwriters live and perform across the continent and beyond, their work spans multiple genres, and these artists are always putting out new material. To keep track of all their news and upcoming shows, we will be highlighting NewSong artists in our weekly roundup.
We’ve put together a list of five shows, publications and recordings we think you should be paying attention to this week.
1. David Robert King – #WeARENEWSONG video out today
David Robert King — a finalist in last year’s NewSong Music Competition whose striking songwriting has been compared to Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits — is featured in our video series, #WeAreNewSong. In the short video, King discusses his experience with the NewSong competition, as well as his musical inspirations and songwriting process.
King was the runner up in last year’s NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition in New York City. Since then, he has released a new record, Idaho. This past summer, King recorded a single “Have Mercy” with NewSong Grand Prize Winner Crys Matthews and producer Gar Ragland.
David performs at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville on Wednesday Oct. 10. Buy tickets here. Listen to David Robert King on Spotify.
2. Beth Snapp – Oct. Tour Dates
Beth Snapp is keeping busy after the release of her 2018 album, Don’t Apologize. This week, you will find the songwriter with her band at the Music on the Laurel Creek series Tuesday Oct. 9 in Damascus, VA and the Annual Harvest Boogie hosted by Jump TN on Friday Oct. 12.
Meanwhile, Don’t Apologize, recorded at Echo Mountain Recording Studios with producer Gar Ragland, continues to gather positive critical acclaim. Listen to the new album on Spotify.
3. Farewell Milwaukee – Flannel Roots Music & Beer festival
Farewell Milwaukee is a mainstay of the Minneapolis music scene since 2008. The band embraces the role that their Midwestern towns have played in shaping them artistically, garnering them fans through their authentic lyrics, lush vocal harmonies, and an honest sincerity at live shows. Farewell Milwaukee released their fourth full-length album, FM, in September 2018.
4. NEwsong Recordings spotlight: Rachael Kilgour “Rabbit in the Road”
After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Rachael Kilgour is gearing up to release her next album, Game Changer, early next year. This week, we suggest revisiting Rachael’s first release with NewSong Recordings, Rabbit in the Road.
Billboard calls it “A heartfelt slice of master crafted indie folk, brimming with the battle-tested capacity to endure the worst in others. There’s a steadfast confidence to her voice, which lingers around the guitar and keystrokes like smoke above a dying fire.”
Listen to Rabbit in the Road on Spotify. Purchase the album on bandcamp.
5. JBird Shogren – Wild west songwriters festival
Shogren is a 2016 NewSong Music Competition finalist and has performed at Lincoln Center in NYC, as well as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as part of the NewSong Music Series. He was also in the studio earlier this year at Echo Mountain Recording with producer Gar Ragland, tracking material for his new solo project Horse Machine (stay tuned for more on that in future roundups).
Shogren will perform at the Wild West Songwriters Festival in Deadwood, SD, Oct. 12 and 13. For more information on the festival, visit the website.
6. SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN FOR 2018 NEWSONG MUSIC PERFORMANCE & SONGWRITING COMPETITION
Now in its 17th year, the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performers and songwriters across an array of genres.The final deadline to enter this year’s competition is Sunday, November 4.
Finalists often tell us that one of the best perks about being a part of the NewSong Songwriting Competition is having the opportunity to meet likeminded songwriters. The spirit of the competition is far from cut-throat and often opens doors for collaborations and networking, which was certainly the case for songwriters and 2017 finalists Crys Matthews and David Robert King. The duo met at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in late July with NewSong founder Gar Ragland to record a new single, “Have Mercy.”
We took some time to talk to the artists about their songwriting processes and experiences with collaboration.
Q&A with Crys Matthews and David Robert King
NewSong:How did this song collaboration come about?
David: I woke up one morning with the first verse running through my head. I had been digesting the 24-hour news cycle for too many days in a row and was crushed. Specifically, by the separation of families along our southern border. This was different than my usual introspective and dark stuff, it had an inherent hope to it. I immediately thought of my immensely talented friend Crys, who I met through the NewSong community. I knew her voice and perspective would take the song where it needed to go.
Crys: David and I met during the NewSong finals back in November. I loved his style and especially his voice (it’s so reminiscent of Tom Waits) and his guitar playing is incredible. We kept in touch after that night at Lincoln Center in the hopes of getting to become better friends and share a show or two. He reached out to me not long after the family separation crisis started and sent a snippet of the song. We went back and forth — adding, subtracting, shaping, reshaping — until it felt like we had it right.
How would you describe the meaning and/or impetus behind “Have Mercy”?
Crys: My mom, who is a preacher, talks to me all the time about how hard she is praying for our country these days with all of the turmoil and despair that seems to be running rampant. The song to me just feels like that prayer, a sincere hope that we will get through this chapter the way we got through the 50s and 60s and 9/11 and countless wars and everything else that America has had to endure and overcome.
David: [The song expresses] my thoughts on what America can be if we turn on all the lights, expose the shadows, and put down our remote controls and iPhones and stand up together against injustice. We need to face our demons, current and past, and make things right. We need mercy
What has it been like to work together on this project?
David: Crys got it right away. We didn’t discuss the song or the message. I just sent her what I had (first verse and chorus) and she went to work. It usually takes me months or years to write a tune. Doing this with Crys, it took days.
Crys: It has been wonderful! It’s only my second co-write, and I’m so grateful to David for this chance to help bring some tenderness and beauty to people.
Stay tuned for “Have Mercy,” the new song from Crys Matthews and David Robery King. For more information on Crys Matthews, visit crysmatthews.com. For more information on David Robert King, visit davidrobertking.com.
