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.
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Kaïa Kater – “The Witch” (featuring Aoife O’Donovan)
“The Witch” comes from Kaïa Kater’s upcoming album, Strange Medicine (out May 17). “The first woman labeled a witch in Salem was a Black woman by the name of Tituba,” Kater says. “Usually these women died nameless and scorned. In my narrative, the woman who is branded a witch and burned at the stake survives her pilgrim’s punishment, and now seeks her revenge on those who sought to destroy her.”
Kelsey Waldon – “Traveling the Highway Home” (featuring Margo Price)
Out today, Kelsey Waldon’s latest, There’s Always a Song, features traditional songs that shaped Kelsey’s musicality. Waldon features her friend Margo Price on the classic “Traveling the Highway Home.” “We have both come such a long way since the earliest days of our friendship, and it’s been a wild ride and there’s still so many more memories to go. Who knows more about ‘Travelin’ the Highway Home’ than us? She is my fellow road dog and partner in crime. I’m very grateful she added some vocals to this song. Life is too short to not make music, travel, and get through it all with your friends.”
Madeleine Peyroux – “Showman Dan”
Written for her mentor and friend the late Daniel William Fitzgerald, aka Showman Dan, “Showman Dan” appears on Madeleine Peyroux’s upcoming album Let’s Walk (out June 24). She shares, “Dan was not ‘famous,’ though he has thousands of friends all over the world who still mourn him. And he was not a ‘musician,’ though he taught hundreds of people how to play music. He was not much of a father to his only son, though he is known as the godfather of buskers to many, including me. We met in Paris, France in 1989… Danny was my friend, my teacher, and oftentimes, my father. He would challenge the rebel in me with, ‘Who are you supposed to be?’ If he were to ask me now, I’d say, ‘I’m yours.'”
Tray Wellington – “Blue Collared Dog and His Green Eyed Friend”
We keep coming back to this single from the talented Tray, who says: “One late night while doing some paintings, we ended the night with two different ones. One featured a dog with a blue collar, and one featured a cat with bright green eyes. I thought about how, if I was still a kid, I would’ve created a whole story within these paintings of how these two were friends and journeyed the world together. Shortly after this thought, I picked up my banjo and just did some improv which ended up being the start of the tune… I was amazed at how such a simple thought could help me create a piece of music I’m so proud of.”
