Indiana-born, Nashville-based rising star Stephen Wilson Jr. releases the official music video for “Cuckoo” from his critically-acclaimed debut double album søn of dad (Big Loud Records). Directed by Tim Cofield, the clip paints a psychedelic picture of life in an Indiana holler featuring a frenetic dive bar performance from Joey Breaux, a Midwestern Gothic family scene and HARDY + Wilson Jr. playing catch with a ball of fire.
Wilson Jr. is currently in the midst of the entirely sold-out 2025 U.S. run of his søn of dad tour with stops in Detroit, Toronto and more. Earlier this month, it was announced that he will join HARDY on his Jim Bob World Tour on select dates from May through September, including the final show at Madison Square Garden.
“‘If one don’t drive ya then the other one will…’ running on cognitive American fumes at times,” shares Wilson Jr. “we’re all afraid of something. this video is a fiery glance at the ones whom haven’t given up but have given up on the game. these are not actors. a kaleidoscope of humans living and being. unashamed of their shame. ‘cuckoo…’”
“‘Cuckoo’ is the eighth video SWJ and I have made together,” shares Director Tim Cofield. “While ‘Holler from the Holler’ was the most ambitious concept we've co-directed, ‘Cuckoo’ is a planet in its own solar system. All these ideas come from Stephen's brain. For example, the character driving backwards in the truck. Stephen actually knows a guy who has to drive to work backwards ‘cause his truck only drives in reverse. My favorite thing about the ‘Cuckoo’ video is that all these characters you see are real people, not actors. There's also some easter eggs hidden in there for diehard fans (look for wolf heads and aliens).” ============================================================================
Jackie Venson - Young.
Jackie Venson returns with “Young,” the latest single from her new album, The Love Anthology! Following the momentum of her previous single “Alone”, “Young” showcases Jackie’s signature blend of blues, rock, and soul with her unmistakable guitar work and dynamic energy.
Jackie is also hitting the road this Spring around the Midwest and Southeast in support of The Love Anthology, and she’s available for interviews, in-studio performances, or call-ins while on tour.
Glasgow’s genre-spanning post-punk outfit Poster Club are back with new single ‘Circuits’, via Electric Honey Records. Following the success of their recent singles ‘Tradeston’ and ‘Goth Parade’, which leaned into dance and synth influences, ‘Circuits’ takes listeners on a journey back to the band’s raw, punk-inspired origins.
With its thumping pace, dissonant guitars, and a high-octane climax, ‘Circuits’ showcases Poster Club’s ability to merge punk swagger with their signature blend of post-punk and new wave sounds. Introduced with apprehensive guitar chords, the song quickly launches into a driving rhythm, reflecting themes of vulnerability and emotional honesty.
After signing with Electric Honey Records—the label responsible for launching icons like Biffy Clyro, Belle & Sebastian, and Snow Patrol—Poster Club’s profile has only grown. Their first single with the label, ‘Goth Parade’, earned a feature on Billy Sloan’s BBC Radio Scotland show, and their genre-blurring style continues to capture the attention of national and international audiences.
‘Circuits’ marks another chapter in Poster Club’s musical evolution. With its heartfelt lyricism, pacey riffs, and dramatic tempo shifts, the single exemplifies the band’s ability to blend authenticity and innovation. This isn’t a band tied to one sound—Poster Club uses a sonic palette of punk, techno and synth, and everything in between.
“‘Circuits’ is about opening up and letting someone truly see what’s inside you—both emotionally and literally,” explains vocalist Konrad. “The lyrics, ‘“rip me open, look at my circuits,” are raw and unfiltered, inspired by artists like Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit and Brian Sella of The Front Bottoms, who have this incredible knack for honesty in their writing. It’s a concept that felt personal and urgent to explore.”
Noted indie darling Tamar Berk is excited to unveil tiny injuries, her third solo album. The album itself follows singles “drop in the bucket” and “if u know, u know”. To celebrate the album’s release, Tamar Berk is also elated to share the music video for “cash out”, the album’s latest single. An array of emotions are explored throughout tiny injuries courtesy of songs that incorporate elements of indie pop, alternative rock, and singer-songwriter slow burns.
Lead single "drop in the bucket" shows the evolution of emotions over time in a relationship. Alternative rock and indie pop are cleverly blended to create a fun and energetic sound. With its engrossing guitar and assertive vocals, this song evokes Liz Phair and Snail Mail with its wistful synth and pulsing guitar. The second single "If you know, you know" uses Tamar Berk's passion to explore existential crisis caused by loss, reminiscent of Soccer Mommy and Aimee Mann. With latest single "cash out" Tamar Berk blends cinematic, guitar-driven alternative pop with indie folk flavor on a track that is captivating and soothing.
When discussing her new single, Tamar Berk writes: “In the middle of moving my mother from her house to an apartment, I wrote the two sentences for "cash out" on one of those small airplane napkins. It had been a year since my father died, so I knew this would happen, but I wasn't prepared for the emotional devastation I would undergo during those two weeks. After packing up the house and going through all of my dad's belongings, I was absolutely crushed. With each passing day, I became more and more depressed and numb. The shock was still fresh in my mother's mind, but she was mostly angry and scared, and I was dealing with my own private hell. My next stop was to get home, so I took the little napkin they give you with your drink and I wrote "I've got no promises left in me, I'm getting ready to cash out." When I got home, I sat down at the piano and wrote it. As I had written it that day, I pretty much kept it the same.
The Grahams have shared their new single “A Good Man,” which appears on the duo’s upcoming self-titled album, out September 8 via 3Sirens Music Group. Accompanied by a playful music video, “A Good Man” is a vulnerable reflection on the indelible impact of experiencing true love. The new single is one of ten reimaginings from The Grahams, which finds the duo revisiting fan favorites to reflect their artistic growth over the last decade.
“‘A Good Man’ was never a question for this project,” shares Alyssa Graham, who is one half of The Grahams with Doug Graham. “I think people love it because it’s so honest. The reimagining plays up that naked honesty with a fresh layer of tenderness and playfulness — and less of its old twang.”
“A Good Man” follows the anthemic “Glory Bound” and the serotonin-boosting “The Wild One,” which have been praised by Magnet Magazine, RIFF Magazine, The Alternate Root, Americana UK, Americana Music Association and more. The Grahams’ new self-titled album takes 10 songs from their catalog and pours them through a new filter – what they’ve learned, how they’ve changed, and perhaps most centrally, how they sound today. While these songs bear some resemblance to their Americana roots, they lean harder in a new direction, weaving threads of the duo’s other influences: the bands they grew up with, the input of collaborators, and the ever-evolving love affair that now includes their child. Track by track, the changes are transformative, stripping the songs down in some cases and dressing them up in others.
The Grahams credit much of their newfound ease to the record’s team who are seasoned all-stars in their own right. Recorded at their own Nashville label and studio 3Sirens, the new album was engineered by their longtime friend and producer Dex Green, and produced by Dan Molad (Lucius, Coco) who they first worked with alongside the late Richard Swift on Kids Like Us. In addition, these recording sessions feature Ray Jacildo (The Black Keys) on keys, Jack Lawrence (Jack White) on bass, and Lucius, who lend mesmerizing backing vocals to several tracks and feature on “Lay Me Down.”
Southern Indiana-born, Nashville-based artist Stephen Wilson Jr. has released new single “patches” from his upcoming debut double album søn of dad, out September 15 via Big Loud Records. With its deceptively breezy melody and easygoing chorus underscored by melancholic slide guitars, the song touches upon the importance of learning to live with the scars, scratches and holes in our lives. Today, Wilson also announced that he will join The Lone Bellow on tour for another string of dates this winter.
Of the song, Wilson shares: “My scars got scars. Graffiti on graffiti on graffiti. ‘patches’ is a playful song with a serious message. A life lived not avoided. øne packaged with consequences and fibrosis. A built-in collagen-based repair system showing the world the road map to where we’ve been. Wearing scars we’ve earned like we’ve earned ‘em.”
Informed by Wilson’s wildly diverse background as a boxer, a scientist (he has a degree in microbiology and chemistry from Middle Tennessee State University) and a songwriter, søn of dad is a 22-song tribute to his late father, to be released exactly five years to the day of his death. Album centerpiece “Father’s Son” and its stirring music video received praise from CMT, Whiskey Riff and Rolling Stone who named it one of the “Best Country Songs of 2023 So Far.”
“Writing and making this album has been very therapeutic for me to learn who I am and what my existence looks like after my father. Because life has to go on,” Wilson says. “I'm living my own life, but it's like his death bookended what life he should have had onto mine and I'm carrying it around like a train car.”
After years of crisscrossing North America, Europe, and the U.K., playing in bands such as Sam Weber and Luca Fogale, Jacob Weil found himself with a collection of his own songs that he was ready to share. The indie-folk debut record, Lived In, was produced by Sam Weber. The album’s production is fast, innovative, and intelligent, and the songs are filled with strength, grit, tenderness, courage, and nostalgia. And, like a string of images, Weil leads us through observations and experiences that have led him to where he is now.
Co-written with Luca Fogale, the focus track “9999” is about multiple realities – more specifically it represents the nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-nine ways out of ten thousand that your life could have gone, had you made one specific decision, as opposed to another. It’s a reflection on a life, a relationship, whatever, where you made a decision, and things ended up one way instead of another.
In this situation, the song is about a relationship that felt so right, where everything was so perfect, and yet it didn’t work out. It’s about imagining a multitude of realities, in which, if you lived the same life 10,000 times, you just happened to be living in the one where things didn’t work out.
“The album started off as a collection of songs from different periods of my life – periods of significant growth and change,” explains Weil. “I didn’t begin with a set throughline between them, but it became apparent later on as I was looking back at them that they all shared a commonality - a reflection on what it feels like to be part way through one’s life and have a mind, body, spirit and even home that feel ‘lived in.’”
Amsterdam-based musician Sofie Winterson announces details of her forthcoming album Southern Skies produced by Benny Sings via Excelsior Recordings in June. The project is a continuation and expansion of their 2019 collaborative EP Moral and new single "Jump" offers up more of the accidental magic which is at the core of their partnership.
"Jump" chronicles uncertainty yet offers soothing reassurance with its lilting, warm indie-pop sound. A nod to the rest of the album which saw Sofie embrace simplicity and foster a new perspective. Of the new single Sofie says: "Jump is about wanting to make a big change in life, but not knowing where that change will take you. It’s meant to comfort you in this state of insecurity. It can encourage you not to overthink where that change will lead you, since you will be a different person by the time you’ll get there."
Created in primarily Benny Sings' canal-hugging studio in Amsterdam, Southern Skies was formed as an act of stripping-back and growing as a songwriter. Sofie’s last full-length album Sophia Electric instead acted as a way to expand her work as a producer. Her varied influences, from the soul and folk she grew up on to the dream-pop of her university years can all be heard as part of the album’s eclectic palette which leans in a more minimal direction than before.
Putting the lyrics and storytelling front and centre, Sofie’s love of reading has never been more evident than in the way she approached writing for this record. “What I try to do in my lyrics [is] to find the best way to describe a thought,” she says, “the thought could be anything, it’s always my challenge to try and find exactly the right words.” Noting that her favourite part of reading is not so much following the narrative, but revelling in the descriptions of situations.
Featuring original vocal takes and lyrics that were written in the room, it marked a new way of working for Sofie, with Benny encouraging her to approach writing in a different way, a more technical way. Pulling inspiration from both Adrienne Lenker and Rachel Cusk’s ‘Transit’ in tandem, what’s clear is Sofie Winterson’s never-failing ability to tell a story with grace, immense consideration and the freedom to be projected upon and moulded as her listener’s see fit.
Dutch artist Pitou’s musical awakening came from an unlikely source. From a very young age, she developed an unexplainable interest in classical music – her father would often find her crouched down by the radio, in search of the sound of orchestras and choirs. From the age of 9, Pitou started singing in a children’s choir, and she soon found herself performing at the baptism of Catharina Amalia, the Princess of the Netherlands, and in renowned music halls throughout Europe. “Singing together with other singers, making harmonies together, made me feel like nothing had ever done before,” she says of that moment.
It's a memory that continues to inspire. Big Tear, her long-awaited debut album, is a rich, fearlessly creative collection of alternative pop that draws from her classical background; unexpected harmonies and song structures, vocal layering, loops, wistful melodies, and classical instruments all swirled together in stylish, clever ways.
The record also marks her own development, both as a performer and a songwriter. “I knew I wanted to move away from the guitar being self-evidently always there,” she says. “I also wanted to find out what it felt like to tell the stories of my songs on stage with just my body and voice, without the physical restriction of the guitar.” Eager to move into other sonic worlds, she embraced the creative possibilities of different instruments – piano, harp, synths – and using computer programs to build and refine her music; some tracks were written entirely on piano or using software.
To celebrate the release of her new album, today Pitou has shared a new music video, 'Knife'. Of the video, she says: "'Knife' is the emotional axis of this record, very raw in its sentiment, which is always a challenge to translate into visuals. The song is about a person deciding to break away from a bond, for their own sake. I visualised a couple living in a small, quiet home. One half of the couple would be a human, the other a faceless but ever-present being.
Eora/Sydney based musician Georgia Mooney (All Our Exes Live In Texas), shares her empowering new single ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’. Celebrating freedom and all the adventures born along the way, the track comes as a glacial moment of escapism. Following her cinematic debut solo single ‘War Romance’, ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’ is the second single taken from Mooney’s to-be-announced debut solo album, and is out now globally through Nettwerk.
A beautifully matter-of-fact bucking of pressures to stay in one place or settle down, ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’ was written in Florence, Italy just after a spontaneous three-day holiday marriage to a painter in Skopelos, Greece. Its sonic warmth comes via a dulcimer that Mooney won in a raffle in Canberra - a suitably whimsical fit for a song that celebrates the impulsive, unexpected moments in life; the impossibility of settling down when something new and exciting could be around the corner.
The track is accompanied by a diaristic music video bursting with nostalgia and a lust for life. Georgia Mooney shares on the video, “The video for ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’ is comprised entirely of little snapshots of moments from the last fifteen years of my life. Some of them are small and gentle like a cat on a fence, some of them are more momentous, love affairs, big concerts, cross-continental adventures. The video is personal, nostalgic and whimsical. It is no more extraordinary a life than any other, it is just a little open window into one.”
I Am Not In A Hurry was Co-produced with Noah Georgeson (Cate Le Bon, Devendra Banhart, Marlon Williams, Joanna Newsom), the release itself is a tribute to Joni Mitchell, one of Mooney’s musical and personal idols - and her song Cactus Tree, in both spirit and sound. “Mitchell (a painter, poet, songwriter, traveller) is herself hard to pin down”, says Mooney.
On ‘I Am Not In A Hurry’, Georgia Mooney shares, “I was in Florence for almost a month writing songs… It is no wonder that this song emerged there. In those weeks, travelling alone and caught up in the romance of it all, I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to stay in one place again. How could you when there is so much to explore and there are so many people to meet? This song is about internal restlessness too and the desire to throw off the expectation society imposes on us to settle down, find a partner, have a baby. Why the hurry?”
Stephen Wilson Jr - American Gothic (feat. Hailey Whitters).
Southern Indiana-born, Nashville-based artist Stephen Wilson Jr. announced he has signed to Big Loud Records, and released his debut EP bon aqua. The seven-song collection compiles 6 previously released songs and the brand new single “American Gothic” (feat. Hailey Whitters) that was co-written with Whitters. Wilson is currently on the road supporting Whitters and will hit the road with The Lone Bellow next month before performing at Bourbon and Beyond Festival and CMA Fest later this year.
“Fellow cornfield kid, Hailey Whitters and I met some years ago writing songs and she had this beautiful idea inspired by her favorite Grant Wood painting to showcase parts of the American cultural fabric using nostalgia and the same duality that the painting seems to represent. We ran with it and sang it from the top of our lungs,” Wilson explains about the song.
“The first time I heard Stephen Wilson Jr. was at The Basement a few years back and he absolutely blew me away.... his writing, his songs and his live show is next level. He’s one of a kind and this genre is so much for the better with him in it,” Hailey Whitters proclaimed.
About his debut EP, Wilson adds: “Bon Aqua: Good water. Everything starts with good water. We are made of mostly water. The world is mostly water. As a microbiologist, I used to test water for pharmaceutical companies and everything from shampoo to aspirin to pet food to anything you can think of requires water. Not just any water… good water. I was in charge of making sure the water was good. In and around Bon Aqua, Tennessee is coincidentally where I wrote and conceived most of this EP and filmed most of the videos and visual aspects. Hence the name, it is known for its good water and it only made sense for it to all start there."
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