Release Day Picks: March 23rd New Album Highlights

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 Jack White, Grant Farm, Erika Wennerstrom and Sunflower Bean. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

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Jack White – Boarding House Reach

The Scoop: Guitiarist Jack White’s third solo album (if you don’t count The White Stripes), Boarding House Reach follows-up the Third Man Records founder’s previous albums, 2012 Blunderbuss and 2014’s Lazaretto. White enlisted a broad spectrum of supporting musicians (see below) for the new album during sessions held in Nashville at White’s Third Man Studio, as well as in Los Angeles at Capitol Studios and in New York City at Sear Sound. The record includes the track “Over and Over and Over,” which dates back to White’s time in The White Stripes and was previously unsuccessfully attempted to be recorded with Jay-Z and again with The Raconteurs. Here’s the version of “Over and Over and Over” White ultimately settled on:

Label: Third Man Records/Columbia Records/XL Recordings

Producer: Jack White

Number Of Tracks: 13

Running Time: 44:08

Guest Musicians: Louis Cato, Daru Jones, Carla Azar, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, NeonPhoenix, DJ Harrison, Anthony “Brew” Brewster, Neal Evans, Quincy McCrary, Bobby Allende, Justin Porée, The McCrary Sisters (Ann McCrary, Regina McCrary), Esther Rose, C.W. Stoneking

Tracklist:

1. Connected By Love
2. Why Walk A Dog?
3. Corporation
4. Abulia and Akrasia
5. Hypermisophoniac
6. Ice Station Zebra
7. Over And Over And Over
8. Everything You’ve Ever Learned
9. Respect Commander
10. Ezmerelda Steals The Show
11. Get In The Mind Shaft
12. What’s Done Is Done
13. Humoresque

Stream / Download / CD/LP

Grant Farm & Friends – Meeting On the Mountain LIVE

The Scoop: Colorado Americana act Grant Farm serves as house band for a series of live broadcasts that dates back to 2015 called Meeting On The Mountain LIVE. Grant Farm has selected highlights from the first ten installments of the program for a live album released today titled Meeting On The Mountain LIVE Volume 1. The band is joined by a vast array of guests on the 15-track compilation including Todd Sheaffer of Railroad Earth, Bill Nershi of The String Cheese Incident and Andy Hall of The Infamous Stringdusters. Listen to “One More Night On The Road” featuring Sheaffer:

Label: Grant Central Records

Producer: Tyler Grant

Number Of Tracks: 15

Guest Musicians: John Magnie, Bill Nershi, Jilian Nershi, Todd Sheaffer, Liz Barnez, Benny “Burle” Galloway, Jordan Ramsey, Michael Kirkpatrick, Reed Foehl, Andy Hall, Megan Burtt, Dean Winter Carpenters and Ragged Union

Tracklist:

1. Lazy Gold
2. No Stopsigns (feat. John Magnie)
3. Dancing With A Broken Heart (feat. Bill and Jilian Nershi)
4. One More Night on the Road (feat. Todd Sheaffer)
5. Brand New Start
6. Whiskey Bay (feat. Liz Barnez)
7. Two Cents
8. Lucky (feat. Benny Galloway and Jordan Ramsey)
9. I’m Your Man (feat. Michael Kirkpatrick)
10. Rags N’ Bones (feat. Reed Foehl)
11. Tears Of The Earth (feat. Andy Hall)
12. How Far I’d Fall (feat. Benny Galloway and Andy Hall)
13. Pick Me Up (feat. Megan Burtt)
14. March Winds (ft. Bill and Jilian Nershi and Dead Winter Carpenters)
15. Meet Me On The Mountain (ft. Todd Sheaffer and Ragged Union)

Stream / CD/LP

Erika Wennerstrom – Sweet Unknown

The Scoop: After spending the better part of the 2000s fronting the critically-acclaimed blues-rock act Heartless Bastards, Erika Wennerstorm decided she needed a break and put the band on an hiatus. The booming-voiced singer set out on a period of self-exploration that helped form the material on her solo debut Sweet Unknown. The nine-track release was inspired by two mind-opening experiences one at an Ayahuasca retreat in the Amazon jungle and the other reflecting in the mountains of West Texas in Big Bend National Park. The album doesn’t stray too far from what Wennerstrom does best: combining her powerhouse vocals with confessional songwriting set to winding psychedelic-tinged dessert blues. Check out the official art track video for “Twisted Highway”:

Label: Partisan Records

Producer: Danny Reisch

Number Of Tracks: 9

Running Time: 57:02

Guest Musicians: Patrick Hallahan, Kelly Doyle, Lauren Gurgiolo, Jesse Ebaugh

Tracklist:

1. Twisted Highway
2. Extraordinary Love
3. Letting Go
4. Time
5. Be Good To Yourself
6. Staring Out The Window
7. Good To Be Alone
8. Like A Bird
9. Gravity

Stream / Download / CD/LP

Sunflower Bean – Twentytwo In Blue

The Scoop: Sunflower Bean were barely out of their teens when they burst onto the scene with their much buzzed about debut Human Ceremony. The Brooklyn-based band is back with their highly-anticipated sophomore effort Twentytwo In Blue, which is a reference to the band members’ age. While their first record showcased their love of the sounds of New York City’s past, fusing the shimmering New Wave pop-punk of Blondie with The Velvet Underground’s lo-fi psychedelic rock, their latest moves the narrative forward. For their follow-up, the three-piece band has traded in scuzzy guitar leads for a cleaner and brighter sound that will likely help them break into the mainstream. Check out the music video for “Twentytwo In Blue”:

Label: Mom+Pop

Producer: Matthew Molnar, Jacob Portrait

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 40:33

Tracklist:

1. Burn It
2. I Was A Fool
3. Twentytwo
4. Crisis Fest
5. Memoria
6. Puppet Strings
7. Only A Moment
8. Human For
9. Anyway You Like
10. Sinking Sands
11. Oh No, Bye Bye

Stream / Download / CD/LP

Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein.