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- [00:00]
NPR Sponsor Announcer
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- [00:19]
Hazel Sills
A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language.
- [00:23]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Oh, boy.
- [00:28]
Stephen Thompson
Happy Friday, everyone. From NPR Music. It's NEW Music Friday. I am Stephen Thompson. We are gonna do the show a tiny bit differently this week. We're gonna split it into two parts with two very special guests. Later in today's episode, we're gonna have a conversation with Jesse Scott from wmot, a station serving Nashville and middle Tennessee. We're gonna talk about a little rush of new releases in the Americana world. But first up, my NPR Music colleague Hazel Sills is here. And we are going to talk bangers, big pop and power pop records that are out today, August 29, that we are extraordinarily excited about. Hazel, welcome to the show.
- [01:11]
Hazel Sills
Thank you for having me.
- [01:13]
Stephen Thompson
It is a pleasure. So the first record that you and I wanted to talk about is Man's Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter, a huge pop star, had, you know, one of the biggest breakthroughs of last year, you know, with a string of hits like Espresso and Please, Please and Taste. And she's already back with a new.
- [01:33]
Hazel Sills
Record, which is crazy to me. Crazy to me to put out two albums back to back over the course of two years. But I feel like she's just kind of trying to ride that same high of last year and piggyback on that success. And it is kind of smart.
- [01:47]
Stephen Thompson
It stands to be mentioned this used to be commonplace. You know, a lot of, you know, legacy artists who were kind of around for the early days of pop and rock and roll were putting out, you know, multiple albums a year. But in this particular landscape, a quick cycle is usually two years.
- [02:04]
Hazel Sills
Yeah. I'm extremely excited to see what she does on this album because I think you and I were both big fans of, you know, last year's album Short and Sweet, which I thought was just so irresistibly funny, like just came out of the gate and was such an incredibly funny pop singer and songwriter. And I'm curious to hear what she's going to be doing on this album.
- [02:25]
Stephen Thompson
And this is where I should note, we did not get advance copies of Man's Best Friend. We, like the rest of the world, have only heard the song Man Child, you know, which is the first single of this record, dropped a couple months ago. It hit number one on The Billboard charts. And it has, among other things, a very, very, very. You mentioned the word funny.
- [02:43]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
A very funny.
- [03:04]
Hazel Sills
You know, she's doing what she does best on that song, which is just kind of like ragging on annoying dudes, making fun of boys who do her wrong. It's a shtick that she's kind of mastered and I haven't gotten enough of it.
- [03:16]
Stephen Thompson
Exactly. And I think, you know, first of all, bad boyfriends are a self renewing resource. The world will never run out of bad boyfriends.
- [03:26]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
My boys playing hard to get and I like my men all in competition and I swear they choose me. I'm not choosing them. Amen. Amen.
- [03:40]
Hazel Sills
Sabrina Carpenter, obviously not a star for everyone, but I just think what she's doing, this kind of like ditzy, Goldie Hawn, Lucille Ball type, like, comedic act in her music is very charming.
- [03:54]
Stephen Thompson
Absolutely. And, you know, it's worth noting, like she comes from this kind of child star system that has sprung up where you have these artists, you know, people like Olivia Rodrigo and Miley Cyrus who have come up in kind of a child star system where they've been gearing up for this moment of adulthood since they were practically babies. And one way that that system has worked really well is a lot of these artists come with a certain amount of comedic chops. They have been training not only as singers, as dancers, as actors, but they've also honed their comic timing. And that's something that really comes through in manchild and that I'm really hoping to hear throughout this record.
- [04:35]
Hazel Sills
I think that Sabrina Carpenter knows what she's doing. I think she wants to make you laugh. I think she's maybe gonna do it in like cheeky kind of uncomfortable ways. But she just, as she loves to like toy with the himbos in her music, I think she's also toying with us as listeners.
- [04:52]
Stephen Thompson
God bless her, that is Sabrina Carpenter. Her new album is called Man's Best Friend. We're gonna have more coverage of this record on NPR Music as the days and weeks unfold. Next up, I'm telling you right now, Hazel, one of my favorite albums of the year, it is the Beaches. The Beaches new album is called no Hard Feelings.
- [05:26]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
In the night Light. On the back playing a spiral eyes control. Don't do that. Don't do that. Do, do it. Whatever you're thinking, Jordan, just don't, don't say it. Just do, don't say it. Whatever you're thinking. I hate your boyfriends. I hate your girlfriends. I hate your boyfriends. Girlfriends I hate your friends I hate.
- [06:00]
Stephen Thompson
So the Beaches are a rock band from Toronto. They've been around for hours, actually more than a decade. This is only their third album. Their last record from 2023 was called Blame My Ex. It was in my year end top 10. It had this absolutely magical single called Blame Brett, which is just one of my favorite songs of the last few years. Talk about songs pummeling bad boyfriends. This is one that does it in such funny, witty, catchy ways. Perfect counterpart kind of to what we're talking about with Sabrina Carpenter. But as a full on rock band with kind of power pop arrangements, a flair for new wave and post punk music that kind of seeps into these songs with big, catchy, catchy kind of cars, like hooks. This new record, no Hard Feelings, is kind of picking up where that left off with a lot more of a focus on queer relationships. But don't worry, those relationships are just as doomed.
- [06:55]
Hazel Sills
Yeah, I was gonna say, like, I feel like lead singer Jordan Miller, like, it's not just jabs at bad boyfriends. It's jabs at bad, bad girlfriends. It's jabs at everyone. There's such a sense on this album of like not biting one's tongue, like saying exactly what you want to say in your music in a way that just feels so. I feel free even just listening to it. Like, I wish I could aspire to this level of like candidness on the music. Like, there's even a song called, you know, did I say Too Much? Where, you know, it's kind of inspired by a member in the band, you know, who was having a relationship with. With a closeted woman. And the kind of band is like coming together and sort of screaming at this person and like kind of, you know, getting things off their chest. And I think it's such a good example of like, you know, the tone of this album and that sort of like. Well, I'm just gonna say exactly what's on my mind.
- [07:47]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
You led us right to this place you kept me around just to wait Cause you got your reasons yeah, you and your secrets Was that just a change of you Caus we could never please you to make you break up with your boyfriend Did I just forgot I really thought this time I found someone why did I speak too soon? So real to me girl is it real for you?
- [08:34]
Stephen Thompson
It's interesting kind of reading about the making of this record and kind of the changes that the band implemented in the making of this record. One of the things that really jumped out at Me is that when they talked about the album Blame My Ex. That album is very centered on Jordan Miller's relationships. This record. Oh. The guitarist, Kylie Miller gets to write about her breakup, and the Drummer, Eliza Edmund McDaniel gets to write about her breakup. Leandra Earle has a song on this record called Lesbian of the Year. You know, that's kind of about kind of coming out and coming to terms with that and still being yourself and finding, you know, that the relationships are just as messy and complicated as they were before.
- [09:11]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Can't be a gold star Cause I just got this far I can't hold your secrets Got my own to deal with mom thinks I'll find a man.
- [09:33]
Hazel Sills
I feel like people or like, you know, fans of rock music get very existential about, like, the state of the rock band or, like, the state of the band in general. And, you know, listening to no Hard Feelings, they feel like a true rock band who, like, knows how to have fun. And there's kind of, like, a sense of, like, messiness and, like, filth to this music that I feel like. Like, I don't know, like, they, you know, they're singing about, like, you know, that they're the last girls at the party. And there's, you know, a song on this album is so good where they're kind of, like, counting down how long they're at the party. They're like, well, it's only 2:00am Right? Well, it's only 8:00am Right. And they're just not leaving because they're having such a good time. And it reminded me of bands like Wetleg and, like, bands like Lambrini Girls. I feel like we're getting, you know, this wave of, you know, rock bands that are just, like. You really feel like they could just, like, smash a guitar against an amplifier or something. Like, they know how to have fun.
- [10:32]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Turning love no hard feelings we're not leaving While you're sleeping we're not leaving Gonna be the last girls at the party Gonna be the last girls at the party Gonna be the last girls at the party Gonna be the last.
- [10:54]
Stephen Thompson
Girls well, and Last Girls at the Party is such a great example of just, like, a true anthem about a specific having a specific type of experience. So that song feels totally universal but very specific at the same time. And to me, like, you know, you mentioned with Sabrina Carpenter, the song of the Summer and how. Where are all our big frothy summertime pop bangers? To me, I'm like, why wasn't this record released on, like, Memorial Day weekend instead of Labor Day weekend. Because people should have had this album queued up all summer long.
- [11:31]
Hazel Sills
They just finished partying. That's why they had to wait. They had to wait until they were personally done partying to put the song in. And by that point we were all done partying.
- [11:39]
Stephen Thompson
Exactly. Well, we'll just party into the fall. That is the Beaches. Their new album is called no Hard Feelings. Hey, guess what? We have another awesome power pop record by a band with a similar name. The Beths have a new album called Straight Line Was a Lie.
- [11:56]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
I thought I was getting better But I'm back to where I started and a straight line was a circle yeah, the straight line was a line I thought I was getting better But I'm back to where I started and the straight line was a circle and a.
- [12:19]
Stephen Thompson
Straight line was a line so the Beths are a kind of power pop band from New Zealand. Like the Beaches, they've been around for more than a decade, put out a string of really terrific records in the last few years. They had an album in 2018 called Future Me Hates Me that certainly put them on my radar. And ever since, they've just kind of churned out these kind of consistently charming, super catchy records that like this new record, really split the difference between massive kind of radio friendly anthems and songs that are slower and more reflective, but that still manage to convey just as much electricity and energy, even at a slower pace.
- [13:02]
Hazel Sills
I was really struck reading about the making of this album and, you know, singer, songwriter Elizabeth Stokes, you know, being kind of open about starting new medication and SSRI and that sort of like altering her abilities as a songwriter and sort of made her rethink her creative impulses. And I really felt listening to this album that I was getting a lot of music from a band that was kind of figuring out new forms of creativity or like not sort of leaning on the impulses that they have been leaning on for their past records. Like I think that song, the opening track, Straight Line Was a Lie is such a good example of that, you know, where it's like this sort of process and the path that you thought that you knew can still surprise you. And, you know, finding freedom and going down those new pathways and figuring out like how to make music together as a songwriter, how to make music music together as a band.
- [13:57]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah. And that, that first track is just such a mission statement out of the gate. It's so catchy, it's so brash. You know, the experience of listening to this record was really interesting. You know, my family Maintains a playlist. You know, we have it on Spotify. It's called Katie is in the Car. And so it's our collection of big, super catchy pop, hip hop, R and B songs that are just like enjoyable on a road trip that will make a road trip fly by. And about two and a half minutes into this song, there's just a voice calling down from upstairs. Put this on the playlist. Who is this? And that's kind of how I was feeling kind of in the first few minutes of this record as well. Like this goes directly on the Katy Is in the Car playlist. It's so catchy. But almost immediately the band kind of cools down. You know, the second track on this record is called Mosquitoes and it's a much more reflective kind of mid tempo ballad. There's a softness to it, there's an intimacy to it. It's not like the Beaches record where it's like hitting you over the head in the best way. They're taking a moment and kind of pulling back and giving you softer sounds that fit seamlessly within these bigger, catchier, sparklier arrangements.
- [15:17]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Boy, it fell Kept on falling.
- [15:25]
Stephen Thompson
Biting.
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Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Down, carving rock, slow erosion.
- [15:32]
Hazel Sills
Softer sounds and also like softer lyricism. Or there's just like real moments on this album that felt very kind of like tender and like intimate to me. Like I. I really love a song on this album called Metal I thought was particularly beautiful. And there's a line on it that again, I think I was connecting to this idea of being in a band, but also just sort of like opening up new pathways for yourself, you know, where Stokes sings, I know I'm a collaboration. Bacteria, carbon and light. And there's something very freeing to me about saying something like that where it's like at the end of the day, like you're just a human in process. Like even on a cellular level. Just little moments like that where I was like, man, this is a beautifully written record.
- [16:19]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
So you turn the water into steam to push up the track so you burn the finesse in your chest to anticipate that so you wear the color in your cheek the proof of the stripe so you need the middle in your blood to keep you alive Keep you alive, keep you alive.
- [16:55]
Stephen Thompson
That is the Beths. Their new album is called Straight Line Was a Lie. Hazel Sils, thank you so much for joining me.
- [17:03]
Hazel Sills
It is always a pleasure.
- [17:04]
Stephen Thompson
We will be back in a moment with Jesse Scott from WMOT in Nashville to talk about some more of the great albums out today, August 29th. But first, let's take a quick break.
- [17:22]
NPR Sponsor Announcer
This message comes from NPR sponsor Hulu. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox. In 2007, Amanda Knox was halfway around the world studying abroad in Italy. She had no idea that her dream would turn into a nightmare inspired by the actual events of her wrongful conviction and 15 year fight for freedom. Watch the Hulu original series, the Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundled subscribers. Terms apply. This message comes from Schwab at Schwab. How you invest is your choice, not theirs. That's why when it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices. You can invest and trade on your own, plus get advice and more comprehensive wealth solutions to help meet your unique needs. With award winning service, low costs and transparent advice, you can manage your wealth your way at Schwab. Visit schwab.com to learn more. This message comes from NPR sponsor Rosetta Stone, an expert in language learning for 30 years. Right now, NPR listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership to 25 different languages for 50% off. Learn more at rosettastone.com NPR this message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com Ts and Cs apply from NPR Music.
- [18:55]
Stephen Thompson
It's NEW MUSIC Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here now with Jesse Scott from WMOT in Nashville. Welcome to the show, Jesse.
- [19:03]
Jesse Scott
It's so good to be here. Thank you for ask.
- [19:05]
Stephen Thompson
It is a pleasure to have you. Well, I wanted to have you on to talk about two things. One is the extraordinary flood of great new Americana Music out today, August 29th. And two, we wanted to talk about Americana Fest, which is coming up in less than two weeks and which you are a big part of.
- [19:26]
Jesse Scott
Yes, we are. And it's such a wonderful thing to have Nashville kind of be the mecca for Americana. It's been going on for 25 years now and we have seen an enormous growth in the artist population here. It's such a wonderful thing to be on a perch overlooking because it's amazing what people are putting out.
- [19:52]
Stephen Thompson
Well, tell me about some of the artists who are playing.
- [19:55]
Jesse Scott
So we do the Americana Fest Day stage in conjunction with World Cafe and NPR Music. I'll just tell you one day. This is Wednesday, September 10th. We are there for six hours with I'm with her, Vicki Peterson and John Kausil, Tiff Merritt, Robert Randolph Clay Street Unit and Seth Walker. That's just day one.
- [20:18]
Stephen Thompson
I'm glad you corrected me. You know, when I said you've got a lot going on or you're doing a lot with AmericanaFest, and you were like, well, we are. NPR Music will have a live stream of americana fe@nprmusic.org you can find that, you know, just by keeping your hand just hovering over our webpage at all times. But I am not a part of it because I will be sitting in a closet in Silver Spring, Maryland, just like I always am every single day of my life.
- [20:46]
Jesse Scott
I used to live in Silver Spring, so. Aw, I'm envisioning you.
- [20:52]
Stephen Thompson
You can just imagine the overall vibe.
- [20:54]
Jesse Scott
Yeah.
- [20:56]
Stephen Thompson
Well, we've got a bunch of great records we want to talk about, starting with Margo Price. Margo Price's album is called Hard Headed Woman.
- [21:05]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Don't let the bastards get you down don't sell your heart to no business Sell it back next time around don't let the bastards get you down There's a new town coming my way home this never ending highway I miss my baby's birthday Feeling sorry in the worst way it seems I'm always losing for another life I'm choosing that make you cross distance till you lose your own existence don't let the bastards get you down don't let them sell your heart.
- [21:47]
Jesse Scott
And steal don't let the bastards get you down. Margot Price from her Hard Headed Woman. It is her fifth studio album. It was recorded at the legendary RCA Studio A with producer Matt Ross. Bang. She reunited with him for this one. He produced her first two records, Midwest Farmer's Daughter and All American Made.
- [22:14]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah, you know, Margot Price has been, has been floating around for a while now and always kind of straddling that center line between kind of folk and Americana and more mainstream country. I love the way this record finds her doing that and also making room for swaggering bluesy rock. You know, don't let the bastards get you down is kind of a great example of that. And I love, as I was kind of scanning, you know, the backstory on that song, that Kris Kristofferson has a songwriting credit on it. You know, Kris Kristofferson has since passed, but he kind of famously whispered to Sinead o' Connor as she was getting booed at a concert, he kind of whispered to her, don't let the bastards get you down because of the controversies that she was embroiled in. And so you have this kind of spiritual nod in the form of a songwriting credit to Kris Kristofferson. And you get a sense, as you start to piece that sort of thing together, who's really inspiring Margot Price on this record.
- [23:16]
Jesse Scott
Well, the other part of that title, too, is credited to Margaret Atwood, and it really tells you some of who Margot is. I think in a really large way, she's keeping an outlaw country tradition alive.
- [23:31]
Stephen Thompson
Yes.
- [23:31]
Jesse Scott
And she's really motivated by mission. Her mission with the music is to be true to herself, which I think she comes back to with this record. She keeps her own counsel. Don't let the bastards get you down.
- [23:53]
Stephen Thompson
She's also not for nothing. She is extraordinarily quotable. You know, in the song that we just played, there's this line, all the cocaine in existence couldn't keep your nose out of my business. It's a great line. And, you know, and I was jotting down lyrics over the course of listening to this record a second and third time. And. And, you know, whether she's performing her own music or, you know, performing songs written by friends and colleagues and people she respects, that quotability really remains. There's a track on the album called Kissing youg Goodbye that is written by Jesse Coulter, who, you know, in addition to being a terrific talent in her own right, is Waylon Jennings, widow. And, you know, kissing you goodbye in the chorus is get your tongue out of my mouth I'm kissing you goodbye. And that is such. That is just such a terrifically funny, kind of classic, old school country bit of wordplay that just delighted me throughout this record.
- [25:01]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
It's your time to move. You find a suitcase on the porch and a taxi in the drive. Just get your tongue out of my mouth I'm kissing you goodbye.
- [25:18]
Jesse Scott
And, you know, she produced Jesse Quilter's most recent record. I got to see Jesse open for her at the Rhyme. And that show was. You felt the legacy, you know, you felt the baton pass. It was so cool. And I was so happy that she honored Jessie by bringing her on stage.
- [25:36]
Stephen Thompson
Well, and I also appreciate the fact that not only does she represent kind of a piece of connective tissue between the past and the present, she's also shining a light on current people that she wants to reach a wider audience. There's a terrific song on the album called Love Me like youe Used to do, which is a duet with Tyler Childers. And as I was listening to it, I was like, is this a cover? I was like, this isn't Tanya Tucker's Love Me Like. No, it's a different song. I couldn't Place the song. And I was going back and, like, looking it up, and it turns out it's just. It's by her friend. I'm not 100% sure how to pronounce his name. I grew up in Wisconsin, and this was always pronounced Knudson. But Steven Knudson wrote the song, and he's just her friend, a Nashville songwriter that she wanted to shine a light on, but it felt like it was a classic from 40 or more years ago.
- [26:26]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
We'll use all our own lines. Don't I know you from somewhere? We'll pretend we're with somebody new. Call us taxi. Pull me into the backseat and love me you used to do Whoa, love me you used to do.
- [26:59]
Stephen Thompson
That is Margo Price. Her new album is called Hard Headed Woman. Next up, talk about your country lifers. Rodney Crowell has a new record. It's called Airline Highway.
- [27:11]
Musical Interludes / Song Vocals
The days fly by me like dragons Oil fires and car tire smoke Helicopter search lights through my window these midnight mean streets ain't no joke Listening to the sirens wail Counting sheep to no avail Traffic jammed.
- [27:54]
Jesse Scott
Highway 61 is Airline highway, and it's the southernmost part of Highway 61 as it leaves Mississippi, going down further into the Delta. And this album, Tyler Bryant produced it. He and Rodney took equipment down into the field to make this record, which I just think is such a great visual for what it is. And on this record especially, he talks about finally being able to live in the moment of it and be in the joy of the music and not be thinking about where it's going or who or what is next, but just be in it for this moment.
- [28:34]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah, this record really feels lived in and personal in such a beautiful and compelling way. You know, I first heard Rodney Crowell in the late 1980s when I was a stock boy at a grocery store. And I've told this story on this show probably a few times. You know, that, you know, I was a teenager in rural Wisconsin and I thought I was too cool for country music. But then, like, a song would get its hooks in me, and then another song would get its hooks in me, and then I would like, who's Lyle Lovett? This guy's amazing. You know, who's Patti Loveless? And why is this the best song I've ever heard? You know, this. This experience of, like, having my teenage snobbery punctured by the undeniable grace and beauty and just all around fantasticness of all this country music that was getting played in the late 1980s, and you and I were talking you know, off mic, before we started recording about Keith Whitley, and just like, what a gem Keith Whitley was. Rodney Crowell was a big part of that country music universe of the late 80s where country hadn't had its, like, 90s kind of mega revival with Garth Brooks. It was kind of languishing in the grander scheme of popular music. But basically that gave the artists who were working in country license to experiment, license to incorporate folk music, incorporate, you know, Southern rock the way like Steve Earle did. It was a really fertile time for music, and Rodney Crowell was a huge part of that. And ever since, he has continued to be just like one of the great songwriting masters of country and Americana.
- [30:15]
Jesse Scott
Since you brought up Steve Earle, he calls that era the great country gets integrity scare. There were all kinds of people that got signed back then, including Lyle, including Nancy Griffith, including Rodney Lang. Yes. And for a moment, we thought everything was going to be okay.
- [30:40]
Musical Interludes / Song Vocals
It's an unusual morning. Great clouds rolling in a red letter warning. There's menace in the wind. You can't change the weather, can't change your luck, can't live forever, you can't pass the buck.
- [31:14]
Stephen Thompson
There's a track on this album called simple and then Parentheses. You wouldn't call it simple. And it's a. It's a mission statement. It's kind of spoken word in the verses, and then it kind of, you know, has, you know, sung choruses. And I was struck, listening to it, how much of a spiritual connection that song has between Rodney Crowell and his late former father in law, Johnny Cash, and how kind of the approach he takes. The structure of the song feels like a Cash song. Even though they have very different voices, it felt like generations speaking to each other.
- [31:50]
Jesse Scott
And, you know, Johnny very much had that political piece. He was very aware of working men and women's troubles, and his music really spoke to that. And I see Rodney continuing that legacy as well, where he always injects some real life into it.
- [32:11]
Stephen Thompson
Well, and there are also. There are straight up protest songs on this record. There's a song called Heaven, can you help? That has that kind of rousing what is going on with the state of the world type of song. He's somebody who is writing songs about the world around him and finding opportunities to speak up for, as you said, sort of the downtrodden.
- [32:34]
Musical Interludes / Song Vocals
Each has somewhere out of reach. It's hard to make much sense of where we are. The system's run amok. We no doubt pushed our luck beyond what once would pass for much too far. Heaven can you help us. I ain't sending up this prayer. And if you're still out there somewhere, let us know.
- [33:15]
Jesse Scott
It's an incredible legacy of music. He's come to play for us so many times, and my audience here, every time he's in the room, it just becomes an extra special night. He brings so much grace and grit and we have so much gratitude, you know, for everything that he's done, all that he's brought through the years.
- [33:38]
Stephen Thompson
Well, and I find that he manages to be quotable and interesting as a songwriter, even when he's just like writing about women. There's a song called Sometime Thang, and it's kind of this portrait of a woman that he has an eye for. And it's got this line, she's a wildwood flower in a red Corvette. Tanya Tucker meets Cate Blanchett. And I just love that. Like, first of all, if you're 75 and writing a song about a crush, you're not writing about a 19 year old. You're writing about someone who reminds you of a cross between Tanya Tucker and Cate Blanchett. Some Kind of Woman kind of follows in that same tradition. It's a portrait of a crush. It's a grown up crush.
- [34:16]
Jesse Scott
He's very much in love, which I am so happy for him to have found that in his life. And I think that it really informs him. And I think that's where those songs came from.
- [34:29]
Musical Interludes / Song Vocals
You can try to make it thunder. You can try to stop the rain. You don't believe in making love to a suntime thing. Sometime thing. Sometime things. You don't believe in making love to a sometime thing.
- [34:43]
Stephen Thompson
That's Rodney Crowell. His new album is called Airline Highway. We've got one more record we want to talk about in depth, as well as a lightning round of just some of the other great records out today, August 29th. But first, let's take a quick break.
- [35:07]
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- [35:43]
Stephen Thompson
From NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Jesse Scott from WMOT in Nashville. Before we get to our lightning round of some of the other great records out today, we've got one more record we want to talk about in depth, and it is just gorgeous. It's by a singer songwriter named Anna Tivel. It is called Animal Poem.
- [36:03]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Gold Trombone and broken down the wonder and the violence the wonder and the violence Reaching out to touch someone Just how you learned in childhood Warm milk and dry blood the winter rain Snowing side Some other day find you smiling.
- [36:40]
Stephen Thompson
So Anna Tivel is a folk singer from Portland, Oregon. She's been floating around for more than a decade. I gotta say, to know my wonderful, brilliant colleague Ann Powers is to know that my wonderful, brilliant colleague Ann Power loves the music of Anna Tivel and will tell anyone within earshot to check out this fantastic music. This is Anna Tivel's seventh album. She played a Tiny Desk concert in 2023. I think that was at least partially Ann's doing. And, boy, I gotta say, spending some time with this record, Ann is right on the money. I use the phrase gritty and ethereal to describe some of the music on the new Margo Price record. This is a record that is gritty and ethereal equal measure in ways that the grittiness does not detract from the ethereal nature. The ethereal nature does not detract from the grittiness. It's just gorgeous through and through.
- [37:38]
Jesse Scott
We had her come play our weekly live lunch broadcast finally Friday. This is a couple years ago, and she stopped time. You had to lean in, you know, there was a quiet strength. And this record actually takes it even further with some of the instrumentation on it. I kind of find her in the vein of beat poets. And I just am enthralled with what she does.
- [38:07]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah. And I was interested, kind of learning more about the making of this record, that she and her band recorded it live as like she and her collaborators were kind of gathered in a circle and they just performed it in real time as a conversation, all in the same room. And I expected, you know, based on that description, that it might be something a little shaggier. And yet there just isn't a wrong note here. And every time I came back and listened to this record, I was hooked in by another song. I would have a different favorite song every time I listened to it. There's a track called paradise is in the Mind, which feels really tender and fragile and beautiful. And then a guitar solo. Then a guitar solo kind of kicks in around the three and a Half minute mark, and then saxes sweep in. And the song just keeps building and getting grander. But that tenderness, that fragility, that beauty is all still there.
- [39:05]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Oh, my God, I can't find it paradise is in the mind I just know it is but I've been searching for a lifetime.
- [39:33]
Jesse Scott
It's a stream of consciousness of being on one's own. And sometimes when you are in that mode and you open the door to all the thoughts starting to bang around in your brain, you easily can go from the serene to the chaotic. And I think she does that with this instrumentation.
- [39:53]
Stephen Thompson
You know, it's funny, you know, I take. I take notes, you know, as I. As I listen to these albums, kind of to remind myself, you know, points I don't want to miss, Songs I want to make sure I highlight. Sometimes those notes are really useful and sometimes they are just utter useless garbage. As when I wrote down Badlands equals gorgeous. No details, it's just written down. Like, don't forget to mention the Badlands is gorgeous. Very insightful.
- [40:19]
Jesse Scott
Yeah, there you go.
- [40:21]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Driving through the badlands you were talking about time all those strange formations making shadows you followed the purple of the ages and the painted yellow lines A photo never catches what you're after it's further.
- [40:54]
Stephen Thompson
That is Anna Tivel. Her new album is called Animal Poem. Now, as I have alluded to several times, there is a lot of Music out today, August 29th. This is actually the last release date to be considered for the Grammys in 2026. The window for Grammy eligibility closes effectively, like this weekend. So a lot of people were trying to slam a bunch of great music in just under the wire to get considered. So we cannot possibly get to everything, just as we could not possibly get to everything last week. But I'm going to kick us off with Dev Hynes, who's been recording as Blood Orange for more than 15 years now. He's one of the most prolific and inventive collaborators in the business. And speaking of collaborators, his new record is loaded with them. Lorde Caroline Polachek, Mustafa, Brendan Yates from Turnstile, Daniel Seymour, the list goes on. And that list gives you a pretty clear indication that this is an artist who can't be easily pinned down to a single genre. Blood Orange's new album is called Essex Honey.
- [42:13]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Bright Morning, Airplane World, High Fashion Headaches.
- [42:23]
Stephen Thompson
Easter, Seaside.
- [42:30]
Jesse Scott
J. Lee Roberts has a new album. It's called Let Me Be Lonely. She is the IBMA International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, and she has a rich history in Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Her father Danny Roberts is one of the Graskills. Byron House produced this record. He is a legacy bassist in town he year and it has a great bluegrass sensibility, old school country sensibility. Well recommended. Lovely voice. Jaylee Roberts. Let me be lonely so if you're.
- [43:20]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Gonna leave, just leave and let me be lonely.
- [43:32]
Stephen Thompson
The great pianist Brad Meldow has a new album that celebrates the music of Elliot Smith. Now, Brad Meldow is not the first musician to release a set of piano based Elliot Smith covers. Christopher O'Reilly had one almost two decades ago. But this one is jazzy and inventive in fresh and exciting ways. It's not only got 10 songs by Elliott Smith, but also a handful of originals inspired by Smith. It's got guests like Chris Thiele all over it and covers of classics by Nick Drake and Big Star to round out the set. The whole thing is just lovely. Brad Meldow's new album is called Ride into the Sun.
- [44:37]
Jesse Scott
Kira Mary Alice Thompson is better known as cmat. She was born in Dublin, moved to Manchester, England to pursue a career in music and has issued the Euro country album today. It's got an extra bit of pop, but her voice recalls the country crooning women going all the way back to Patsy Cline. I am particularly engaged with the title track, Euro country.
- [45:24]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Make me all in waves, yeah.
- [45:33]
Stephen Thompson
Finally, the Nigerian singer songwriter Tiwa Savage is back with her first full length album in five years. Tiwa Savage's music mixes R and B with afrobeat and pop and hip hop. The songs that she sings are, you know, are incorporating three different languages including English. She's been a frequent guest and songwriter on other people's records, everyone from Nas to Coldplay, but her own music kind of bursts with unique charisma. Tiwa Savage's new album is titled this one is Personal.
- [46:16]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Champagne with a little fun. Yeah show me what you.
- [46:25]
Stephen Thompson
Now Jesse, I am about to give you an impossible task. You listen to a lot of music to prepare for this conversation. How do you pick one song as your favorite?
- [46:35]
Jesse Scott
It's really, really, really hard to pick. Zach Topp, who is an old school modern day country crooner, has a brand new album, Ain't in It for My Health. Check out between the ditches.
- [46:54]
Musical Interludes / Song Vocals
Those curves will sneak up on you late at.
- [46:58]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Night.
- [47:00]
Musical Interludes / Song Vocals
Going wrong comes easy how but ain't that life I've gotta say thank God for friends and four wheel drive Cause I go left sometimes a little.
- [47:20]
Stephen Thompson
Too far right yeah I'm good at.
- [47:24]
Musical Interludes / Song Vocals
Crossing that line and needing me some help. But I'm learning like everybody else this week.
- [47:32]
Stephen Thompson
This task is basically impossible because there are multiple records where I'm gonna go back not only and dwell on one specific song to play over and over again, which is usually kind of how, how I keep reliving these records because I'm always having to listen to new music. But there are several records this year where every time I've gone back and played them in their entirety, I've loved them more and more and more. And that is true of the Beaches record, which is just one of my big summary power pop albums of 2025. But then this Anna Tivel record, every time I go back to it, I love it more and more and more. So how do I pick just one song, Jesse? How do I do it?
- [48:10]
Jesse Scott
You can, you can't. You don't have to.
- [48:12]
Stephen Thompson
That's the good news. You know what? I wrote Gorgeous next to the song Badlands by Anna Tivel, and I'm gonna stick with that. It's just gorgeous. Spend the whole weekend with it. You will be glad that you did.
- [48:24]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
Driving through the badlands you were talking about time all those strange formations making shadows you fall.
- [48:37]
Stephen Thompson
That is our show for this week. Thank you so much, Jesse Scott, for taking time out of your week at WMOT in Tennessee.
- [48:44]
Jesse Scott
Thanks, Stephen.
- [48:45]
Stephen Thompson
If you enjoyed this week's show, we always appreciate a positive review on Apple or Spotify or whatever app you're listening to right now. This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and edited by Otis Hart. The executive producer of NPR Music is Soraya Muhammad. We'll be back next week to discuss new music with Alisa Ali at WFUV in New York. Until then, take a moment, take a moment to be well. Stand at your kitchen window listening to all the great music we just played and treat yourself to lots of great music.
- [49:16]
Jesse Scott
And hydrate and hydrate.
- [49:17]
Stephen Thompson
Always good advice.
- [49:18]
Song Lyrics / Musical Interludes
A thousand birds in startled waves reversing through the sky then emptiness Right after that explosion sweet understand landing the sky is on fire.
- [49:49]
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- [50:09]
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