Raised in rural Arkansas on a soundtrack of southern gospel, Texas swing, Delta blues, and Ozark bluegrass, Bonnie Montgomery trained as an opera singer before launching her award-winning career in outlaw country. She embraces that diversity with River, a versatile record that shows just how broad Montgomery's vision of American roots music can be. Arriving on the heels of projects like Billy Blythe, her critically-acclaimed opera about Bill Clinton's childhood, and Forever, the 2018 solo record that earned Montgomery the titles of "Best Americana Artist" and "Best Female Vocalist" from the Arkansas County Music Awards, River flows freely from one genre to the next. It's the crystallization of a sound Montgomery has been creating for years, blurring the boundaries between different formats while presenting Montgomery not only as a powerhouse vocalist, but as an autobiographical storyteller and captivating songwriter, too.
Vinyl, CD, Cassette & Digital + some killer label-exclusive merchandise designed by the lovely Whit Hayward. Physical + merch bundle discounts available < here >
Our dear sweet friends at Holler Country premiered the video for "Modern-Day Cowgirl's Dream". The video was directed by Grammy Award winning opera singer Zachary James, an old friend of Bonnie's from her exploits in the world of classical composition and opera.
Here's a little bit of what Joe had to say:
"Trotting into town on a half-time country funk backbeat with a phase-shifted Telecaster tucked firmly in the pocket, her new single ’Modern Day Cowgirl’s Dream’ sounds like Waylon sitting in on a Jeannie C. Riley session, as she recounts her tales of a misspent life well spent out on the road in Texas.
'It’s an outlaw country jam inspired by honky tonkin' around Texas,” Bonnie Montgomery explains. “It's about some wild times in and around Houston and Austin - involving cowboys, neon nights, jumping in the cold springs and crashing at Miss Whitney Rose's house (she also sang on the track) - and waking up just to do it all over again, like a small town cowgirl's dream on repeat.'
The accompanying music video, directed by actor, singer, Broadway-veteran, and GRAMMY-winner Zachary James, begins with an iconic lollipop drop as Bonnie Montgomery does her best Sandy from Grease appearing in the doorway of a local bar backlit like a honky tonk angel sent down from heaven above.
From there on in, it’s just another night out on the road for Bonnie Montgomery. A big gulp of the golden age of country music and getting rowdy with the locals wherever she goes. Any time, any town, anywhere, USA."
Love it! Read the whole thing and watch the video here:
]]>“Hello, Franklin”, the new EP from Austin Cash, is out August 11th. The first single, “Franklin, King of the Beers,” is streaming now and pre-orders for cassette and limited edition lathe cut 10” records are live.
]]>“Hello, Franklin” represents Austin’s first real stab at guitar soli / American Primitive, a style of unaccompanied fingerpicked guitar composition made popular by the legendary John Fahey and continued on by so many others. In Austin’s words, this collection of songs is all about solitude, reflection, and mechanical processing. It’s mesmerizing technicality combined with pure distilled emotion, an accurate translation of late-pandemic life and its conflicted feelings to solo guitar. For those of you who have never dug into he genre, I can comfortably say that “Franklin, King of the Beers” is as good a place to start as any. It’s a beautiful song and we hope you dig it!
Our friends at Holler Country reviewed the track and are premiering the music video now! Check it out here. Here's a little excerpt written by Jof Owens:
"The first taste of Cash's forthcoming Hello, Franklin EP, ‘Franklin, King of the Beers’, is a haunting minimalist instrumental. Written over a long year and recorded in a night, the song translates the nameless experience of late-pandemic life to solo guitar.
Its taut melodic phrasing giving way to a looser jagged drone before it stumbles and begins to collapse in on itself. It’s beautiful in the same way loneliness is. Delicate and overwhelming, like a weighted blanket of sound pressing down on you and holding you perfectly still as it wraps itself around you.
With a sound indebted to John Fahey’s intricate finger-picking style and progenitors of the American Primitive style, Cash joins contemporaries like William Tyler and Hayden Pedigo, in shaking up the world of fingerstyle traditionalism with a refreshingly adventurous, almost punk spirit."
]]>8.02 - Tulsa, OK - Whittier Bar
8.03 - Amarillo, TX - The 806 Coffee + Lounge
8.04 - Santa Fe, NM - Cirque Du So Gay
8.05 - Albuquerque, NM - House Show
8.06 - Silver City, NM - Whiskey Creek Zócalo
8.10- Trinidad, CO - Trinidad Lounge
8.11-12 - Cold Beer, CO - Honky Tonk Hodge Podge VIII
8.13 - Taos, NM - The Stakeout
8.15 - Ridgway, CO - The Sherbino Theater
8.16 - Sailda, CO - A Church
8.17 - Fort Collins, CO - Wolverine Farm
8.18 - Louisville, KY - house show
8.19 - Denver, CO - Swallow Hill
8.20 - Laramie, WY - Ruffed Up Duck Saloon
8.23 - Lincoln, NE - Bonehead Booking
8.24 - Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
8.25 - Kansas City, MO - house show
8.26 - Mountains View, AR - Meadowcreek
8.27 - Fayetteville, AR - Smoke and Barrel
It's time to talk about the new record from Nick Shoulders: "All Bad," coming out September 8th right here on Gar Hole Records! Pre-order is live and you can hear the first single right now.
]]>It's time to talk about the new record from Nick Shoulders: "All Bad," coming out September 8th right here on Gar Hole Records! Pre-order is live and you can hear the first single right now.
PRE-ORDER "ALL BAD" || STREAM "WHOOPED IF YOU WILL"
"Whooped If You Will" is a perfect representation of Nick’s unique brand of chaos country, synthesized from elements of traditional folk, NOLA dancehall culture, and his abiding love of heavy music. A song about our collective grieving in a post-COVID world and the resistance against giving in to complacency and alienation, “Whooped” is a rowdy affair, with a driving 6/8 beat, plunky honkytonk piano courtesy of our bud Sam Doores of the Deslondes, and one of the catchiest yodel hooks of all time.
We made a music video for the track at Nick's house a couple months ago. Check it out! It was directed by Nick and shot and edited by our good friend Nick Futch:
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Flyer by Courtney Werner
]]>
Dearest Listener,
If I wanted to be reductive, I could call this simply a classic breakup/heartbreak album. But like many a self indulgent songwriter might admit, it feels much more than that to me.
It’s equal parts a diary entry, a love letter, and a long winded goodbye to the pieces of myself I tried and failed to give to someone else for safe keeping. Turns out those pieces wanted to just be let go, not Held or Kept! Nor did the someone else ever even really Want them in the first place!
This album is where I just… put it all down. It felt like the only way I could set those pieces free! Of course, in the process I found so many other ways to do that. But in the end, it was by exhuming all of it that I realized what wanted to be buried again, and what wanted to stay out in the light.
Before and in the making of this, I was dealing with the ways in which I chose to grow so long in the shadows of others. Others whose concepts of “goodness”, “badness”, and “reality” mattered to me more than my own. Then I blamed them for it instead of just… gathering my gumption to uproot and grow somewhere different, a more suited environment in which to be my entire self.
Of course it’s more complicated than that, because for so long I chose to stay small that I might be worthy of big Love. “God’s” love, a man’s love, my own love.
And goddamn it man, love can become so cruel, so full of contempt! I’ve been so cruel and full of contempt! It’s taken me so many years to gain any grasp on it- the shame, the responsibility, the pain. It’s always been so hard for me to maintain where I begin and end. What’s mine to mourn? What’s mine to atone for? What’s mine to forgive?
To be totally honest with you, Listener, I still don’t really know! However I do know that this is what “render tender/blunder sunder” means to me.
Sometimes you gently cut apart something until you’ve reached the beautiful, vulnerable essence of the thing. Sometimes you fuck it all up so bad you’ve uprooted it entirely.
I’ve done all of that here, and saved the remnants for y’all to witness. It could be the worst or the best thing I’ve ever made! It could be both at the same time! But it’s no longer mine.
With all that I’ve got,
jud/jude/judith
Another big tour announcement from Nick. Should keep him pretty busy throughout the late summer and early fall. All tickets are on sale now and available through his website: nickshoulders.com/tour
“torch bare / the boss!”, the second single from Jude’s upcoming full-length record, “render tender / blunder sunder” is out now and streaming everywhere. Check it out here!
Jude also made a cool video to go along with the track. In it, two rambling Springsteens realize they aren’t alone in the world. Check it out here:
]]>Jude is crossing the pond to play a few shows in the UK! Dates below. Ticket links where applicable. Flyer artwork by Kim Awa.
5.6 – Dublin, IRE – Anseo Camden Street
5.12 – Glasgow, SCO
– Ushi's Coffee Shop
5.13 – Alnmouth, NBL – The Hindmarsh Hall
5.14 – Alnwick, NBL – The Tanners Arm
5.19 – Yorkshire, ENG – Arts Barge York
5.20 – Alnwick, NBL – New Adelphi Club
5.21 – Hull, ENG – Penrith Players Theatre
5.24 – Penrith, ENG – The Sound Lounge – TICKETS
6.2 – Hastings, ENG – The Jenny Linn Inn
6.7 – Bristol, ENG – The Green Man, Bristol
6.11 – Cardiff, WLA – The Moon Cardiff – TICKETS
6.14 – Brighton, ENG – The Folklore Rooms – TICKETS
6.16-18 – Black Deer Festival
6.19 – London, ENG – The Betsey Trotwood
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Chris Acker is going on tour this summer!
]]>Super excited to welcome Austin Cash to Gar Hole Records!
Austin is an ambient country & americana artist originally from Bald Knob, AR and now a resident of Fayetteville. We proudly present to you ~two~ of Austin's creations, both available for pre-order on the Gar Hole website (right here).
PALISADES is a new collection of songs recorded as part of the soundtrack for "The Palisades Project," a documentary about one of the last contiguous stretches of wild country left in the US. Three tracks, ranging from Fahey-esque American primitive to shimmering soundscapes, meant to pair with the landscape of unbroken Wyoming wilderness.
"Palisades," the title track and first single, is streaming now.
EP releases 2.25.2022
ALL OVER ALABAMA is a reissue of a record Austin self-released in 2020 that we are very fond of. Two long-form tracks composed of modulating and repeating segments of lap steel, Rhodes, harmonica, piano, and guitar. Big swirling rural moods. An excellent example of ambient country music's sonic potential.
Both releases are available digitally and on limited edition cassette. Both cassettes ship out by the end of February.
photo by Daniel Caldwell
Chris Acker is starting the year off with a few choice solo dates around the southeast. Smokey Mountains in January. Ozark Mountains in February. Grab a ticket (if pre-sale is available) and enjoy responsibly!
1/13 - Rome, GA - Kingfisher
1/14 - Chattanooga, TN - The Woodshop - Tickets
1/16 - Asheville, NC - American Vinyl Co - Tickets - w/ Erika Lewis & Wes Pearce
2/03 - Memphis, TN - Hernando's Hideaway - Tickets
2/04 - Hartsburg, MO - The Hartsburg Grand
2/05 - Springfield, MO - The Royal
2/06 - Fayetteville, AR - George's Majestic Lounge - Tickets - w/ Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster & Lost John
General Public On-Sale begins Friday, December 10 at 10 AM local
Here are the dates with ticket links!
2.17.2022 - Memphis, TN - Growlers
2.18.2022 - Eureka Springs, AR - The Auditorium
2.19.2022 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre
2.20.2022 - Fort Worth, TX - Tulips
2.23.2022 - Santa Fe, NM - Tumble Root
2.24.2022 - Flagstaff, AZ - Coconino Center for the Arts
2.25.2022 - Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Ballroom
2.27.2022 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
3.01.2022 - West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour
3.03.2022 - Felton, CA - Felton Music Hall
3.04.2022 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
3.05.2022 - Arcata, CA - Arcata Theatre
3.07.2022 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
3.09.2022 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Caberet
3.11.2022 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
3.12.2022 - Spokane, WA - Lucky You Lounge
3.13.2022 - Whitefish, MT - The Remington Bar
3.15.2022 - Bozeman, MT - The ELM
3.17.2022 - Spearfish, SD - Matthews Opera House & Arts Center
3.18.2022 - Boulder, CO - The Fox
3.19.2022 - Colorado Springs, CO - The Black Sheep
3.20.2022 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
]]>When Nick and I started Gar Hole, we had almost no idea what we were doing. Nick’s profile as an artist and musician was exploding, and we knew that setting something up to support that increased demand was necessary. At the same time, the world felt like it was falling apart. Nick had left New Orleans and found his way back to Arkansas. My life, as I’m sure your’s was, had been flipped upside down. It was the obliteration of normalcy, and we all had to deal with it.
I would never claim that starting a record label in 2020 was any kind of radical act, but it was something that required hope. In a way, Gar Hole was our commitment to the future at a time when no one was really sure what it was going to look like. Regardless of how things play out, I’ll always be proud of that.
If you are reading this, then thank you what you’ve done to help us get this far. 2022 is looking pretty exciting and we hope to see you there.
Cheers,
Kurt
]]>PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY PRE-SAVE THE ALBUM
Tracklist
Arranged and performed with the Growing Boys: Zach Thomas (bass), Nikolai Shveitser (pedal steel), Dave Hammer (lead guitar, vocals), Sam Gelband (drums, vocals)
Produced, mixed and mastered by Burt Murder at Triangle House Productions in Millerton, NY.
Cover and back cover artwork by Sasha Pearl
]]>
It’s been a helluva year in all the ways folks. When we released the ‘Hank’s Checkout Line’ video in December 2019, our lives were exactly as pictured: an endless sweat soaked Louisiana dance-floor, crowded and radiant, just below sea level and just a little rowdier and more unhinged and undeniably special than anywhere I’d ever lived. What might appear to be an ode to fried chicken and honky tonk decadence at first glance, ‘Hank’s’ is in reality a scathing rebuke of my own relationship with New Orleans, a place I utterly adored while being all too aware of the role I was playing in its undoing. Gentrification is ugly, and this is a song about wearing that ugliness and learning to live with it; to attempt be a good neighbor in a place that has always deserved better. Shame and guilt aren’t healthy ways of moving through the world, and I felt that invoking the fire and brimstone verbiage that many of us come to associate with *Judgment* might shine some light on the grease in all our souls. I was never one for church, but I do consider fried catfish to be sacrosanct-and if playing endless dance shows in the shadow of the levee is a dream, you gotta be buoyant on other people’s nightmares to do it.
If you’d told me that in a year’s time from this video’s release I’d be in trailer, taking refuge from the public health crisis of the century in the back hollers of my Ozark homeland, I’d have laughed at you outright. What do I have to show for all this Covid strangeness and isolation and worry? I have You. The reader, the follower, the listener, and dare I say it: the fan; if anything about my last year went well, it’s y’all’s fault-and I love ya for it.
'Hank's Checkout Line' - Acoustic Version
--Nick Shoulders
]]>Thank you for being here.
The first merch drop is live on the store.
If you want to be our friends forever, please visit the bottom of the page and sign up for the mailing list.
<3 Nick & Kurt
]]>Thank you for being here.
The first merch drop is live on the store.
If you want to be our friends forever, please visit the bottom of the page and sign up for the mailing list.
<3 Nick & Kurt
]]>