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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From her upcoming album Trees (out 5/31), Laurie Lewis shares her cover of Bill Morrissey’s “Long Gone.” Of the song she says, “I have loved ‘Long Gone’ since I first heard Bill Morrissey sing it a couple of decades ago. Recording it was a blast, and I think that as a ‘returning’ song, it is particularly resonant in these post-pandemic times. We’ve all been long gone, from each other and the world at large. Every time I hear Brandon Godman’s fiddle kick-off, I get excited all over again, to be returning from the virtual to the corporeal world.”
Newly signed to Free Dirt Records, Liv Greene’s “Wild Geese” is out now from the Nashville-based songwriter. Of the song, she offers, “I wrote ‘Wild Geese’ one brutal March when I was tired of the wheels spinning out, of being hung up on my own bad habits, on shame, on direction, and on a girl that in hindsight I probably didn’t even know that well. It’s about coming out of the dark end of winter, forgiving it, and letting it be, and an homage to the Mary Oliver poem that held me through that whole season.”
Co-founding member of his trio The Wood Brothers, Oliver Wood’s new solo album (Fat Cat Silhouette, out 6/14) features Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. Berlin plays baritone sax on the song “Yo I Surrender.” “This was a fun collaboration between myself, Jano Rix, Ted Pecchio and Steve Berlin. Both writing and recording the song was a very childlike process,” explains Wood. “The music came together live in the studio with all of us in a circle creating a playful and loose vibe. Quirky lyrics quickly followed. It was so fun to play with amazing musicians who listen to each other and allow you to just trust and surrender.”
Irish musician Niamh Regan’s latest, Come As You Are, is out today. Of her song “Music”, she says: “‘Music’ is one of my favourite songs on the record. I was listening to a lot of Wilco while making this record and this song is like a nod to that with regards to production. It’s the first song that I wrote where I thought this might be an ear worm, and just had lots of fun with the lyrics and melody and I hope that comes across in the recording now.” – Niamh Regan
