Hear the Best New Folk Music with Fresh Cuts Friday
Ready for some of the best new music we’ve heard this week? It’s a great list—as you’ll see below—and as you’ll HEAR when you join me for my ‘Fresh Cuts’ radio hour! Listen every Friday at 2pm ET/11am PT via Folk Alley’s 24/7 stream on our website, mobile app, or your smart speaker.
Or, just click on the Fresh Cuts stream whenever it’s convenient for you.
In the meantime, check out some of the best new music we’ve been listening to this week.
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Allison Russell, “Superlover” (feat. Annie Lennox)
Allison Russell’s latest song “Superlover” is a powerful re-recording of her band’s Birds of Chicago 2018 song. The 2025 version is made even more power with guest vocals from the legendary Annie Lennox (The Eurythmics).
Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert, “Whatcha Gonna Do About It”
Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert, each with recording careers of their own, met at San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and have worked together since 2017. The pair are about to release their four duo album, titled Volume 4, recorded and mixed by themselves and recorded entirely live.
The Swell Season, “People We Used To Be”
Best known for their massive hit film turned Broadway-show, Once (2007), The Swell Season are back with their first new music since 2023. The duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová shared their new song “People We Used To Be.” “It’s a song about trying to reconcile with what feels like an end of an era and allowing one’s self to mourn the “People We Used To Be” while choosing to fight for the person we love and the life we built with them,” explains Irglová. “It is a song of defiance and determination as much as heart aching nostalgia.”
Olive Klug, ‘What To Make Of Me”
Olive Klug, the Portland-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter self-describes themselves as “someone who floats on the breeze, letting the wind take me wherever I’m meant to be.” The song “What To Make Of Me,” is the latest from Klug’s sophomore album Lost Dog (out 4/25) finds them contemplating this propensity for adventure no matter which avenue of love and loss it leads down.
More new songs featured this week on Fresh Cuts:
Alison Brown & Steve Martin – “5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” (feat. Tim O’Brien)
Ani DiFranco – “The Thing at Hand”
Carsie Blanton – “My Good Friends”
Watchhouse – “Rituals”
Seth Walker – “Why the Worry”
Special Consensus – “Been All Around This World” (feat. Robbie Fulks, Josh Williams, Ashby Frank)
The Faux Paws – “Night”
The Mallett Brothers – “Faster Than It Appears”
The Shootouts – “Trampoline” (feat. Lindsay Lou)
