Singer-songwriter couple Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have announced the release date of their 10th studio album Woodland via their own Acony Records label on August 23rd. The new 10-song collection mingles full band tracks with intricate duet performances all tied together with the duo’s signature sound and lyricism and cements the pair’s iconoclastic position at the forefront of acoustic music.
Woodland was named and recorded at Welch and Rawlings’ own Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, TN. Of the album and studio, they said, “Woodland is at the heart of everything we do, and has been for the last twenty some years. The past four years were spent almost entirely within its walls, bringing it back to life after the 2020 tornado and making this record. The music is (songs are) now a swirl of contradictions, emptiness, fullness, joy, grief, destruction, and permanence.”
Along with the release of their new album, the duo also shares the first track off of Woodland “Empty Trainload Of Sky”. The track is much like the tone described by the duo about Woodland, A representation of the swath of American roots music. “Empty Trainload Of Sky” uses the vocal style of close harmony to great effect, coupled with the folk/blues tone of the instrumentation, the track is the perfect debut single to represent the traditions Woodland seeks to uphold, while still maintaining and advancing the subversive songwriting the duo prides themselves on.
Woodland will release on August 23rd via Acony Records, preorders are available today.
Woodland Tracklisting:
- Empty Trainload Of Sky
- What We Had
- Lawman
- The Bells And The Birds
- North Country
- Hashtag
- The Day The Mississippi Died
- Turf The Gambler
- Here Stands A Woman
- Howdy Howdy
Listen to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings new single “Empty Trainload Of Sky” below:
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
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