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.
—–
Folk Alley is able to produce and offer this weekly new music hour thanks to support from our members. If you enjoy the Fresh Cuts hour please donate to Folk Alley or consider becoming a sponsor.
Becky Buller – “Jubilee” (featuring Aoife O’Donovan)
“Jubilee,” the title track of Becky Buller’s new album (out today), saw Buller and fellow singer/songwriter Aoife O’Donovan composing the song in pre-pandemic 2020. After laying dormant for some time, the FreshGrass Foundation commissioned Becky to perform an original composition at their 2023 festival in Arkansas, which became “Jubilee.” b
Rachel Sumner – “Heartless Things”
Former Twisted Pine member Rachel Sumner has released her second solo album Heartless Things. The title song serves as the album’s first track and thesis statement, setting the stage both sonically and thematically for the rest to unfold. “In each song there’s some aspect of heartlessness and selfishness–whether it’s something being done to or by the narrator–that threads everything together,” Sumner says.
Reliable Child – “Handsome Irishman”
“Handsome Irishman” comes from Mike Berginc, aka Reliable Child, a Pittsburgh, PA songwriter. “I wrote this song in remembrance of my good friend Timothy Eoin Kelley, who died on December 15, 2023,” Mike says. “Timothy was an incredible artist; a true free-spirit, loving father, and all-around good person. He will be missed dearly.
Terre Roche – “Fish Out of Water”
Today, Terre Roche, founding member of The Roches (along with her sisters Suzzy and the late Maggie Roche) releases her first new album of solo songs in nearly a decade. “These songs were recorded on the island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands last September during the height of hurricane season,” Roche shared in a statement. “Many people leave the island and shutter their houses for September. I decided to stay… I live on St John and also in Manhattan,” Roche continued. “On the soulful and deserted island last September I came face to face with songs I’d written over the past 4 years. In a sense I’ve been out of harness, no longer under contract to anyone – no managers, no agents, no record company, no real demand for me to write. Yet I was surprised to realize the songwriting urge had forged on unprompted.”
