Lori McKenna Prepares New Album “The Balladeer”
Lori McKenna is a hit country songwriter and a heralded Americana performer, and whenever a new song emerges with her name on it, you’re smart to take a pause from whatever trifle you’re busy with, and listen.
Her new album called The Balladeer will arrive on on July 24th via CN Records and Thirty Tigers, and will include 10 news songs, most of which were written solely by McKenna herself, and three with her well-known troika that also includes Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose, known affectionately by many as the Love Junkies. Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman also appear on the opening track. The album was recorded with Dave Cobb at Nashville’s RCA Studio ‘A’.
This will be music for adults, by adults, just like most of Lori McKenna’s recent offerings. Putting her life experiences as a mother of five in Massachusetts into the verses of her songs is what has results in some of her biggest accolades, including her award-winning composition “Humble & Kind.” The Balladeer leans especially into this theme.
“I’m at the age now where you can see really well where you’re going, because you’re helping your parents and you’ve lived through what your kids are doing,” McKenna says about her aging offspring. “It’s this weird emotional time where you’re like a bookkeeper, writing it all down, trying to make sense of it and add it all up somehow.”
This is embodied in the first song released from the new album called “When You’re My Age,” which finds Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose singing along with their regular writing partner. “Life will line your face / Time will turn the page,” McKenna sings on the piano ballad. “But they’re still gonna be your babies / Just like you’re still gonna be my baby.”
The Balladeer is now available for pre-order.
TRACK LISTING:
1. This Town Is A Woman (ft. Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman)
2. The Balladeer
3. Marie
4. The Dream
5. Uphill
6. Good Fight
7. Stuck In High School
8. When You’re My Age (ft. Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose)
9. Two Birds
10. ‘Till You’re Grown
May 2, 2020 @ 8:42 am
Good news, she’s awesome.
May 2, 2020 @ 8:54 am
Witness to your life is so beautiful. Makes me wistful every time.
May 2, 2020 @ 8:59 am
Looking forward to this release. Her record ‘The Tree’ is one of my favorites. I will listen to her song, ‘A Mother Never Rests’ on repeat.
“This will be music for adults, by adults”
She’s such a talented songwriter. Adult subject matter is the reason why she resonates with me. No pandering to the teens. Her songs are age appropriate.
May 2, 2020 @ 10:13 am
for the mostpart I enjoy her writing .
I wish she would take diction lessons ( from ANYONE but arianna grande)
I wish she would take dave cobb off the payroll ….SUCH a boring , lifeless and uinspired , mostly pointless, often sloppy production . the song never develops , lacks dynamics , the harmony part is ragged …often not harmony at all .
this will never be radio, mainstream music . given that , it would work as well with just a piano accompaniment and not this generic elton john- circa -1970 muddy approach to a track .
I also didn’t like ‘ Humble and Kind ” , if that matters to anyone , which it probably shouldn’t , or Tree of Forgiveness cuz , as I mentioned re: above track , I found much of it unnecessarily and regrettably un-listenable thanks , once again to DC ..and BTW I think Lori McKenna is one of the best writers around
now you kids …get off my lawn . Dave’s not here !
May 2, 2020 @ 10:45 am
This is completely subjective of course, and I appreciate your point. But to me, it’s the “inspired” sonic imprint of most producers that bugs me the most. Cobb has his faults, but his “sloppy production,” means you’re hearing the artist and the song. Since I think Lori’s great, he’s a good match in my opinion. Perfect? No. But I’ll take his production style, any day over someone like Jack Antonoff…if we’re talking roots or country music.
May 2, 2020 @ 10:46 am
good point jake ….if we erring on the side of caution
May 2, 2020 @ 11:06 am
Haha yeah, and surely there’s middle ground somewhere, and nobody should be above criticism by any means, but as we see time and time again (exemplified most recently), it could be much worse.
That said, I think Southeastern and Metamodern were produced perfectly for what they were.
May 4, 2020 @ 9:18 am
Good points re Southeastern and Meta. Dave Cob is not an automatic buy producer, but I would say he is and automatic listen producer.
Not that there are many auto-buy producers.
May 2, 2020 @ 2:37 pm
Didn’t buy her last album because of Cobb and won’t buy this.
Songwriters can make records that don’t sound like demo tapes. Check out Gretchen Peters for example.
I like Tree of Forgiveness, but you’re right that there were no standout musical features.
May 5, 2020 @ 2:01 pm
Tree of Forgiveness was John Prine. Lori McKenna’s (truly excellent) album was called “The Tree”. “The Fixer,” “You Won’t Even Know I’m Gone,” “People Get Old,” “The Lot Behind St. Mary’s,” and “The Way Back Home” have all been incredibly meaningful to me over the last 2 years.
May 3, 2020 @ 6:52 am
Dave Cobb is great for getting out of the way of talent. I don’t quite understand the hate for him. If I wanted to hear a bunch of unnecessary sonic nonsense drowning out the artist, I’d get on the Jay Joyce bandwagon. How he pulled off the subtlety of the acoustic driven songs on Desperate Man, I’ll never know.
Super excited for this. I finally ordered The Tree recently.
May 3, 2020 @ 8:03 am
Dave Cobb has been hit and miss at times, but I don’t understand blowing off a record before you’ve even heard it just because he’s involved. I thought he did a good job with Lori McKenna’s last record and I think this new song sounds great. Let’s give it a chance.
May 2, 2020 @ 10:20 am
In The Pipeline too:
Gabby Barrett – Goldmine – Album – 06/19
High Valley – Grew Up On That – EP – 05/08
New Stuff:
Tim Dugger – Signs Of A Good Time – EP (6 Tracks) – Released (04/23)
Tim Dugger is a Curb Records artist. As far as i know his last release was in 2015 (Beer On A Boat – EP). His current EP is filled with pre-bro & bro country tracks. Sounds dated.
CJ Solar – Coming My Way – EP (6 Tracks) – Released (04/30)
More on the rocking end of country. CJ Solar brings nothing new to the table. Melodic & more-of-the-same midtempo tracks. My highlight: “Rain”.
The Washboard Union – Everbound – Album (10 Tracks) – Released (04/24)
Male trio from Canada. Sounds like the majority of the current canadian mainstream pop country acts. Uptempo & midtempo party crowd anthems like the hit “Country Thunder” or the summer jam “Dock Rock” (sounds like LBT & “motorboatin'”).
More New Music:
Clare Dunn – “Safe Haven” – Single/Track – Released
Jesse Keith Whitley – “Try To Change My Ways” – Single/Track – Released
Brandon Rhyder, Jason Allen & Cory Green – “I Believe” – Single/Track – Released
May 2, 2020 @ 3:37 pm
I tell both my sons who have kids of their own now, you just wait it only gets better with age.
May 3, 2020 @ 11:48 am
Great song, which is no surprise coming from her.
May 3, 2020 @ 1:59 pm
One of my favourite songwriter. This is gonna be great.
May 8, 2020 @ 2:35 pm
Not gonna lie, Lori McKenna’s songs choke me up real bad. I’m a full grown man, obviously not a mom and I don’t even have kids, but damn her songs hit me hard. She’s so good, but I struggle with her music for fear I might literally start weeping badly while listening. Definitely some alone-time, headphones-only music for me. Yikes.
July 23, 2020 @ 11:06 pm
Been listening to this entire album tonight. This is the type of sound The Chicks should have come back with.