Don’t Miss New Albums From Waxahatchee, Adrianne Lenker, Sierra Ferrell, Charlie Parr & More

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Waxahatchee, Adrianne Lenker, Sierra Ferrell, Charlie Parr, Aoife O’Donovan, Gary Clark Jr., The Gaslight Anthem and Olivia Rodrigo. Read on for more insight into the records we have ready to spin.

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Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood

Waxahatchee, the solo project of singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield, released a new album entitled Tigers Blood, today through ANTI- Records. The 12-track Tigers Blood is the follow-up to the Alabama-born/Kansas City-based Crutchfield’s 2020 album, Saint Cloud. The new record is the first Waxahatchee release on the ANTI- record label. Crutchfield once again worked with producer/multi-instrumentalist Brad Cook, who also produced Saint Cloud. New collaborators were also part of the recording sessions at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, which included drummer Spencer Tweedy, guitarist MJ Lenderman, and Cook’s multi-instrumentalist brother Phil Cook. Writer Ashleigh Bryant Phillips described Tigers Blood:

“And after years of being sober and stable in Kansas City–after years of sacrificing herself to her work and the road–Crutchfield has arrived at her most potent songwriting yet. On her new album, Tigers Blood, Crutchfield emerges as a powerhouse–an ethnologist of the self–forever dedicated to revisiting her wins and losses. But now she’s arriving at revelations and she ain’t holding them back. Crutchfield says that she wrote most of the songs on Tigers Blood during a ‘hot hand spell,’ while on tour in 2022.”

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Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker issued a new solo album, Bright Future, today via 4AD. Lenker captured the follow-up to her 2020 solo album songs & instrumentals at the sylvan analog studio Double Infinity. Lenker co-produced the record with frequent collaborator and engineer Philip Weinrobe, who rolled an Otari 1/2 inch 8-Track and Studer console into the studio for the sessions. Lenker handpicked a trio of musicians to help her record Bright Future, pianist/guitarist/violinist Mat Davidson, pianist Nick Hakim and classically trained violinist and percussionist Josefin Runsteen. The 12-track record contains the original recording of Big Thief-favorite “Vampire Empire.” A press release further described Lenker’s new record:

Bright Future has the best qualities of thoughtful engineering with the spontaneous swim of a field recording. There are details to savor, fingertips on strings, felt pads nodding in the piano, the harmonies a few steps back, all smoothly laid to tape. It comes together to allow Adrianne’s songs to be as they are, unarmored and light-footed.

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Sierra Ferrell – Trail Of Flowers

Singer-songwriter Sierra Ferrell‘s sophomore studio album, Trail Of Flowers, arrived today via Rounder Records. Ferrell recorded the bulk of Trail Of Flowers at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville, the city where she is currently based. The 12-song follow-up to 2021’s Long Time Coming was produced by Eddie Spear and Gary Paczosa. For the new record, Ferrell sought contributions from Nikki Lane, Lukas Nelson, Kristen Rogers and Chris Scruggs. Regarding the new album, Ferrell stated:

“With Trail of Flowers, I wanted to make a fuller sound with bigger drums, but still stay true to the stripped-down feel of old-time music whenever it felt right. I wanted to create something that makes people feel nostalgic for the past, but excited about the future of music. I’m just trying to put words and melodies together and build it into something people can pour their feelings into, all their happiness and sorrows, so that it changes their reality a little bit and gives them some comfort. To me music is like medicine. Whenever I write a song and it feels healing to me, I know it can heal other people too.”

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Charlie Parr – Little Sun

Singer-songwriter Charlie Parr released his 18th album, Little Sun, today through Smithsonian Folkways. Described as Parr’s “most ambitious album to date,” the follow-up to 2021’s Last of the Better Days Ahead was produced by Tucker Martine and recorded at his studio in Portland. The sessions at Martine’s Flora Recording And Playback facility took place during a historically bad snowstorm, which felt like home to the Minnesota native Parr. The eight-song Little Sun, whose title was inspired by late Minnesota bluesman Tony “Little Sun“ Glover, is notably Parr’s first album not recorded live. Parr played guitar and harmonica and was joined by guitarist Marisa Anderson, drummer Andrew Borger, keyboardist Asher Fulero, bassist Victor Krummenacher and vocalist Anna Tivel. Parr detailed making Little Sun:

“Up until this very album, my recordings have always been done live, with few if any overdubs and nearly always the first take—leave all the mistakes, missed lyrics, extraneous noise, and whatever else might happen there for the ages. Most records have been recorded in roughly the time that it took to play the songs. And that’s been fine, actually.

“Here’s a new way for me, though: here’s an album that was recorded live but in collaboration with producer Tucker Martine, who’s become a friend and trusted musical ally. You’ll hear what happened, so I don’t need to describe it to you, but I’m very grateful for the opportunity to work with this very talented group of musicians.”

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Aoife O’Donovan – All My Friends

Aoife O’Donovan released her new album, All My Friends, via Yep Roc Records. All My Friends boasts guest turns from Anaïs Mitchell, Sierra Hull, Noam Pikelny, The Knights, The Westerlies, The San Francisco Girls Chorus, Alan Hampton, Griffin Goldsmith and more. The project is O’Donovan’s first self-produced LP sharing production duties with Eric Jacobsen and Darren Schneider. O’Donovan captured the record at a trio of recording facilities: Full Sail University in Orlando, Brooklyn Recording in Brooklyn and Power Station in Manhattan. The new LP follows O’Donovan’s multiple-Grammy-nominated 2022 album, Age Of Apathy. In a powerful and forward-looking juxtaposition by O’Donovan, Age of Apathy spoke of coming to terms with indifference, while All My Friends champions collective action. All My Friends “is inspired by the passage of the 19th amendment and the evolving landscape of women’s rights in America over the past century.” O’Donovan drew particular inspiration from the work of women’s suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt.

“We are so lucky to live in a democracy, and we have to participate in it,” O’Donovan stated, “Just like stopping at a red light or being a good neighbor, voting is our responsibility as citizens.”

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Gary Clark Jr. – JPEG RAW

Gary Clark Jr. released his new album, JPEG RAW, via Warner Records. The 12-track collection is the Austin-based guitarist’s fourth studio LP and first since 2019’s This Land. Clark Jr. built upon his diverse sound on JPEG RAW by combining elements of African, World Music and jazz with rock, R&B, hip-hop and blues. The guitarist sampled Thelonious Monk and Sonny Boy Williamson on JPEG RAW and delivered the occasional rap and spoken word along with singing. JPEG RAW features a number of collaborations highlighted by the co-written Stevie Wonder duet, “What About The Children.” Clark Jr. also teamed with George Clinton, Valerie June, Naala and Keyon Harrold across the new album. A description accompanying the album stated:

The music is dense and adventurous with a more cohesive synthesis of his eclectic musical palette … Clark’s lyrics are pointed, deeply personal, outspoken and socially conscious with occasional forays into rap and spoken word from Clark himself. The sonics are immersive verging on modern groove-oriented psychedelia with hip-hop driven beats in verses giving way to anthemic choruses, rich with power-chording and wide fuzz riffage.

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The Gaslight Anthem – History Books – Short Stories

The Gaslight Anthem released a new EP, History Books – Short Stories, via Rich Mahogany Recordings/Thirty Tigers. The follow-up companion to the New Jersey-based rock band’s 2023 album History Books boasts a new version of fan-favorite “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts.” Additionally, the record contains stripped down renditions of “History Books” and “Positive Charge,” both of which originally appeared on the band’s first studio album since 2014. The new EP also features bassist Karina Rykman accompanying the group on a cover of Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes.” The Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon detailed the band’s decision to cover “Ocean Eyes.”

“I was driving my daughter to school and she played it for me on the way and I really took to the song,” he said. “Then one day we were talking ideas for a cover with our friends and I said, wouldn’t it be cool to do a heavier version of ‘Ocean Eyes’? I tried it out and everybody loved the idea.”

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Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS (Spilled)

GUTS (Spilled) is the deluxe edition of singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo‘s acclaimed 2023 sophomore album, GUTS. Announced recently at a concert in support of the record, the expanded version available today features an additional five new tracks alongside the album’s original 12 songs. GUTS (Spilled) comes with four songs that were issued as hidden tracks on color vinyl variants of GUTS “girl i’ve always been,” “scared of my guitar,” “stranger” and “obsessed.” Rodrigo co-wrote “obsessed” with Annie Clark (St. Vincent), and Daniel Nigro — the producer of GUTS and Rodrigo’s 2019 debut album SOUR. Also included on the newly expanded edition is the previously unreleased new song “so american.”

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Compiled by Team JamBase.