Three new Americana tracks that will get your weekend playlist going

Grant Malloy Smith – “Tear Trail”
-For those of you that know my other life as an educator, you might know that I’m a historian. So when a song like this comes across my desk, I’m immediately interested in the message that it’s going to share. The first-person perspective of someone who experienced the Trail of Tears as an observer makes this track stand out like literally nothing I’ve ever heard before. While it has some wonderful traditional red dirt and Americana stylings to it, it’s the gritty, visceral lyrics that make this one stand out from the crowd. If you’ve ever wondered about the indigenous experience in North America and you’re not familiar with the story of the Trail of Tears, I recommend that you listen to this song and then read a bit about what happened to the Cherokee people and their forced move west. Thank you for considering this track.

Tony Kamel & Kym Warner – “That Guy”
-I have to say, I think that the term haunting can be overused in Americana descriptions, but this new track, “That Guy,” is certainly a song that has elements of mystery in the way that the mandolin carries the track, especially the solo. The heartfelt vocals convey a message of someone who seems lost or out of place. It’s an everyman’s story of being in this great big world and feeling somewhat alone. I appreciate that it’s a side of bluegrass that we don’t often hear in mainstream culture. Not every bluegrass song has to be about a home in Kentucky or the gospel itself. This is a heartbreaking story of alienation and distance, and the construction of the melody echoes that isolation and concern. I hope that people will give it a chance because you’ll listen to thousands of Americana songs before you’ll hear anything quite like this one again.

Margo Cilker – “Molly and Me”
-This is a story of a friendship. In the true tradition of Americana storytelling music, the listener is drawn into the relationship between the main character and Molly. There’s some central tragedy in the narrative that gives it a haunting, melancholy vibe. But there’s also this bouncy optimism in some aspects of the folksy instrumentation that makes the listener recognize that even with the pain that’s at the center of their relationship, the characters wouldn’t have it any other way. That they have to go through what they’re going through to have that thick-as-thieves friendship make sense. One of the things I’ve always loved about Americana, as opposed to traditional pop country music, is this visceral, real storytelling. Even if you don’t know the characters in this story, you probably know a Molly. You’ve probably been in a break room and saw someone collapse under tragic news. And if you can relate to their deeply human story in this song, then the art has been meaningful. It has conveyed a deeply human experience that can move all of us. This is not just another Americana track. This is a piece of artwork, and I’m so glad to be able to share it with you today.