New Music Fridays. It’s been a couple months since anything really good dropped. Today I’ve got a couple new albums. Let’s start with Wilder Woods, the solo act of Bear Rineheart, lead singer of Needtobreathe. My youngest is nicknamed Bear because of this man, so needless to say, we’re fans. His new album Fever/Sky is just dripping with character and songwriting excellence. The guitar too. This man is Americana in a nutshell and the instrumentation is just everything I need.
And to continue in the Americana, Chris Thile of Punch Brothers got back with his early 2000’s band to release a new album. These guys were the Backstreet Boys of bluegrass. I didn’t listen to them then, but as I got out of college I became more and more a fan of Americana through the likes of Needtobreathe and Mumford and Sons. Then someone recommended Punch Brothers and I became a mandolinist. I got hooked because of Chris. Celebrants brings the chops, the fiddle, and the falsettos you expect with Chris and his Nickel Creek bandmates.
I was talking with someone the other day about “new” music. He said he doesn’t really listen to new music and is stuck in stuff from a decade ago. While I don’t feel the need to be listening to new music for relevance sake, music is experiential and new music brings new experience. New words, new lyrics, new thoughts. It’s like reading a book. I could reread an old book. There is value to that. But I also love to read new books. I’m no Top 50 kinda guy— never was— but I pay attention to specific artists and genres. So Fridays are something to look forward to with music. Go soak in some good music.