Fresh Cuts: “There’s a choir a-singin’ that we ain’t here for long”
Fresh Cuts! Here we are. Cindy’s picks. Cindy hosts. We have the ED of FA, Sarah LaDuke, writing her reactions to some of the songs for the Fresh Cuts blog post. Where is that? You’re reading it right now.
Cindy’s weekly Fresh Cuts radio hour airs every Friday at 2pm ET / 11am PT on Folk Alley’s 24/7 stream — available on our website, mobile app, or your smart speaker. You can always hear the best in new folk music on our Fresh Cuts stream.
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Harry Tuft – “American Tune”
Harry Tuft was born in 1935, founded the Denver Folklife Center in 1962 and its off-shoot non-profit music school and venue, Swallow Hill, in 1979. None less than Joan Baez herself called him “the reigning gentleman of dyed-in-the-wool, down-to-earth folk music” for an article in The Denver Gazette last week celebrating Tuft’s accomplishments, legacy, and new album.
Harry Tuft will be 91 when his record ‘Friends, Lovers & Other Strangers’ is released at the end of the month on Manasses Records. Imagine having that perspective? Born in 1935. He’s seen a lot and it’s evident he’s been paying attention and has a lot to teach.
Here, he covers a Paul Simon song from 1975 that, like so many songs from that tumultuous decade, we wish were less relevant today instead of more. Alas.
Jordie Lane – “New Sun”
If you have time to listen to “American Tune” and then Jordi Lane’s “New Sun” and then Tuft again, and then Lane again – you’ll start to get a pretty good idea of what it feels like to keep trying in this mad mad mad mad (mad mad) world.
Tennessee via Australia, Lane’s Instagram bio reads says: “Mel-Bourne 🌏Nashvi-Livin” – which I think is pretty darn cute. ‘New Sun,’ the latest messenger from Lane’s upcoming album (‘Habitual,’ 10/9, Blood Thinner Records), is a nod-along rouser that opts for optimism.
🎵Let the winds wail and dance with love by your side. Pick up your feet, keep on rolling my friend – let’s put the hope back in hoping again.🎵
Another great list from Cindy with expansive but tonally recognizable new tracks from Iron & Wine and Jim James; “Sarah Waiting in the Car” from Elanor Moss’ full-length debut ‘The Knife, The Needle’ is worth its weight in devastation – and beauty; we have case/lang/veirs and Glaspy, Gauthier, and Hunt (Margaret, Mary, and Kelly, respectively).
Fresh Cuts:
case/lang/veirs – “Accidental Tattoo”
Todd Snider – “Solid Country Gold”
Jordie Lane – “New Sun”
Mary Gauthier – “Alcohol and Adderall”
Elanor Moss – “Sarah Waiting in the Car”
Margaret Glaspy – “Reminder”
Billy Strings – “I’m One of Those”
Iron & Wine – “California Sober”
Harry Tuft – “American Tune”
Amanda Cook – “Down in the Quarter”
Kelly Hunt – “All the King’s Horses”
Ken Pomeroy – “Late for the Sky”
Jim James – “Lost Child”
