I had the privilege of writing the official bio for JP Harris’s new album Shaving A Dead Man, his second release of old-time Appalachian songs and banjo picking with his old friend Chance McCoy on fiddle. “Old-time music has been a baseline for me,” Harris says in that document. “And I think in getting a little older, a little more comfortable with myself and trusting my intuitions a little more, I've realized that one thing that's never changed in the tumult of launching and trying to build and maintain a music career all these years, the one consistent love and lover that I've had has been the old-time community.” The modern-day bard, train-hopper, and musical outlaw comes by this honestly. He knows his repertoire, but as we feature his new record on release week, we chose the one Harris original, “Sweet Talk.” Also this week, a couple of interesting ‘grassified takes on famous pop songs, a lonesome single by NC’s Louisa Branscomb, and a gorgeous ballad written and sung by Justin Hiltner and Sarah Siskind (with Jon Weisberger).
Byron Berline - Coming Down From Denver
Bushwick Mountain Boys - Everything I Had Going For Me Is Gone
The Fretliners - The Stone
Chris Coole with Ivan Rosenberg - Stage Fright
Dan Tyminski and friends - Old Town Road
JP Harris - Sweet Talk
Cara Luft - The Banjo Is A Gift
Psychograss - Look What The Dog Brought Home
Liam Purcell with AJ Lee and Blue Summit - Somebody That I Used To Know
Clark Kessinger - Tennessee Waltz
Louisa Branscomb with Johnny and Jeanette Williams - Kiss On A Cold Cold Stone
Hazel Dickens - Do Memories Haunt You?
Larry Sparks - Take Me Back To West Virginia
Justin Hiltner and Sarah Siskind - Nothing Between Us
Authentic Unlimited - City Of Angels
Old Sledge - Lost Indian
High Fidelity - The Fields Have Turned Brown
