Hear the Best New Folk Music with Fresh Cuts Friday

Discover the Best New Music of the Week!

We’ve pulled together some of the best new music we’ve heard lately — and you can hear it all on Fresh Cuts, my weekly radio hour. Tune in every Friday at 2pm ET / 11am PT on Folk Alley’s 24/7 stream — available on our website, mobile app, or your smart speaker too.

Prefer to listen on your own time? Just click on the Fresh Cuts stream whenever it works for you.

In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at some exciting new music that’s caught our ears this week!

José González, “Against the Dying of the Light”

Against the Dying of the Light (out 3/27/2026) is the new album from Swedish singer songwriter, Jose González. Of the title track he shares, “‘Against the Dying of the Light’” is a song reflecting on humanity in 2025. It’s about accepting who we are and what led us here, since the past can’t be changed. Then, about refocusing our attention on the challenges ahead, like pervert incentives and algorithms that aren’t in line with human flourishing.”

Emily Scott Robinson, “Hymn for the Unholy”

Emily Scott Robinson’s new album Appalachia (out 1/30/2026) – produced by Josh Kaufman – features the new song “Hymn for the Unholy.” She shares, “I got happily stuck at Smith Fork Ranch around New Year’s Eve in 2021 after a snowstorm dropped several feet overnight. I was fresh out of my marriage and completely unmoored—everything I thought I knew about my life was suddenly gone. Instead of making resolutions, I wrote a song to myself in my state of confusion, wonder, and grief. I wanted to give myself—and the listener—permission to not know what’s coming next, and to feel their cozy smallness inside the wild mystery of life.”

Iron & Wine, “In Your Ocean”

The eighth album from Iron & Wine, the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and producer Sam Beam, is Hen’s Teeth (out 2/27/2026). The title Hen’s Teeth, much like the birth of this record, takes its inspiration as something that should not exist; a happy accident that fell out of enjoying the company of the aforementioned players in a setting that offered creativity and inspiration. As Beam states : “To me it suggests the impossible. Hen’s teeth do not exist. And that’s what this record felt like: a gift that shouldn’t be there but it is. An impossible thing but it’s real.”

Darrell Scott, “Won’t You Come And Sing For Me”

The latest album from Darrell Scott, I’ll Meet You in a Song, features his brothers singing gospel songs in honor of their late brother, Denny. They perform “Won’t You Come and Sing for Me” written by Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard. Together with brothers Don, Dale, and David, Darrell blends harmony, memories, and musicianship in a tribute to their late brother, Denny Scott. The eldest of the family, Denny was a remarkably gifted musician, songwriter, performer, and mentor whose profound musical impact influenced each of his younger brothers.

More this week on Fresh Cuts!