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 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific via the 24/7 stream on our website, 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.
Raye Zaragoza – “Strong Woman”
Raye’s new album Hold That Spirit (out today) comes in the wake of Zaragoza ending her engagement and using her wedding budget to fund the record. “Strong Woman” was written for a friend’s daughter in admiration. Raye shares: “So often songs are about admiring lovers or even family members – but how often are there songs written about the admiration of a fellow woman – especially in a society where women are so often pitted against each other.” (Read Henry Carrigan’s review of Hold That Spirit HERE.)
Wilco’s new album Cousin (out September 29) features their new song “Evicted.” Frontman Jeff Tweedy shares: “I was trying to write from the point of view of someone struggling to make an argument for themself in the face of overwhelming evidence that they deserve to be locked out of someone’s heart. Self-inflicted wounds still hurt and in my experience they’re almost impossible to fully recover from.”
Brainiac Julian Saporiti’s musical project No-No Boy returns with another important album, Empire Electric (out September 29). Inspired by Saporiti’s time at Blue Cliff monastery, he shares stories based on his own research, archives, oral histories and site visits. On “Mekong Baby,” he’s joined by the Vietnamese singer Thai Hien.
Caroline Cotter – “The Year of the Wrecking Ball”
Maine artist Caroline Cotter’s third full-length record, Gently As I Go (out August 18), was recorded in the winter right before the pandemic hit in 2020. “I’m sharing these songs because the message interwoven throughout the album is don’t give up, and when you lose steam, just take a rest,” she says. The new song “The Year of the Wrecking Ball” wrestles with the dissolution of a traditional family and the loss of a safe, comforting place from childhood, but finds gratitude for the beautiful, albeit different, relationships formed in the wake.
