The new album, Bad Self Portraits, is a microcosm of Lake Street Dive's evolution of the band from a weird alt-country jazz group to a pop-soul juggernaut, that includes 60s influences like Brill Building girl groups, British Invasion rock, horn-driven Stax R&B, Motown soul and even The Band-like gospel blues.

On August 16th, 2019, Eilen Jewell will release Gypsy on Signature Sounds. Described as one of Americana's most intriguing and creative voices (American Songwriter), Jewell has written 11 new songs for Gypsy and is calling it her favorite album yet: new sounds, old sounds, electric guitar-driven rockers, classic country, and tender ballads. Gypsy continues to solidify Jewell's reputation as one of the most distinctive and potent voices in the Americana world today.

On August 16th, 2019, Eilen Jewell will release Gypsy on Signature Sounds. Described as one of Americana's most intriguing and creative voices (American Songwriter), Jewell has written 11 new songs for Gypsy and is calling it her favorite album yet: new sounds, old sounds, electric guitar-driven rockers, classic country, and tender ballads. Gypsy continues to solidify Jewell's reputation as one of the most distinctive and potent voices in the Americana world today.

CALL ME LUCKY is the new record from Chris Smither and is his first set of brand new originals in six years. The new record features Smither - trademark songs that offer commentary on the human condition with a wink of an eye and pulls from deep in the soul. To complete the project are a couple of surprise covers that remind us of Chris' deftness as a song interpreter as he makes the songs his own. Honing a synthesis of folk and blues for 50 years, Smither is truly an American original. Reviewers and fans from around the world, including Rolling Stone and The New York Times, agree that Chris continues to be a profound songwriter, a blistering guitarist, and intense performer as he draws deeply from the blues, American folk music, modern poets and humanist philosophers.

Recorded against a backdrop of political division and dread, Love in Wartime, the 2018 release from Americana darlings Birds of Chicago, is a rock'n'soul suite under the influence of the epic music generated by artists of the '60s and '70s. Produced by Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars, love is the through-line of the album. "Any act of love is an act of bravery," says Allison Russell. "These songs are fragments of covenants of trust and understanding. We want to give people some good news. And we want them to be able to dance when they hear it."

Soil In The Sky, the highly anticipated new album from Heather Maloney, out June 14, 2019, on Signature Sounds. The album features an amazing cast of musicians including Rachel Price from Lake Street Dive, Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith from Dawes and Jaron Olevsky and Ryan Hommel from Amos Lee's band and features Maloney's most melodic and striking songs yet.

Vinyl LP pressing. The highly-anticipated follow up to The Suitcase Junket's label debut, Mean Dog, Trampoline will be released on Signature Sounds. Produced by Steve Berlin (Jackie Greene, Rickie Lee Jones, Leo Kottke) of Los Lobos, Mean Dog, Trampoline marks a deliberate departure from the self-recorded, homespun approach of The Suitcase Junket's previous efforts. In creating the album, Matt Lorenz pulled from a fantastically patchwork sonic palette, shaping his songs with elements of jangly folk, fuzzed-out blues, and oddly textured psych-rock. Engineered by Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Speedy Ortiz) and mixed by Vance Powell (Jack White, Houndmouth), Mean Dog, Trampoline preserves The Suitcase Junket's unkempt vitality, but ultimately emerges as his most powerfully direct album so far.

The highly-anticipated follow up to The Suitcase Junket's label debut, Mean Dog, Trampoline will be released on Signature Sounds. Produced by Steve Berlin (Jackie Greene, Rickie Lee Jones, Leo Kottke) of Los Lobos, Mean Dog, Trampoline marks a deliberate departure from the self-recorded, homespun approach of The Suitcase Junket's previous efforts. In creating the album, Matt Lorenz pulled from a fantastically patchwork sonic palette, shaping his songs with elements of jangly folk, fuzzed-out blues, and oddly textured psych-rock. Engineered by Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Speedy Ortiz) and mixed by Vance Powell (Jack White, Houndmouth), Mean Dog, Trampoline preserves The Suitcase Junket's unkempt vitality, but ultimately emerges as his most powerfully direct album so far.

On April 3, 2020 acclaimed folk-rock quartet Parsonsfield will release their highly anticipated fifth release, Happy Hour On The Floor on Signature Sounds. Produced by multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Lazar Davis (Joan As A Police Woman, Okkervil River), Happy Hour On The Floor was recorded in a small barn over three weeks. It is both subdued and danceable, exploring the in-between moments in life. Chris Freeman reflects, 'We took some time off the road to analyze where we've been over the last five years of touring. We made ourselves fresh again, but with a whole new depth of experience in our pockets. We tracked almost the whole album on one microphone, one instrument at a time. We didn't see ourselves as a folk band, an indie band or by any other label. In a bigger sense, this album is a story diving deep into ourselves and leaning on each other.'

On April 3, 2020 acclaimed folk-rock quartet Parsonsfield will release their highly anticipated fifth release, Happy Hour On The Floor on Signature Sounds. Produced by multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Lazar Davis (Joan As A Police Woman, Okkervil River), Happy Hour On The Floor was recorded in a small barn over three weeks. It is both subdued and danceable, exploring the in-between moments in life. Chris Freeman reflects, 'We took some time off the road to analyze where we've been over the last five years of touring. We made ourselves fresh again, but with a whole new depth of experience in our pockets. We tracked almost the whole album on one microphone, one instrument at a time. We didn't see ourselves as a folk band, an indie band or by any other label. In a bigger sense, this album is a story diving deep into ourselves and leaning on each other.'

In the 12 years she has toured the world as a member of the soul-pop sensation Lake Street Dive, Bridget Kearney has fine-tuned many things - voracious collaborating, acclaimed bass playing, and harmonizing, to name a few. But the skill she has honed most obsessively is songwriting. While still a student at The New England Conservatory of Music, Kearney won the grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, a harbinger of things to come. Now, Kearney steps into the spotlight with her first solo effort, a wry, big-hearted pop album entitled Won't Let You Down. The record, like its title, promises not to disappoint. Shades of The Beatles, Wilco, Fleetwood Mac, and even Nick Cave can be detected, as the album swerves from '60s pop to modern indie-rock.

In the 12 years she has toured the world as a member of the soul-pop sensation Lake Street Dive, Bridget Kearney has fine-tuned many things - voracious collaborating, acclaimed bass playing, and harmonizing, to name a few. But the skill she has honed most obsessively is songwriting. While still a student at The New England Conservatory of Music, Kearney won the grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, a harbinger of things to come. Now, Kearney steps into the spotlight with her first solo effort, a wry, big-hearted pop album entitled Won't Let You Down. The record, like its title, promises not to disappoint. Shades of The Beatles, Wilco, Fleetwood Mac, and even Nick Cave can be detected, as the album swerves from '60s pop to modern indie-rock.

Vinyl LP pressing. Over the past few years, The Dustbowl Revival has been making a name for itself with a vibrant mix of vintage Americana sounds. Critics have proclaimed that this eclectic eight-piece "would have sounded utterly at home within the hallowed confines of Preservation Hall in New Orleans' French Quarter" (Los Angeles Times) and their "upbeat, old-school, All-American sonic safaris exemplify everything shows should be: hot, spontaneous, engaging and, best of all, a pleasure to hear" (L.A. Weekly). Rob Sheffield, in Rolling Stone, hailed them as a great band "whose Americana swing was so fun I went back to see them again the next day." Their new eponymous album, however, finds the Los Angeles-based ensemble evolving and refining it's music. Their always-joyous sound now reveals a more soulful, funky side that exudes deeper emotions and taps a more modern vibe. This new release reveals the band moving in an exciting new direction. Instead of Dixieland jazz and Depression-era folk songs serving as musical mile markers, it mines an energizing vein of soul, funk and roots-infused rock that evokes the work of Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin and classic Stax recordings, and fits the band alongside such contemporaries as Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and St. Paul & the Broken Bones.

And The Kids plays what they call accessible unconscious existential indie glitter popsicle crisis music. You’ll recognize it as pure, passionate and fresh alternative rock. The three-woman powerhouse has been packing the sidewalks and clubs from Northampton, MA to Boston to New York City with their fierce infectious harmonies, tight and unique grooves and songwriting that has the ability to reach down and tug at the truths of their generation and beyond. The ladies were barely out of high school when they met at the Institute for the Musical Arts (IMA) in Goshen, MA, a women’s recording and sound engineering program. Together the trio is on a mission to inspire the hearts of all living beings of light and laughter one stage at a time.

When This Life Is Over, is And The Kids highly anticipated third album for Signature Sounds. Praised by NPR for 'striking vocals [that] rival the vibrato and boldness of Siouxsie Sioux...and music that's both fearless and entertaining,' And The Kids return with a bold continuation of their chunky indie rock meets blissful new wave sound, while finding inspiration in exploring the 'total freedom of mortality's fate.' Hannah Mohan writes, 'We took inspiration from our lyrics 'When this life is over/no more rules/ no more orders' and let that set the tone of the whole album. Mohan continues, 'We wanted to break the rules of what an album should be like. We included bedroom demos and didn't worry about how we might play these songs live which can be very restrictive. We let everything go so that we could be our most creative selves. Although the title and theme might appear dark, it's actually about the remarkable beautiful freedom of the afterlife.

Vinyl LP pressing, includes digital download. Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore's collective work-as solo artists, band members, and collaborators-could fill a small record collection. Despite this productivity, these two long-time friends have never recorded an entire album focused exclusively on their unique talents. "Ghost Forests" mysteriously, thrillingly fills that void. Over the course of "Ghost Forests"' six collaborative compositions we hear deeply sympathetic conversations between the two artists. With access to a deep pool of shared influences, these two friends assembled a collection of sounds conjured from harp, guitar (both acoustic and electric), synths, the human voice, and a shared poetic language. Baird and Lattimore's subjects range from the... more.

With A Lampshade On, the Dustbowl Revival’s fourth album, finally shines a light on the band’s strength as a live act. They formed in L.A.’s bohemian enclave of Venice Beach in late 2007, the result of a hopeful Craigslist ad posted by bandleader Zach Lupetin, a Midwestern transplant who hoped to join together players in the string band and brass band traditions. Since then, one thing has become clear as the group grows more confident in their abilities: Dustbowl does its best work onstage.

On January 29, 2021 Signature Sounds will release a double-album collection, celebrating 25 years as a record label. The 37-song compilation, Golden Age: 25 Years of Signature Sounds features Signature artists old and new like Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive, Chris Smither, Eilen Jewell, Lori McKenna, Heather Maloney, The Suitcase Junket, and Winterpills. Labelpresident Jim Olsen writes, 'To celebrate 25 unpredictable years as a record label, we've put together a 37-song collection. The approach was to make it a really good sounding album, rather than just the biggest hits. We wanted to make it a really nice listen all the way through and showcase the artists to their best effect.' Described as 'The ultimate destination for independent-minded folk, Americana, roots and rock artists', Signature Sounds is based in Northampton, MA and has released over 175 albums of singer-songwriter, Americana, modern folk and rock music. 

Carolione Herring confidently returns to the forefront of the American roots music scene with her new album LANTANA. The Mississippi-born, Atlanta-based singer/songwriter took the producing helm for the first time on the new record, co-producing with long-time collaborator Rich Brotherton. There is no artifice on LANTANA. It's an album full of delights, lyrically and musically. And just like Carline Herring, her new album is the real thing.

On Down Hearted Blues, Eilen and her long-time road band (Jerry Miller, Shawn Supra, Jason Beek) rip through greasy versions of dark blues like Charles Sheffield’s “It’s Your Voodoo Working”, Willie Dixon’s “You Know My Love”, and Albert Washington’s “One of These Days”. The band also strips down the sound, trading in drums and electric instruments for washboards, mandolins, and banjos to cover songs like Memphis Minnie’s “Nothing in Rambling”, Bessie Smith’s “Down Hearted Blues”, and Moonshine Kate’s “Poor Girl’s Story”. 

For over a decade Eilen Jewell has taken her brand of sultry surf-noir and dynamic Americana music to cities from Melbourne to Madrid to Manhattan. Her subtle but powerful musical approach, combined with her warm stage presence and evocative original lyrics, continue to gain her the loyalty of fans worldwide.

Honesty, confidence, and respect permeate Eilen Jewell s music, dating back to her self-released Boundary County album in 2006. Since then, the Boise native has recorded five studio albums for Signature Sounds with her road-tested touring band, and two more as a member of the Boston-based gospel-charged Sacred Shakers, which includes that well-oiled band at its core.

One of 2014’s hottest up and coming bands, Lake Street Dive are a Brooklyn via Boston quartet that make sassy, richly harmonized retro-soul. This 7” single features two previously unreleased gems from the Bad Self Portraits sessions.

Like John Hammond. Spider John Koerner and a Handful of Other Musicians Whose Careers Began in the 1960S Blues Revival, Guitarist, Singer, and Songwriter Chris Smither Can Take Pride in the Fact That He's Been There Since the Beginning. He Is Best Known for His Great Songs 'Love You Like a Man' and 'I Feel the Same,' Both of Which Have Been Recorded By Guitarist Bonnie Raitt, An Old Friend Who Appears on This Collection Alongside Many Smither's Contemporaries and Touring Partners.

Heather Maloney hasn't been writing songs for long, but she sounds like an experienced pro on her new self-titled album, out in March on Signature Sounds. The Northampton, Mass., singer and songwriter digs deeper, and roams wider, than she has before on songs populated by vivid characters that ultimately trace their way back to her. "I always said that if I didn't write songs, I'd be covered in tattoos, because every song I write is something I want to remember really badly," Maloney says. She has no ink so far. Instead, Maloney is marking life lessons with music, penning tuneful reminders to herself about the little triumphs of love on "Flutter," the solace of redemption on "Turn Yourself Around" and her firm belief that nothing's colder than trying too hard to be cool, an idea that inspired "Fire for You." Although Maloney's influences are largely rooted in what she calls "adventurous folk," she pushes outward on these 11 songs, adding juicy touches of pop, and a little dash of rock 'n' roll on "Iron Bull," a song she wrote after visiting Zucotti Park during Occupy Wall Street. "It's become more multi-dimensional," she says, a change she credits to the way she approached Heather Maloney. She mostly performed by herself in concert when she made her first two albums, so the recorded songs didn't sound the way they did when she played them live. This time, she road-tested the new material with a band (Ken Maiuri on bass, and J.J. O'Connell on drums), fine-tuning songs as she performed them in front of audiences before heading into the studio. "I love playing with a band," says Maloney, who's even done some co-writing with Maiuri. "It's become an integral part of the music." If there's a typical path to becoming a songwriter, Maloney didn't follow it. Although she went to school for music and had done plenty of singing, she only began writing tunes a few years ago after living and working for three years in a silent-retreat meditation center in central Massachusetts. "The biggest motivating factor in writing was probably the experiences that I was having here in my meditation practice," she says. "There was the difficulty of it, the suffering of it, and wanting to channel that into something creative, and on the positive side, the insights that came out of my experiences." Those experiences proved especially inspirational on "Dirt & Stardust," the folky centerpiece of the album. On one level, it's a song about a rambling woman, an idea whose origins were simple enough: "Who doesn't love songs about ramblers?" Maloney says. "It's adventurous, and heartbreaking, but beautiful." On a deeper level, though, it's a song about embracing impermanence. "I don't want these walls to wall me in forever," Maloney begins, singing with the hint of a quaver in her sweet voice tinged with earthy grit. "Don't want to make my home on fenced-in land. We can buy our lot, we can mark our spot but we're travelers whether we like it or not, so please make my castle out of sand." "It led me back to the meditation practice," she explains. "A large part of what this practice is aiming to get you to recognize is that everything is impermanent, and not only to recognize that, but to be OK with that, and maybe even celebrate that. So in this song I'm trying to express this woman's complicated relationship with impermanence." It's not just an expression of the character's relationship. Like most of Maloney's songs, "Dirt & Stardust" is ultimately about herself, though sometimes her songs are personal in a way that only dawns on her later. "I prefer to start writing like I'm writing about somebody else, and maybe it turns out to be autobiographical," she says. "Sometimes it even happens long after I've written the song and I'm performing it live, and I suddenly feel naked, like, 'Whoa, this is really about me, isn't it?' It's just that I'm in a room full of people when I realize it." It's no surprise that they're increasingly crowded rooms.

Heather Maloney is an American singer-songwriter who has received numerous accolades for her startlingly soulful voice and literate songwriting exploring themes of spirituality, transformation, and impermanence. Critics are quickly discovering Maloney's talent with No Depression raving "Her music is riveting, her voice adventurous, her lyrics thought-provoking... while Blurt Magazine wrote "Heather Maloney is one of the most talented tradition-based singer-songwriters I ve heard in some time."

Vinyl LP pressing. Parsonsfield is a five-piece alt/folk band that infuses a rowdy, rock-'n'-roll spirit into it's bluegrass and folk influences, blowing away any preconception of what you think banjos and mandolins should sound like. Catch Parsonsfield onstage any night and the band's joy is palpable. They trade instruments, share microphones, and shoot each other big grins. They sing in tight multi-part harmonies, their voices blending like they've been doing this all their lives. That's because Parsonsfield is a family band, not by birth but by choice. And with an album this thrilling, it's only a matter of time before you share their same enthusiasm. Blooming Through The Black is one of the finest roots releases of 2016. "They'll give you rich five-part harmonies one minute, sound like bluegrass on steroids the next, and then rock you over the head with unbearably cool and raucous Celtic rhythms." - No Depression.

From their handpainted cereal box CD cases to their thoughtful arrangements, Poor Old Shine, a Roots/Americana band from Storrs, CT is about honesty and hand crafted creativity. It's foot stomping, mind racing, dirty bluegrass like you've never heard it before! They travel with an assortment of instruments including guitars, banjos, pump organ, mandolin, string bass, musical saw, washboard, and a yard-sale-scrap-metal drum set. It's old songs with a new feel, banjos with paint peeled, shoes with holes and treadless soles, and music that is real. The music is rooted in the folk and Appalachian mountain music tradition and fits in well at bluegrass festivals and sticky rock clubs alike. On their self-titled debut album Poor Old Shine evokes the classic American songcraft of The Band while expressing the contemporary edge of the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons From their handpainted cereal box CD cases to their thoughtful arrangements, Poor Old Shine, a Roots/Americana band from Stor.

For The Sacred Shakers, there's nothing finer than old-time, country and blues-influenced gospel music. Think Hank Williams, The Carter Family, The Stanley Brothers, Son House, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Beginning in 2005, that music drew a small but ever-widening circle of some of Boston's finest musicians and vocalists together at the Country Gospel Brunch concert series. In short order, The Boston Globe described the group as `a local Who's Who of all-star roots musicians.' And last summer, after hearing a single live performance by The Sacred Shakers, indie Signature Sounds label owner Jim Olsen encouraged the group to record their repertoire. On their eponymous debut, The Sacred Shakers offer new life to the gospel genre by revisiting the stripped down country and bluesy gospel material that inspires them. On The Sacred Shakers, respect is paid to the old tunes but don't look for a strict interpretation on this 14-track disc of mostly traditional gems plus a few gospel classics from Hank Williams and George Jones. Forget about the R&B grooves and slick sounds of modern gospel. Unlike many modern artists' versions of heavy spiritual tunes, the Shakers don't clean things up or over-produce and make it sound pretty. The Shakers simply play the songs and transition effortlessly from slower acoustic country/bluegrass like `Ready To Go Home,' to their rollicking rockabilly version of the traditional `I'm Gonna Do My Best,' and on to the droning blues of `Travelin' Shoes.' As for the religious angle of these songs, the Shakers are an omni-denominational band, joining Christians, Jews and Agnostics to share this genuine, historic music with their believer and non-believer fans. The roots of the Shakers go back roughly ten years, when drummer Jason Beek (Whoa! Man! Jesus!) discovered this gospel music while searching for the influences of bluesmen like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. `Together with a couple friends, we kept digging into the roots of blues and then old-time and eventually country and gospel music influenced by old-time and blues. The first gospel blues we heard was Mississippi Fred McDowell's album Amazing Grace from the late `60s and it changed our lives,' says Beek. He went on to format and host `American Primitive,' an MIT radio show featuring music from obscure reverends, Blind Willie Johnson, Son House, Blind Roosevelt Graves. His new passion in this music also led him to bands like the Tarbox Ramblers, `Every week we could see a modern band covering the very artists we were just discovering; people like Charley Patton, Leadbelly, The Carter Family, Fred McDowell, E.C. and Orna Ball and Reverend Gary Davis.' Beek soon befriended and performed with the Ramblers and in various side bands with Ramblers' bass player Johnny Sciascia (Cranktones, The Spurs) and violinist Daniel Kellar (Laurie Geltman, Vasco De Gama). While performing with Michael Tarbox one night in 2004, Beek was introduced to Boston bluegrass man Daniel Fram (Muddy River Rounders, Watch City Opry), `Michael thought we ought to know each other; that we were coming from the same places musically.' Beek went on to perform with Fram at his weekly old-time/country music event, The Watch City Opry. It was at the Opry that Fram introduced Beek to Boise native Eilen Jewell, who was sitting in on the Opry and considering a move to Boston. Jewell, of course, did move to Boston and with Beek formed the Eilen Jewell Band (which eventually added Sciascia and Kellar to the roster, with Jerry Miller later taking Kellar's spot to form the current lineup). With the connections made, and after a friend described hosting a country gospel brunch in the Southwest, Beek approached these like-minded musical friends - all well-versed in older country blues and country gospel material -- in the Boston music scene and The Sacred Shakers was born. The Country Gospel Brunch performances always featured three leading singers: Fram, who covered mostly bluegrass and country artists, Jewell with her bluegrass and old-timey sounds, and Beek. Sciascia and Kellar rounded out the Shakers and each week's concert showcased a guest artist. Recent additions to the Shakers, and performing on the CD, are banjo master Eric Royer (Royer's One Man Band, The Resophonics), soulful singer Greg Glassman (Tastes Like Gravy String Band) and the guitar theatrics of Jerry Miller (The Spurs, Bluestime). The beauty of The Sacred Shakers (live and on CD) is the easy mix and match of lead vocalists, with Fram taking lead backed up by Jewell's rich harmonies on some numbers, Beek and Jewell joining voices on another, and the pure ring of Glassman or Royer out in front on others - all with some combination of the others' voices not far behind. The choice of songs was an equally democratic process, as Beek puts it, `One of us heard a particular tune, brought it to the band and together we processed it through the Shaker format to come out sounding good and fun.' That approach of putting a contemporary spin on older material follows the recipe Jewell, Beek, Sciascia and Miller took collectively as the Eilen Jewell Band on her internationally acclaimed 2007 label debut, Letters From Sinners & Strangers. Of Jewell's original songs and selection of covers, The Washington Post praised `her knack for giving older songs a traditional feel with modern flair.' And like that debut, The Sacred Shakers is a wonderful distillation of classic folk, country and blues styles delivered by an unforgettable chorus of voices.

This special collection has been out of print for a while now, but we're excited to re-release it as a high-quality digital download. Originally a 2-CD collection, the first disc features favorites songs chosen from our albums release over the past decade up until 2005. The 2nd disc has a dozen rare and previously unreleased performances.

This new collection of rare and previously unreleased recordings from leading New England roots label Signature Sounds marks a special anniversary. Started in 1994 by former radio programmer Jim Olsen and studio engineer Mark Thayer. Features a number of notable artists including Josh Ritter, Crooked Still, Jeffrey Foucault, Parsonsfield, Winterpills, Lake Street Dive and many more!

Chris Smothers cosmic blues are on full display in HUNDRED DOLLAR VALENTINE, a brilliant amalgam made of equal parts past, present and future. HUNDRED DOLLAR VALENTINE, Smothers twelfth studio disc, is a masterwork. It sports the unmistakable sound he's made his trademark: fingerpicked acoustic guitar and evocative sonic textures meshed with spare, brilliant songs, delivered in a bone-wise, hard-won voice.

Sometymes Why first came to be in the dark, quiet corners of the string band renaissance. Fans of each other's respective bands, Andreassen, Merenda, and O'Donovan had performed together in various contexts, both formal and informal, for years. "In 2004," Andreassen recalls, "we went to an afterparty in Brooklyn. I sang 'The Seasick Dawn,' and those two harmonized. It sounded too dreamy to not want to do it again." "We each had a bunch of songs that didn't work with our own bands," Merenda adds, "but they worked together. It became apparent to me that this is where I am most comfortable is singing songs from a female perspective or that are very confessional. That's what makes a Sometymes Why song for me." They were songs that fell through the cracks - long forgotten, ignored, or locked away in some special place for a later use that may never come. These songs finally emerged as the basis of something new in 2004, when Kristin Andreassen (Uncle Earl), Ruth Ungar Merenda (the Mammals), and Aoife O'Donovan (Crooked Still) decided to begin performing together. By some unagreed-upon combination of coincidence, design, and accident - the trio took those secret songs and, via an arresting DIY debut album and a series of riveting live performances, gave birth to an underground sensation they called Sometymes Why. Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine, to be released by Signature Sounds on March 10, 2009, is the second Sometymes Why album. Produced by José Ayerve (Winterpills, Spouse), Glorious Machine finds Sometymes Why taking a step out of the shadows, while continuing to nurture the languorous, luminously intimate pop that first inspired them to pursue their collaboration more intently. As implied by the title (named for a line in O'Donovan's haunting "Glorious Machine"), Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine resonates with a weathered elegance. Sometymes Why's vein of richly personal, slow-motion pop is enriched by new sonic elements (electric guitar, Hammond organ, unusual reverbs and echoes, the clatter of the belfry noisemakers) and by more visceral songs such as Merenda's sly "Aphrodisiaholic" and Andreassen's ingenious "The Stupid Kiss." Every moment of Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine is underpinned and illuminated by the palpable warmth and camaraderie of the trio. "It is amazing to be a part of a band that includes two of my closest girl friends," O'Donovan concludes. "It feels like a sisterhood, a club. It's very cathartic to be singing these original songs that have so much weight in all of our lives, and not to be singing them alone - to sing them together."

Vinyl LP pressing. In the Summer of '18, Twisted Pine [praised by NPR for "upbeat, poppy vibe; energetic, driving rhythms; virtuosic solos... and tight harmonies"] released Dreams, a deft reimagining of the band's pop, rock, and disco favorites, from Joni Mitchell to Vulfpeck, Scissor Sisters to The Cranberries. Pop Matters raved: "Four musicians from various parts of the country found a common bond in Boston as Twisted Pine, and take on some heavy hitters as they release a seven-song EP full of spark, light, and irresistible force... wildly innovative covers."

Winterpills' fifth album, All My Lovely Goners, is a long-simmered (three years) collection of multifaceted indie-pop ruminations on love and death that run the sonic gamut from Shins-ish rock, Fleetwood Mac-ish-shimmer, to Sandy Denny-ish melancholia. Engineered and produced by the band themselves in their studio, the album is as close to home as you can get.

While their full band was busy raising kids and committed to various day jobs, Flora Reed and Philip Price of Winterpills decided it would be fun to quickly record some of their favorite cover songs while the tape rolled. But what began as a small casual project morphed into an orchestrated, introspective transformation of a few well-known songs and quite a lot of under-appreciated gems: songs by Sharon Van Etten, Buddy Holly, Lisa Germano, the Go-Betweens, XTC, Beck, the Beatles, and more get the treatment of filtering through the alchemy of Flora and Philip s vocal & instrumental chemistry experiment.

Winterpills first unknowingly convened in a room with no furniture, on a shiny, bare wood floor, in front of a large bay window, during a harsh recent winter, in a small New England town. The good cheap magnums of wine were in season, as were guitars, and friends in need, some typically dire. Out the bay window, the snow flurried past the yellow streetlights on a treeless street called Orchard. Philip lay on the floor, looked up and saw his friend Flora, and later, to her left, his friend Dennis. It was time to play anything they wanted, and play they did, often not stopping until the sun came up. The catalogs of the Beatles, Throwing Muses, Neil Young, Stephen Merritt, the Carter Family, Elliott Smith, and others were all explored with no other thoughts than the friends, the wine, and the snow, eyes closed. Stealthily and casually, a sleeping body of Philip's songs began creeping into the mix. Very late one night, Dave Hower appeared at the door and joined the others, completing a sound the four knew and understood. They touched the songs very lightly, as if pushing them too hard might cause them to disappear. Dennis' guitar echoed the notes beneath each passage. Philip and Flora's voices together made a third, new, unheard voice. Dave's subtle and swirling beats pulled the shapes of the songs like taffy into sweeter, brighter forms that stayed light and yet lived well in the dark and the cold. Much like the improbable bumblebee, a beautiful new band formed and chose to fly. With their debut, Winterpills deliver an album that marks the arrival of a quietly stunning new band. Philip's transcendent melodies have never sounded more compelling or been performed with such reverence. Showcasing intimate male female vocals, haunting electric guitar, and bold inventive drumming, the album captures the sound of a band that has discovered a rare alignment of musicianship. From the straight-ahead pop of 'Threshing Machine,' to the hushed show-stopping beauty of 'Want the Want,' Winterpills and producer Jose Ayerve, have created a heartbreakingly expressive record. Winterpills will not tame you. Winterpills may hurt you. Do not let Winterpills crumble in your fingers. Do not wash off afterwards.