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August 10, 2018 Nashville, TN -- At a
time when hope and forgiveness seem in short supply, roots
singer-songwriter Amy Ray, still
thriving as one half of GRAMMY-winning folk duo Indigo Girls, gives us
all a shot in the arm with her ninth solo album, HOLLER.
Containing 14 new songs by Ray, the album will be released on
September 28, 2018 on Daemon Records via the Compass Records Group
and will include special double LP, along with hi-res and MQA
versions. Ray talks about the inspiration behind HOLLER with Billboard. Ray says
of the song, "I feel very rooted in the South and very
proud of it in a very deep way and I could never leave it. As a
progressive and a lesbian I'm in a distinct minority here, but at
the same time when I'm in trouble and I need some help with
something, people help out and don't worry about our differences.
That's part of the South, too, I think."
Listen to her new track, "Sure Feels Good
Anyway," and read the interview at Billboard here.
Inspired by her Southern upbringing and her
home in rural Georgia, Ray once again displays her knack for
straddling the line between the personal and the political on these
songs. Ray says, “The album is inspired by traditional
country, Southern rock, mountain music, gospel and bluegrass. The
songs tell stories of late nights, love, addiction, immigration,
despair, honky-tonks, growing up in the South, touring for decades,
being born in the midst of the civil rights movement, and the
constant struggle to find balance in the life of a left-wing
Southerner who loves Jesus, her homeland and its peoples."
She says was partially inspired by Jim
Ford’s 1969 cult-classic country album, Harlan County. “I had that album in my mind, musically. I
knew I wanted horns and strings to bump it up to that level, to get
that swagger into it.”
To achieve this she’s called upon the
masterful slide guitar of Derek Trucks (Tedeschi Trucks Band, the Allman Brothers), the
banjo and guitar work of Alison Brown, and vocal harmonies from Vince Gill, Brandi
Carlile, the Wood Brothers, Lucy Wainwright-Roche, Phil Cook, and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. These guests illustrate notably how
broad Amy’s musical tastes are but how widely she’s respected among
her musical peers.
HOLLER also reunites Ray with the band she put
together for her first Americana album, 2014’s GOODNIGHT TENDER, which includes shape-shifting
multi-instrumentalist Jeff
Fielder on guitars, dobro,
bass, and mandolin, Matt Smith on pedal steel, dobro, and guitar, Adrian Carter on fiddle and guitar, Kerry Brooks on upright bass and mandolin, Jim Brock on drums and percussion, and special guest Kofi Burbridge of Tedeschi Trucks Band on keys. After four years
together, this group has fused into a level of cohesion more
typical of a family band and there’s a loose, live feel to the
recordings with Ray still finding new ways to use her incredible,
iconic voice.
Ray
tackles Southern identity and racism in “Sure Feels Good
Anyway” and “Didn’t Know a Damn Thing,” while in “Bondsman
(Evening in Missouri)” she paints a scene of poverty and hardship
in the Ozark mountain region. And though it was written well before
the crisis of family separations at the Southern U.S. border, Ray’s
upbeat gospel flavored song, “Jesus Was a Walking Man,”bears a
timely message for the listener: “Jesus would’ve let ‘em in,” she
reminds us. To cap off the track, Ray enlisted the oratory prowess
of former SNCC Freedom Singer Rutha Mae Harris, driving
several hours to Albany, Georgia, just to capture Harris’s voice,
field recording-style.
All of Ray's musical interests blend
beautifully on HOLLER, from the emotionally gripping title track, which
she finished writing during the week of recording in Asheville,
North Carolina, to the edgy, guitar-driven frenzy and brass-section
blast of “Sparrow’s Boogie,” and beyond. Fans of GOODNIGHT TENDER will love Brown’s banjo on “Dadgum Down,” the pep
talk to indie artists on “Tonight I’m Paying the Rent,” and the
Elizabeth Cotten-influenced “Fine with the Dark.”
Thoughtful and musically fluid, Ray, like
many Southern artists, grapples with love for her heritage — both
musical and personal — and her own, more inclusive values. It’s
that drive and artistic commitment that has made Ray’s career
so full of unforgettable songs, and HOLLER feels like a culmination. We can only hope
for more.
TRACK LISTING
1. Gracie’s Dawn (Prelude)
2. Sure Feels Good Anyway
3. Dadgum Down
4. Last Taxi Fare
5. Old Lady Interlude
6. Sparrow’s Boogie
7. Oh City Man
8. Fine with the Dark
9. Tonight I’m Paying the Rent
10. Holler
11. Jesus Was a Walking Man
12. Sparrow’s Lullaby
13. Bondsman (Evening in Missouri)
14. Didn’t Know a Damn Thing
TOUR DATES
TH Oct 23 - Macon, GA | Hargray Capitol
Theatre w/Michelle Malone
FR Oct 24 - Durham, NC | Motorco Music
Hall w/ HC McEntire
SU Oct 26 - Nashville, TN | Mercy
Lounge w/ HC McEntire
MO Oct 27 - Atlanta, GA | Variety
Playhouse
TU Oct 28 - Asheville, NC | The Grey
Eagle w/ HC McEntire
TH Oct 30 - Winston-salem, NC | The
Ramkat w/ HC McEntire
WE Nov 7 - Tampa, FL | Crowbar w/Danielle
Howle
TH Nov 8 - Ponte Vedra
Beach, FL | Ponte Vedra Concert Hall /Danielle Howle
FR Nov 9 - Statesboro, GA |
Averitt Center for the Arts w/ Tony Arata
SU Nov 11 - York, SC | Sylvia Theater
w/Danielle Howle
TU Nov 13 - Nelsonville, OH |
Stuart's Opera House w/Amythyst Kiah
WE Nov 14 - Ann Arbor, MI | The
Ark w/Amythyst Kiah
TH Nov 15 - Chicago, IL | Maurer
Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music w/Amythyst Kiah
TU Nov 27 - Akron, OH | EJ Thomas
Hall w/Chastity Brown
WE Nov 28 - Indianapolis, IN | The
Hi-Fi w/Chastity Brown
FR Nov 30 - Athens, GA | The
Foundry w/Chastity Brown
SA Dec 1 - Rocky Mount, VA |
The Harvester w/After Jack
SU Dec 2 - Charleston, WV |
Mountain Stage
- West Coast and Northeast Tour
dates coming early Spring 2019
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