Three new Americana singer songwriter tracks that add texture and nuance to this timeless genre

Elise LeBlanc – “Lavender Honey”
-I adore a good toe-tapping love song. There’s a spirited two-step rhythm that keeps this track moving, which encourages the listener to take a spin on the dancefloor. It’s got vintage honky tonk energy right from the start. The catchy phrase, “lavender honey” feels like it could be from an old 1940s record. The everyday imagery of finding your partner in ordinary places like the cereal aisle really brings the narrative to life. Everything from the easy going vocal to the fiddle work all feels like a vintage and accessible tune. Give this one a spin for your special one; it’s a sweet tune.

Charlie Pike – “Vanilla”
-This voice stops me in my tracks. I don’t say that often, but the understated expression here really makes the listener lean in pay attention. I often tell people that we feature “narrative” music and this is exactly what I mean. With each line, my mind pictures the scene like I’m reading a novel… even though it’s in song form. Pike writes with this careful, almost poetic precision with each word adding just the right amount of detail to the scene. The uncertainty in the core line, “where are you I can’t be sure” comes across as deeply sincere. I agree that this is an Americana track (more than formulaic country); it’s the kind of tune I’d love to play for Prine and Kristofferson, just sitting around tapping our toes to the narrative and feeling what we feel. It conjures the greats… and Pike is well on his way to making his own path in this songwriting world.

Katie Buchanan – “Mother Tongue”
-Listen… when I say, “stop it!” to Katie Buchanan, I am actually saying, “whatever you do, DON’T stop!” This is one of those songs that brings out all sorts of emotions for me… and I’m not sure I even have words for all of them. But when I shake my head with “this is so good” energy, it’s a message of joy and delight. Buchanan has an incredible vocal (that I’ve featured here in the past), but this song really conveys a songwriting gravitas that carries through the track well. I have my personal interpretation of the lyrics (a bit of a reclamation project, conjuring some therapy style themes of self actualization), but I’ll never know exactly what it’s about. What I can say is that it feels like it’s manifesting a great deal of what I’ve been going through personally and anytime art does that for me I feel the “good kind of tingles” up my spine. I get that with this song and am so glad that Katie Buchanan decided to create this effervescent production.