Gillian Welch has announced the second installment of her home demo series with Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs, Vol. 2. The album will come out via Acony Records on September 18. Along with the announcement of the album’s release, Welch shared two singles from the album, including “Beautiful Boy” and “I Just Want You To Know.” The songs were first recorded in-between the albums Time (The Revelator) and Soul Journey.
“Beautiful Boy” features Welch’s smooth voice flowing over David Rawling’s acoustic guitar, the soft strums fading beneath her harmonizing the lyrics which detail falling in love and feeling scared in a relationship. “You can’t fight it once it starts,” Welch sings about falling in love. “I’m afraid of everything/Everything that romance brings,” Welch says in the chorus, her voice ringing the lyrics in her slight twang.
Welch’s voice takes on a richer tone with “I Just Want You To Know,” Rawling’s guitar accompanying her as the two create a matching twang. She sings of close friendship, reminding that she will be there for those she loves. “Cause I could find you, wherever you go/ I just want you to know,” Welch declares, allowing the person she’s singing to know that she will stick by through thick and thin.
Welch released Vol. 1 of the series this past July, and hopes to release the third volume within the coming months. Welch had first recorded the songs several years ago, however the tracks were never released due to shortcomings she had perceived at the time of recording. However, when Welch unearthed the songs years after they had first been recorded, she realized that whatever had held her back from initially releasing them no longer bothered her, and she instead found them to be “snapshots that captured moments the more formal portraits missed.”
Welch also released a new track this year on Mother’s Day, with the heartwarming track “Happy Mother’s Day.” The song was also released via Acony Records, the independent record label Welch founded in 2001 alongside Rawlings. In 2019, Welch and Rawlings performed at the 91st Academy Awards, playing their song “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings.” The track had been nominated as for Best Original Song at the 91st Academy Awards, and had been featured in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Boots No. 2: the Lost Songs, Vol. 2 tracklist:
1. “Wouldn’t Be So Bad”
2. “Didn’t I”
3. “Good Baby”
4. “Hundred Miles”
5. “Rambling Blade”
6. “I Only Cry When You Go”
7. “Lonesome Just Like You”
8. “You Only Have Your Soul”
9. “Picasso”
10. “Beautiful Boy”
11. “Happy Mother’s Day”
12. “Papa Writes to Johnny”
13. “Fair September”
14. “Wella Hella”
15. “I Just Want You To Know”
Leave a Comment