We are taught to carry and hold onto shame and guilt in our lives; to keep everything bad that happens, all the mistakes we’ve made, to ourselves. To hide ourselves from the world and only show the shiny exterior we’ve created to mask the pain and shame. Jessica Pearson and the East Wind’s new single “Laundry Song” is out today, bringing celtic influences to the surface of the duo’s sound and celebrates traditional sounds of their ancestors and heritage from Ireland and Scotland.
Jessica Pearson is a Canadian born storyteller with a voice like melting honey on a summers eve. Accompanied by Maddy O’Regan on the fiddle, they bring to life tales of the past and express the beauty and heartbreak of the world today.
In 2017 they released their debut EP Grave and Garden Songs to a sold out crowd at LIVE! On Elgin. Playing over 80 shows a year in Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, they have been writing songs and collecting stories from all over the world.
Their music blends folk, roots and East Coast bluegrass to create a unique sound of their own. From a cappella tunes sung in the middle of the audience to recollections of growing up in Canada, Jessica Pearson and the East Wind will take you on a journey with their dynamic live shows and entertaining story telling.
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Today, the Nashville-based producer, songwriter, and acclaimed guitarist Megan McCormick returns with her first new single of 2021 “Upside Down and Backwards” featuring Amanda Fields. The song was written by the duo and was produced by McCormick, who has continued to expand into production over the last few years. This week, McCormick will perform with Allison Russell at the Newport Folk Festival.
“‘Upside Down and Backwards’ was born from a serendipitous moment when an old-timed Christmas record started skipping,” explains McCormick. “The song began stirring and the next thing I knew my partner and I were on a tangent, recording every part, writing lyrics, and building this song around the record skipping sample I’d recorded on my phone. The whole thing was finished in a day, just from us being totally consumed by what seemed to come from outside ourselves. We acted more like conduits. But, the crux of the song is about awakening to love and how we’re willing to reach so deeply and so far for something.”
Megan McCormick is a Nashville, TN-based guitarist, songwriter, producer, and engineer. She’s performed and toured with Jenny Lewis, Connor Oberst, and Haerts, and has produced music by Ryan Culwell, Aubrie Sellers and Cruz Contreras. McCormick is an in-demand and inventive musician, lending support to a variety of performers and songwriters.
“Upside Down and Backwards” follows her 2020 single “Human Condition.” NPR Music said, “Megan McCormick has been known around town for years for her delicate depth and incisiveness on acoustic and electric guitar alike, which keeps her plenty busy backing other performers. In late March, she ended a half-dozen-year gap in output under her own name with the track ‘Human Condition,’ an electronic pop-R&B dreamscape that surrounds her reedy ruminations in fanciful instrumental counterpoint and insinuated groove.” McCormick has a new album in the final stages of production, with plans to release a flow of new music.
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Award-winning music duo HuDost are calling on planet conservation with the release of their pressing new single and mesmerizing new music video, “Beat the Drum Harder.” Led by Montreal, QC artist Moksha Sommer, and Bowling Green, KY artist Jemal Wade Hines, the song is from HuDost’s forthcoming November 2021 album, Anthems of Home.
“The single addresses our disconnection from — and harm of — the planet, and our awakening to the needed return,” the band says. “It is a joyous and celebratory call for us to open our ears and consciousness to the heartbeat of the earth that brings us back to the source.”
For the music video, HuDost was able to partner with esteemed choreographer Rebecca Steinberg and accomplished videographer Sam Boyette. They worked with the WKU Dance Program & WKU Dance Company and involved almost 20 additional dancers. “The creation process was challenging as all preparations were done within the restraints of Covid,” HuDost recalls. “Rehearsals were conducted via zoom, and all preparation was done separately.
“It was only on the day of filming that everyone came together in-person, freshly vaccinated, and delighted to work. That in-person union was a symbolic mirroring of the greater message of the song and video… “Even if we are estranged or isolated from our greater source, the return can and will happen.”
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