Hiss Golden Messenger’s Quietly Blowing It was written and arranged by M.C. Taylor in his home studio—his 8’ × 10’ sanctuary packed floor to ceiling with books, records, and old guitars—as he watched the chaotic world spin outside his window. Between March and June 2020, Taylor wrote and recorded upwards of two dozen songs—in most cases playing all of the instruments himself—before winnowing the collection down and bringing them to the Hiss band. In July, the group of musicians, with Taylor in the production seat, went into Overdub Lane in Durham, NC, for a week, where they recorded Quietly Blowing It as an organic unit honed to a fine edge from their years together on the road.

Today, five previously unreleased demos and outtakes from the album are available as part of a digital EP called Blue 50 (Demos & Outtakes). These songs will also be included on Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971), a compilation coming out in October that will document the period leading up to Blue. Blue 50 (Demos & Outtakes) includes early demos of “A Case Of You” and “California,” an alternate version of “River” that features French horns, an early take of “Urge For Going,” a song that was intended for Blue but didn’t see a proper release until a 1996 greatest hits compilation, and a studio recording of “Hunter,” which Mitchell played live but never officially put out.

Lillebjørn Nilsen and Andy Irvine had known each other for about 17 years when they met at the Telemark Festival back in 1994, what they both had dreamt about became a reality. Their collaboration resulted in an exhilarating concert. The live recording is finally released as an album in June 2021.

Peter and I started playing music together in grade school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in a blues trio called Soup, and by 1978 we found ourselves in New York playing in a new band, called the dB’s. After two records together, Stands For deciBels and Repercussion, we went our separate ways for a while—Peter continuing on with the dB’s, then playing keys and guitars on tours with R.E.M., and myself off to make some solo records and produce other artists.

Joan is a 3 times Grammy Nominated Singer / Songwriter. Consequences, Joan Armatrading’s new album, is one of her most intimate and direct albums yet and one that wears its conscience and its heart on its sleeve. Released via BMG, and her 22nd studio album to date, it ably illustrates the fact that Joan Armatrading never likes to repeat herself. It is a very different follow up to 2018’s Top 30 hit album Not Too Far Away.

“Nothing ever really disappears,” Cassandra Jenkins says. “It just changes shape.” Over the past few years, she’s seen relationships altered, travelled three continents, wandered through museums and parks, and recorded free-associative guided tours of her New York haunts. Her observations capture the humanity and nature around her, as well as thought patterns, memories, and attempts to be present while dealing with pain and loss. With a singular voice, Jenkins siphons these ideas into the ambient folk of her new album.

"I first heard Lady In Satin in a mega-shopping mall somewhere in San Francisco. I was about 20 years old and didn't know much about Billie's records or her life or how her voice changed over the years. Anyway, the sound was coming from the other side of the mall and I remember mistaking her voice for a beautiful perfectly distorted electric guitar - some other-world thing floating there on this strange mournful ocean of strings and I was hooked for life. Ten years later in 2006 I recorded an electric guitar instrumental version of "I'm A Fool To Want You" for my album Post-War."