Ethan is like Renaissance master painter. The 8 strings of his mandolin as his brush and the air is the canvas he paints with an ethereal palette of moods and colors. “Boundless” may be quick in its length, but pulls you deep into its sonic landscape. Trickling tremolo drenched in reverb and an undulating bass rhythm. Like the rich darkness of a desert night, curious and calling out, but a bit heavy and almost bordering on mysterious and unearthly. Seemingly endless miles of space, to explore and breath in, in between.

From Ethan: This month I’m releasing an EP of some music I worked on during 2020 and 2021 when I had a lot of time at home to experiment. Across The Great Divide, vol. 1 is inspired by time in solitude traveling across the US, and incorporates field recorded samples from the great outdoors. The first single, Boundless comes out TODAY, January 3rd! More singles will follow and the full album releases on January 24th. Below, I’m excited to share the artwork for the first single, featuring the work and photography of Louise Bichan. You can hear Boundless wherever you stream music.

“How’s it going?”

“Good! How about you?”

“Good, thanks!”

And there is no doubt that for a significant number of people it is not, in fact, good. But there’s an unspoken social agreement to put on a happy face. And so we go home and feel isolated. And we’re sure that we’re the only ones. 

Meaghan Collins’s new song, “The Bathtub Song,” gets right at those feelings of isolation. Meaghan was born and raised in Boston and now makes her home in Asheville, NC. Our friend Lisa Bastoni painted scenes for the video of “The Bathtub Song,” which we are so excited to premiere on Red Line Roots. (Shout out to Abby Altman at Club Passim for connecting Meaghan and Lisa!)

Meaghan is releasing her first EP, Growing Out My Bangs, later this year. You can hear the first single, “Momma’s Rules,” here. Find more info about Meaghan over on her facebook page. I’m looking forward to hearing more!  

Anyway, imagine my delight when I received an email about The Still Point’s new record, Full Circle. Hayes Cummings, the leader of this Boston-based band, is from just down the road in Burlington, NC. A twofer! Hayes, in writing to me, said that he “checks both boxes,” for RLR coverage–New England and NC. True, but there is a third box to check: good music and The Still Point has got it. 

I really enjoyed listening to the entire record. It’s exploratory and inventive and grooves. But when thinking about which song to premiere, “Big Dig,” jumped out. I just love the tension and release on this track. There’s the strong hook at the beginning, with exceptional drumming from Alex Dillon. The horns from Billy Jewell (trumpet) and Hunter McKay (tenor sax) take center stage for the beginning of the song, before giving way to Hayes Cummings’s guitar, which starts as a kind of chug and then begins a conversation with the horns, reaching a crescendo that just sounds damn fun to play.

The song feels loose and expansive, while the players all remain very tightly together, anchored by Dillon and Max Liebman on bass. This is one of those songs that bears repeated listening, because you don’t end up in the same place as where you started, even though that initial hook does come back around. The ending is just so satisfying too. It leaves you wanting more and you know if you hear the song again, you’re going to hear something new.

Check out “Big Dig” and look out for Full Circle, coming soon!

Mark Erelli’s new song, “The Hitter,” is a story song and a love song. Written about his younger son’s first Little League season, the song reflects on the rituals of spring, the ups and downs of a season, and truths that extend far beyond the game. I’ve had the first lines of the chorus rattling in my brain for this first month of summer. I’ll be in the grocery store or cooking dinner or folding laundry and just start singing to myself, “Life’s a little like a baseball game, / It ain’t the score, it’s how you play. / You win some, you lose some, that’s a fact.” 

As a parent, you find out things about yourself because of your kids: patience and impatience that surprise you; anxieties that shouldn’t keep you up, but do; things that maybe should keep you up that you learn to let go; new interests because your kid is all-in (my son has gotten me into musicals, I’ve found that I have an appreciation for pedicures, after visiting my daughter’s nail salon, and I’ve had to work on my jump shot because of her recent obsession with basketball). In a lovely essay for No Depression, Erelli said that some other dads have, “confided that while they identify with the father, they also see themselves through the eyes of the boy in the song, and it brings back memories of their fathers’ love.” That’s not how he thought about it while writing, and that’s one of my favorite things about songs: the meanings that the songwriter never intended, but that the audience reveals. 

And for all of this–for all of the metaphors, meta-metaphors, and hidden meanings–let’s not forget that Mark’s written just a damn good song, one that gets in your head and, before you know it, you’re singing in the grocery store. 

Buy “The Hitter” on bandcamp and find out more about Mark at his website. 

Photo Credit: Sam Kassirer

The pleasantness of singer Evan Murphy’s voice should never be unrecognized. I mean, I just love this dude’s voice and how naturally it rises and falls…and his range while it seems effortless is something really impressive. The slow plod of the banjo, entry of a few high bass notes. This band knows how to build the excitement around a song. By the time that the chorus rolls around you are unaware of the fact that the song has wrapped its way around you and well, you are in it folks. The fact that each member of this band is a powerhouse in their own right can never be stated enough and again, here, that fact is cemented in stone. 

Check the tune out…then check it out again. The band is on tour up and down the east coast through November, so get out and see ’em.

“Barefoot Sailors” is one of those songs that gets under your skin and you just have to hear it again and again. It was on SA’s fantastic last studio record, Great Shakes (2016), and it features so many aspects that make this band one the best representations of what Boston roots music can be. Take a listen:

Whereas the studio version of the song is a little over four minutes long, this version clocks in at seven, as the band stretches out and plays with the version that they’ve created live. The final chorus is just Ry singing over a spare little beat from Billy Beard and bass accompaniment from Kimon Kirk, before Jim Fitting comes back in on harmonica leading the song down a slightly different road and hands it to Jefferson on lead guitar. There is a dynamic sense of building the song up to a new height as the tempo speeds up and the instruments join together. And then, when it’s over, you want to hear it all again and listen for those little nuances that you missed the first (or seventh or twentieth) time. If you haven’t yet seen this band, well, change that. Tour dates are here and pick up Live at the Haybarn Theatre for a sampling of what you’ve been missing.

Photo Credit: Rich Gastwirt

Turchi wrote the song, “about my grandmother, Patricia. When we toured through Baltimore in rainy fall 2016 we visited her in the hospital, a few days before she died and she asked me to write a song to remember her by.” Man, what a gift of a song.

Reed will tour his new album Just A Little More Faith across the East Coast this fall, and we can’t wait to have him in our neck of the woods. In the meantime, give a listen and get this gem of an album.

Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen