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Judges Announced for 22nd Annual NewSong Music Competition

Thursday, November 16th, 2023

Join us in welcoming this year’s panel of judges, all music industry professionals. We appreciate their insight and expertise in selecting a Grand Prize Winner, who will receive a six-song EP, recorded and mixed at Citizen Studios, with vinyl records pressed at Citizen Vinyl.

Garret K. Woodward has been the arts/music editor for The Smoky Mountain News, an alt-weekly covering Western North Carolina, since 2012. He’s also the music editor for Smoky Mountain Living magazine, a national publication whose jurisdiction rolls across seven states in Southern Appalachia.

In 2018, Woodward joined Rolling Stone as a contributing writer, focusing

mainly on music festivals from coast-to-coast. As an author, Woodward penned the 2017 book If You Can’t Play, Get Off the Stage: Bluegrass in Western North Carolina and Beyond. To date, Woodward has been nominated three times for “Writer of the Year” by the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Otto Vazquez is the Artistic Curator for LEAF Global Arts, working to book bands and create themes for the organization’s signature events, including the annual LEAF Global Arts Festival. He is also a prolific street dancer, choreographer, published author and poet, filmmaker and grand educator who has taught at more than 100 universities both in the United States and abroad.

Jamie Beck is the Sales Director at Merge Records in Durham, N.C. Her first concert was a performance by Kitty Wells on a cattle farm outside of Kansas City, Missouri.

Gar Ragland is a producer, musician, and president and co-founder of the NewSong Music Group. He is also the founder of CEO of Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, N.C. Gar is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys).

Martin Anderson, Music Director and Host at WNCW, will emcee the evening. Martin joined WNCW in 2001 as the weekday morning host. He loves interviewing the many talented musicians who come to Studio B, stretching out with the many styles ‘NCW embraces, and reflecting listener requests, events of the day, and the beautiful Southern Appalachian landscape. As Music Director, he books live sessions, and keeps in touch with the record labels and promoters that send new music.

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Meet the 2022 NewSong Music Competition Judges

Monday, November 21st, 2022

Now in its 21st year, the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performers and songwriters today. This crowd-sourced effort seeks to identify the truly exceptional artists within our communities and to work closely with them to develop their careers and introduce their music to a broader, international audience while building a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill.

But, as important as songwriting skills and stage presence is to this competition, it’s our panel of esteemed judges — all members of the music industry — who have to make the difficult decision: What musical act will take home the grand prize.

This year’s judges include:

A woman in a blue dress with a red flower in her hair looks to her left.Ariana Hellerman — Director of art and events for Arts Brookfield, which supports innovation in music, dance, theater, film, and visual art through free art exhibitions and vibrant cultural experiences within the public spaces of Brookfield properties. She’s also the founder of Ariana’s list, a year-round consultancy producing cultural events in public spaces in NYC. The guiding mission of her work is to make arts more accessible to and representative of all people.

A with white hair, wearing a black shirt, holds a black and white guitar that is visible from the neck up.André Cholmondeley — By day Andre is usually on tour somewhere, teching guitar, bass & software, for a variety of legendary artists. Otherwise out with Project/Object: Music Of Frank Zappa, on two continents for over 25 years, often with any of a dozen of Zappa’s alumni. His electronic solo project is We Are Ants to Them. He’s also a plant-based life coach and enthusiast.

Matt Hendrickson — Matt Hendrickson has more than 25 years of experience in magazine and digital journalism. Currently, he’s a Man with short hair, wearing a white t-shirt with black design, smiles at the camera.Contributing Editor for the Southern lifestyle publication Garden & Gun, a position he’s held for the past 14 years, overseeing the music coverage for the magazine. He began his career at Rolling Stone, serving as a writer and editor for 12 years, penning cover stories on Green Day and Rage Against the Machine, among others, as well as covering the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. From 2005-08 he held a three-year visiting professor position at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. For the past 15 years, Matt has contributed to the New York Times, Details, Billboard, Travel & Leisure, among many others, as well as running his own media consulting company, Big Swede Media, where his client list includes Fast Company, AT&T, Ford, JW Marriott, CBS and Interscope Records.

A man wearing glasses and a blue shirt stands in front of an old building with blue siding.Claude Coleman Jr. — Best known as the drummer for the alternative rock group Ween. He has also worked with Eagles of Death Metal, Chocolate Genius, the Wooden Soldiers, Elysian Fields and 3 Input Woman, and has been a touring member of the Mike Dillon Band on multiple occasions. A multi-instrumentalist, Coleman is also the singer-songwriter for his own group Amandla. Since 2017, he has co-owned and actively managed SoundSpace@Rabbit’s, a music rehearsal and art studio facility inside of a 1947 Black-owned tourist court and soul food cafe’ known as Rabbit’s Motel, in the historically African American district of Southside, Asheville, North Carolina.

A man wearing a white shirt and glasses leans against a mixing board. Gar Ragland — Gar Ragland is a producer, musician, and president and co-founder of the NewSong Music Group. Ragland relocated to Boston to study composition and improvisation at the New England Conservatory with MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award winning pianist, composer and educator Ran Blake. It was there in 2001 that he started producing his fellow classmates’ demos and records, and co-founded NewSong Music. In 2005 Ragland moved to New York City, working out of his studio in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 2012, he relocated with his wife and three children to Asheville, NC, to take up residence at Echo Mountain Recording Studios; and in 2020 founded Citizen Vinyl, presenting sponsor of NewSong Music. Ragland is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys), and formerly served for five years as the board chair of the Asheville Area Arts Council (ArtsAVL).  

 

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NewSong Music announces finalists for 8th annual LEAF Festival singer-songwriter competition & showcase

Saturday, April 16th, 2022

NewSong Music announces the eight finalists who will perform at this year’s LEAF Festival singer-songwriter competition and showcase.

The event is a collaborative effort between NewSong Music and LEAF Community Arts. It aims to identify and recognize exceptional performers and songwriters from across the country. The finalists are invited to network and compete at the Spring LEAF Retreat, on Saturday, May 14.

This year’s finalists for the LEAF competition are: Grace Morrison, a country-pop artist based in Massachusetts; American Idol alum Stephen Sylvester, who calls the Gulf Coast home; Louisiana native Rachard Dennis, a poet-teacher-rapper; indie-folk artist Kristian Phillip Valentino, from North Carolina; Tennessee-based indie-rocker Kelly Hoppenjans; Sadie Gustafson-Zook, also based in Tennessee, a versatile singer and intricate guitarist; roots musician Philip Bowen from West Virginia; and Justin Poindexter + Sasha Papernik from New York who make up the award-winning Americana duo Our Band.

 

 

The winner of the LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition, selected from a panel of music industry judges, will earn a spot as one of only eight finalists at the annual International NewSong Competition, held in Asheville in the fall. The winner will also return to the Fall LEAF Festival, held October 20-23, 2022, as a featured, paid performer.

The LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition is always a memorable experience where songs are shared, friendships are forged, and great music finds a welcome and supportive audience. It’s worth noting that the event is not intended to be a cut-throat music competition. Instead, NewSong is committed to building and supporting a community and network of outstanding artists.

About NewSong Music

Now in its 21st year, NewSong Music is an independent artist development organization and independent record label. Its mission is to identify and celebrate truly exceptional artists, and to build and support a community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music.

About LEAF Community Arts

LEAF Community Arts is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization with a mission to connect cultures and create community through music and arts. LEAF is comprised of two key cultural arts education programs, LEAF Schools & Streets and LEAF International, as well as two signature events, LEAF Festival and LEAF Downtown.  Attendance at LEAF Festival provides a family-friendly weekend experience infused with music and arts while supporting the long-term vision of the organization. Since 1995, LEAF has served over 200,000+ youth with programs in over 15 community locations and in 10 countries worldwide. Learn more at www.theLEAF.org.

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Mel Bryant records new EP with NewSong Recordings

Saturday, January 18th, 2020

Mel Bryant records new EP at Echo Mountain Recording Studios.

 

The NewSong team was thrilled to welcome 2018 NewSong Grand Prize Winner, Mel Bryant, to Echo Mountain Recording Studios last month. The songwriter and her Nashville-based band, Mel Bryant and the Mercy Makers, were joined by producer and NewSong founder, Gar Ragland. Melding classic rock and contemporary indie influences, Bryant has compiled a group of songs that tackle big themes, ranging from love and relationships to social justice. 

The opportunity to record at Echo Mountain is part of the musician’s grand prize package, and the EP will be released on NewSong Recordings in 2020. 

Mel took a break from recording to answer a few questions about the upcoming record. 

How would you describe your vision for this new batch of songs?

Mel Bryant: A lot of the songs are justice focused, in a way. There is kind of a dichotomy between the songs that are about, you know, relationship stuff — the really relatable, personal things that everyone goes through … and the songs that zoom out a bit and look at more grand issues that are less personal and more political.

I like to think of things that are political, not in terms of candidates or government issues, but, instead, political as in a woman’s inability to walk alone on a street alone past midnight. That’s a political issue to me, and that is the kind of thing I like to write about. Or the fact that when I was in college, I was scared of being shot on my campus. That’s a political issue, and it’s something that we all have a stake in and we are all worried about and we all want to fix. Those are the things that are important to my music: things that matter. Sometimes things that matter are life and death situations, and sometimes things that matter are when I can’t communicate properly in my relationships. Making those statements in these songs was really important to me. 

 

What has it been like to record at Echo Mountain Recordings Studios?

This has definitely been our best treatment of a recording setup that we have ever had. The crew is so accommodating and patient. The energy in here is amazing. There is such a beautiful ambiance, and the availability of the gear they have here is like nothing we have been able to access before, so from that standpoint it’s been incredible. But also just the feeling of being in that cathedral with stained glass light coming through. And, of course, it sounds amazing. 

 

In terms of sound, how do these new recordings relate to the band’s past work? 

From a sound perspective, the EP is a marriage of the different sides that this band has been developing over the past few years. We definitely have one foot in really classic rock roots, blues, and delta music roots, coming from our guitarist, and then we have the more modern roots of my childhood musical influences and now. We are continually inspired by music being put out and indie rock influences. So certain songs are more in the classic rock tradition, and certain songs are in the modern. Our goal has been marrying those ideas within each song, and within the whole EP, showing that these two things can coexist to create something that isn’t derivative of classic rock or just another indie rock band. We are paying homage to the historic greats and constantly taking in new musical influences and applying that as well. 

For more about Mel Bryant and the Mercy Makers, visit the band’s website. Stay tuned for updates about the new EP release via NewSong Recordings in 2020!

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Crys Matthews releases new album, “These Old Hands” Oct. 11

Tuesday, October 1st, 2019

NEWSONG MUSIC COMPETITION GRAND PRIZE WINNER CRYS MATTHEWS RELEASES NEW ALBUM ON “NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY,” OCT. 11

 

“THESE OLD HANDS” RECORDED AT ECHO MOUNTAIN STUDIOS WITH NEWSONG RECORDINGS PRODUCER GAR RAGLAND AND RELEASED ON NEWSONG RECORDINGS

 

Pre-order These Old Hands on Bandcamp

Oct 1, 2019 (Asheville, NC) – Virginia-based singer-songwriter Crys Matthews is proud to announce the release of her new album, These Old Hands. The six-track record is slated for release Friday, October 11, 2019, on National Coming Out Day. The date is significant for the queer activist artist whose songwriting frequently draws from social justice themes and love in all its forms.

“This album is a sort of coming out of sorts for me,” explains Matthews. “I’ve been out as a lesbian since I was 18, but this album is one of the few times in my life I’ve actually felt vulnerable. Certainly, it’s the first time I’ve felt so vulnerable with regards to my music. It’s not love songs and hopeful protest songs — there are a lot of hard truths contained in between the lyrics of these songs.”

 

These Old Hands was recorded at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville, NC and produced and mixed by Gar Ragland of NewSong Recordings. Matthews recorded the album as part of her 2017 NewSong Singer Songwriter Competition Grand Prize win. Matthews’s career has continued to thrive since that time, with performances at Sundance Film Festival, The Kennedy Center, and the songwriter’s first national tour in 2019.

Matthews describes her new collection of songs as a breakup album, featuring the songwriter’s signature blend of Americana, folk, jazz and funk punctuated by bold, honest lyrics. “Breakups are like any other type of loss; they’re grief-inducing, and so you can hear that cycle from heart-broken to healing,” she says. “Finding love and losing love are some of the most universally human things that we do.”

Pre-order These Old Hands on Bandcamp: http://bit.ly/These-Old-Hands

For up-to-date information on Crys Matthews, visit crysmatthews.com/ 

For more information about NewSong Recordings and the NewSong Music Competition, visit newsong-music.com/

For media requests, contact lea@newsong-music.com.

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18th NewSong Music Competition returns to Asheville, NC this November

Wednesday, September 11th, 2019

 

 

NEWSONG MUSIC PRESENTS 18TH ANNUAL, INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE & SONGWRITING COMPETITION IN ASHEVILLE THIS NOVEMBER

 

EIGHT EMERGING ARTISTS FROM ACROSS NORTH AMERICA TO SHOWCASE & COMPETE
 
GRAND PRIZE WINNER RECEIVES AN EP RECORDING PROJECT AT ECHO MOUNTAIN RECORDING STUDIOS, RELEASED ON THE NEWSONG RECORDINGS LABEL
 
COMPETITION HELD AT ISIS MUSIC HALL IN ASHEVILLE, NC, SATURDAY, NOV. 23

 

Aug. 23, 2019 (Asheville, NC) – For the second year in a row, the live performance finals of the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition will be held in Asheville, North Carolina at Isis Music Hall. NewSong Music has been headquartered in Asheville since 2012, but for most of its 18 years, the competition was held at the prestigious Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. After a phenomenal, sold out event last year, NewSong founder, Gar Ragland, has elected to host the competition finals in Asheville indefinitely. 

“The success and reception we received in bringing the competition finals to Asheville for the first time last year truly exceeded our expectations,” says Ragland. “The support we received from the community here for last year’s finals – as evidenced by the sellout event and its deeply appreciative and engaging audience – affirmed for us that our hometown has indeed become one of the country’s best music towns. We’re excited to build upon last year’s momentum, and to continue to contribute to Asheville’s music scene in this way.”

Eight finalists – selected from advance online submissions from across North America and beyond – will come to Asheville to perform, compete and network with one another in the live showcase and competition finals at Isis Music Hall in Asheville on Saturday, November 23. Located in the city’s hip West Asheville neighborhood, Isis Music Hall is one of Asheville’s best sounding and most intimate music venues.

A panel of national music industry judges will select the overall winner of the competition. This year’s grand prize winner will receive a fully funded six-song EP, recorded and mixed at Asheville own Echo Mountain Recording Studios and released on the NewSong Recordings label. The grand prize winner will also receive a performance showcase at the esteemed 2019 Sundance ASCAP Music Café at the Sundance Film Festival (January 23 – February 2, 2020) in Park City, Utah and a featured performance in the 2020 Arts Brookfield ‘Summer Plaza’ series in New York City. All finalists will be strongly considered for future ‘NewSong Presents’ paid performances across the United States.

NewSong Music is an independent music organization that aims to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across various genres of music and skill levels, while identifying truly exceptional artists and introducing their music to a broader international audience.

WHAT: NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition Finals

WHERE: Isis Music Hall // 743 Haywood Road, Asheville, NC

WHEN: Saturday Nov. 23, 2019 // 8 pm

TICKETS: $15/$18 

 

2019 NewSong Competition Finalists ANNOUNCED

YouTube Playlist of the 2019 NewSong Music Finalists:

Danielle Ponder — Rochester, NY

Grant Maloy Smith — Kingston, RI

Jae Jin — Wolftown, VA

Jobi Riccio — Brookline, MA

Kelly Hoppenjans — Nashville, TN

Kyshona — Madison, TN

Nathaniel Bellows — New York, NY

 

Spotify Playlist of the 2019 NewSong Music Finalists:

 

About NewSong Music

NewSong Music is an independent artist development company headquartered in Asheville, NC. NewSong’s mission is to build and support a community of performers and songwriters across all genres and levels of skill, and to identify the truly exceptional artists to introduce their music to a broader, international audience. Its programs include a boutique record label (NewSong Recordings), artist management services, concert production and the annual, international NewSong performance and songwriting competition. Its presenting partners include Arts Brookfield and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, the ASCAP Music Café at the Sundance Film Festival.

 

For more information about NewSong Recordings and the NewSong Music Competition, visit newsong-music.com/

For media requests, contact Lea McLellan at leamclellan@newsong-music.com.

 

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NewSong Recordings Spotlight: Kelly English’s ‘City Limits’

Monday, June 24th, 2019
This week, we are checking in with up-and-coming songwriter Kelly English, who recorded her debut album, City Limits, with NewSong Recordings in 2017. We first met Kelly when she was a finalist in the NewSong competition in 2015, where she impressed judges with her strong vocals and intimate lyrics. NewSong Recordings is proud to release her sophomore album, The Savannah Theory, coming soon. 
 

 

What does your first album represent for you?

City Limits represents the passage from being a young songwriter, to finally finding my own original sound and sharing it with people. That album gave me confidence, as well as a renewed hunger to keep writing music. City Limits was also special to me because I got to work with Gar Ragland at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville, NC. The process of working with Gar, and getting to release my album through NewSong Music, has been incredibly rewarding.
 

What can you tell us about the new album coming out?

My new upcoming album is called The Savanna Theory. I was lucky enough to get to work with Gar Ragland again on this project. The Savanna Theory takes a harder, darker look at the emotions associated with the aftermath of a relationship and the prospect of moving forward. The album has a dark, moody indie/folk sound. I used a lot of electric guitar on this album, which I was really excited to explore. I brought my Fender Jazzmaster down to Asheville, and Gar and I were able to create some really cool, new sounds for this record.
 

How do you feel like you have grown or changed as a musician since City Limits was released?

One way I have grown as a musician is in finding my own unique point of view and trusting it. City Limits is a really accurate snapshot of my life and my emotions at that time. I have continued to grow in that direction and draw from my own experiences. Releasing City Limits also gave me the confidence to be bold and original in my songwriting. It gave me the drive to continue refining and improving my songwriting craft.
 

What news do you have to share?

Since releasing City Limits, I have been performing around the CT tri-state area. I have been getting a great response to my original music, especially songs from the record. 
 
This past May, I competed as finalist in a songwriting contest based out of Cape Cod, MA called the Eventide Songwriting Competition, in which I took home first prize in the singer/songwriter category for my song “Selfish Like You.” It was a real honor to get to perform alongside other talented musicians, and to be recognized for my music. Meghan Trainor is a past winner of the competition.
 
I have some great festival gigs coming up this summer, including the Glastonbury Apple Harvest and Music Festival, as well as the Rose Arts Music Festival in Norwich, CT. I will also be performing at the free music event “Audio Feed” Live on Constitution Plaza in Hartford, CT this July.
 
To learn more about Kelly English and her music, visit the artist’s bandcamp page, and follow her Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. 

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Weekly Roundup: NewSong Artist News 12/10-12/16

Monday, December 10th, 2018

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 NewSong Music Songwriting & Performance Competition will be held at Isis Music Hall in Asheville, NC on Dec. 15. Purchase tickets here. RSVP for the Facebook Live webcast of the finals.

 

1. Meet our 2018 NEwSong competition Finalists (and judges!) on the blog 

We hope you have enjoyed meeting our 2018 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition finalists on our blog this week. We’ve been sharing videos, artist links and interviews with all of the artists who will compete at Isis Music Hall on Dec. 15.

Visit the blog to read our interviews with Alex Wong; Alice Howe; Carly Taich; Kaiti Jones; Liz Frame, Mel Bryant and Suzie Brown, as well as an interview with our guest performer and 2016 grand prize winner, Wilder Adkins. 

Stay tuned this week for interviews with our judges.

2. Crys Matthews — New tour dates announced 

Crys Matthews, grand prize winner of the 2017 NewSong Music Competition, is back on the road, this time playing shows mostly in the Northeast, along songwriter Chris Pureka. Her first show is Thursday Dec. 13 at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA. 

Vist Crys’s website for full list of tour dates. 

3. No depression Year-end readers poll — deadline is 12/14

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: “Rough and Ready Heart” from Blue Yonder (NewSong Recordings, 2018); “Don’t Apologize” from Beth Snapp (NewSong Recordings, 2018); “Idaho” from 2017 NewSong finalist David Robert King; and “White Tiger” from NewSong 2007 finalist Ana Egge. 

Click here for album links and instructions on how to vote. 

4. Wilder Adkins —  guest performance at 2018 NewSong Music competition & Listen: ‘Christmas and chill’ spotify playlist

 

Birmingham, Alabama-based songwriter Wilder Adkins will travel to Asheville on Dec. 15 to be our guest performer at the 2018 NewSong Music Competition at Isis Music Hall.

Adkins received the grand prize in 2016 and has this to say about his NewSong win: “I really have gotten a lot of opportunities to play in some neat venues, and all that really pads the resumé. … Getting to record at Echo Mountain is cool – it’s a world class recording studio.”

Read the full interview with Adkins here, and be sure to check out his new Spotify playlist, “Christmas and Chill,” which features Adkins’s rendition of the traditional hymn “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.”

 

5. NewSong founder Gar Ragland featured in “Capital at play” magazine

Curious about the history of NewSong Music? An article titled “Production Line” in Capital at Play Magazine, gives an in-depth view of the story behind the competition and record label, which has grown considerably since its beginnings as Mountain Stage NewSong Festival in 2001.

“Over the past 10 years or so it has become an increasingly well-respected for emerging artists,” says Ragland in the article. “Last year we had more than 5,000 artists enter the competition. I’m continually surprised by the caliber of artists we attract.” 

Read the full article here. 

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Crys Matthews records grand prize EP at Echo Mountain Recording Studios

Monday, July 30th, 2018
 

Crys Matthews was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2017 NewSong Music Competition. She spent time in Asheville this July recording her grand prize EP with producer Gar Ragland at Echo Mountain Recording Studios.

 

NewSong Music is delighted to have 2017 Grand Prize Winner Crys Matthews in the studio this week, recording her EP, These Old Hands. 

Matthews credits her NewSong win with launching her music career in the right direction. “Since that night, I’ve been on an incredible trajectory,” she says. “I have been able to play some of the most amazing venues in the country, meet some of the most amazing people, and rub elbows with some of the greats like Michael Franti and Keb Mo.”
 
Of her new EP with NewSong Recordings, These Old Hands, Matthews says, “It’s a complete departure from my last two projects and has more of an angsty Joan Armatrading feel to it. I’m so looking forward to sharing these songs — especially with my fans who always want to hear some sad songs.” 
 
“It’s such a pleasure to be working with Crys on this new collection of beautiful songs,” says Ragland, who is producing and mixing the project. “It’s a bit of a departure from her previous recorded work, and pushes the envelope in both exciting and musical ways. The whole team is excited for its upcoming release.”
 

More about Crys Matthews

Crys Matthews is nothing if not ambitious. In August 2017, she simultaneously released both a new full-length album, The Imagineers and an EP, Battle Hymn For An Army Of Lovers. These collections showcase two sides of Matthews’ dynamic songwriting; The Imagineers is a selection of thoughtful songs about love and life while Battle Hymn For An Army Of Lovers tackles social justice themes. Songs from both projects have already won her recognition and awards. She was one of ten finalists (from a pool of 5,000) in this year’s NewSong Music Competition and, after performing at Lincoln Center on November 30th, she was named grand-prize winner. Matthews also won the People Music Network’s Social Justice Songs contest at the 2017 Northeast Regional Folk Alliance.

We hope you will follow along with Crys Matthew’s growing music career and check out her releases on Spotify and iTunes! For updates and show schedule, visit her website. 

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Crys Matthews and David Robert King team up to record new single

Monday, July 30th, 2018

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.
 
 
 
 

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