Category: Country

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alex Amor Shares Shimmering “Avalanche”

Over the past handful of years, rising Scottish singer/songwriter and musician Alex Amor haas released three EP’s 2021’s debut, Love Language, 2022’s The Art of Letting Go and 2023’s Super Sonic, all of which have received praise from The Line of Best Fit, DIY Magazine, Clash Magazine, Dork Magazine, Wonderland, Notion, 1883 Magazine, The Skinny, Ones to Watch, The Sunday Mail, and The Scotsman — and she has received airplay from BBC Radio 1‘s Jack Saunders and Sian Eleri.

The rising Scottish artist has made a run of the UK festival circuit playing sets at TRNSMT, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Live at Leeds and Dot to Dot. She has also toured extensively across the UK, playing bills with Good Neighbours, Liang Lawrence, Gretta Ray, Swim Deep, VLURE and a list of others.

Amor’s highly anticipated full-length debut Heavenly Bodies is slated for an August 21, 2026 through New York-based label VERO Music. Written and recorded between London and Glasgow with Peter Brien, Baz Kaye and Karma Kid, the album’s material is heavily informed by meditation, rune reading and the work of Swedish mystic Hilma of Klint. Weaving together celestial imagery, spirituality and the vast emotional terrain of human connection, the album’s material reflects Amor’s fascination with cosmic symbolism and the belief that personal experiences mirror the rhythms of the universe. Sonically, the album is a decided evolution from the raw indie charge of the rising Scottish artist’s earlier work as the album features diaristic, intimate and confessional songwriting is paired with shimmering guitars, ethereal synths and slow-burning arrangements.

“Avalanche” Heavenly Bodies‘ latest single is a breathtakingly gorgeous tune features Amor’s plaintive vocal singing intimate, lived-in lyrics detailing a relationship on the brink with an unusual clarity — through the perspective of someone who recognizes the relationship is ending, while the other partner is oblivious. Her vocal is paired with a shimmering, remarkably hook-driven, Laurel Canyon-like arrangement.

Amor wrote and produced the original “Avalanche” demo in her childhood bedroom in Glasgow before bringing it to her trio of collaborators in London — Brien, Kaye and Karma Kid — to complete the song.

“Avalanche is about the unsettling moment in a relationship where something has shifted, but only one of you is willing to see it,” Amor explains. ” While you’re starting to recognise it for what it is, the other person is still holding on, almost wilfully ignoring the cracks. The idea of an avalanche felt like the perfect metaphor. It’s not necessarily about destruction, it’s about release. It’s what happens when pressure has been building for too long and can’t be contained anymore. It’s sudden, overwhelming, and sometimes painful, but it clears everything out. And in that aftermath, there’s a kind of clarity – you can finally see things as they really are.”

Directed by Henry Croston, the accompanying video for “Avalanche” features Amor in a series of mod and 70s country-inspired monochromatic outfits singing and strumming her gorgeous sky blue Fender in some rooms with some decidedly 1970s era decor. A dancing alien in a suit listening to music on a Walkman is frequently off on the side, adding a surreal and playful sense of humor to a song but while also emphasizing the song’s central romantic couple.

Video by William Ruben Helms

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New Audio: Alex Amen Returns with Homesick and Weary “California Blues”

Alex Amen is a rising, 26 year-old Texas-born, Los Angeles-based indie folk/country singer/songwriter. When he was four, he took up piano and studied with the same Houston-based jazz pianist through the end of high school. The rising, young country folk artist started playing guitar in his mid-teens after discovering Nirvana, Neil Young and the like. When he was 18, Amen relocated from Texas to California to study filmmaking — with the intention of making documentaries about rock climbing, one of his lifelong passions.

After one semester, he dropped out to focus on music full-time and moved to the Dittman Family Commune, an Anaheim-based commune with historic ties to the countercultural movements of the mid 1960s, where he started his first band, a psychedelic folk rock outfit named American Slang in 2017.“The commune was a crazy place to live—there were hippies and punks and skaters, all in this beautiful house that used to be on six acres of strawberry fields but now it’s surrounded by strip malls,” the Texan-born singer/songwriter says. ““The house was owned by a professor who’d bought it in the mid-’60s and still lived there with his family, so it had this fascinating history with the anti-war movement and renowned civil-rights/psychedelic activists from that time. We’d have these big communal meals every day and debate art and God and food and politics. It was a pretty amazing place to live for a while.”

The band broke up shortly after its formation. And Amen relocated yet again from Southern California to an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound. Over the course of the next three years, Amen spent n relative isolation, taking up interests in mycology, mountaineering, poetry and wooden boat building. But as the years began to pass, he felt an increasing need to return to California to pursue music. 

In January 2023, Amen self-produced his debut EP, last year’s The Zorthian Tapes in a self-built studio at Altadena, CA’s historic Zorthian Ranch. He now resides in Los Angeles, releasing music among the city’s growing folk/Americana/country scene and playing shows across North America and elsewhere. 

The past 18 months or so have been very busy: Last year he toured with Folk Bitch Trio, a tour that included a stop at Baby’s All Right. He has also made the rounds of the international festival circuit, playing Pitchfork Festival London and Pitchfork Festival Paris, Newport Folk Festival, Iceland Airwaves, Austin City Limits and Outside Lands. And he participated in the Americana Music Association‘s annual Grammy Eve concert at the Troubadour to honor the legendary Neil Young. 

The rising young singer/songwriter recently signed to ATO Records, who will be releasing his highly-anticipated debut Sun of Amen on June 12, 2026. The album will include “Cabin by the Sea,” which features some gorgeous and expressive pedal steel from Tommy de Bourbon and strutting bass from Grammy-nominated Billy Mohler, and the album’s second and latest single “California Blues.”

Subtly channeling a mix of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and the Laurel Canyon sound, “California Blues” features a homesick vagabond and wandering troubadour narrator, who illuminates an uneasy contrast between the quintessential California dream and its lived reality of heartbreaking isolation and desperation. “‘California Blues’ is a song I wrote years before I ever lived in California that somehow expressed the things I felt living there years later,” says Amen. “More than any other song made during my time in California it touched on the balance between excitement and isolation one can face when they chase their dreams out West.”

Amen is currently on tour. And along with the new single, he announces a summer run of tour dates that includes a July 29, 2026 stop at Elsewhere Rooftop. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Video by William Ruben Helms

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New Audio: Dominque and the Diamonds Share Heartbreakingly Gorgeous “I Don’t Mind”

Led by Colombian-American frontwoman Dominque Gomez, Los Angeles-based country band Dominique and the Diamonds can trace their origins back to 2024: the band came together on a whim, after Gomez was asked to perform a country set at the local summertime concert series The Grand Ole Echo. 

Friends from cosmic country outfit Caravan 222 and rock band Triptides were recruited to play as Gomez’s backing band, and over the course of the subsequent year started to gain attention locally for a sound that seemingly channeled Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Townes Van Zandt and the Laurel Canyon sound — but with a contemporary feel. 

The Los Angeles-based outfit’s Glenn Brigman-produced full-length studio debut album Honky Tonk Queen is slated for a June 26, 2026 release. Recorded at Crestline, CA-based Skyforest Sound, the group tracked the album’s material on tape with a Tascam 388 and then mixed digitally, offering that old-timey/classic grit while being remarkably modern. “The recording sessions for Honky Tonk Queen had such a family vibe to them,” Brigman says. “The band would leave the city behind and trek up to my cabin in the mountains where we recorded on tape, built fires, listened to Grateful Dead records, drank wine… I even made some homemade country biscuits for breakfast just to make sure we had all the vibes dialed in properly. And of course we celebrated after the last session with a night out at the local mountain saloon.”

Brigman is also heavily featured on every song playing a variety of vintage Rhoes, Wurlitzer, piano, Mellotron, organ and some lead guitar, making Brigman the unofficial fifth member of the band.

Honky Tonk Queen reportedly sees the Los Angeles-based quartet summoning the spirt of 1970s Sunset Strip and Laurel Canyon, weaving vintage-era country storytelling with shimmering, reverb-kissed pedal steel and gorgeous harmonies and melodies. While their sound openly and lovingly draws from the likes of The Flying Burrito Brothers, Exile from Main Street-era Stones, Harvest-era Neil Young and Townes Van Zandt, the album’s material never feels imitative; in fact, the band reinterprets those influences through a distinctly contemporary lens in which dreamy and cosmic textures meet down-to-earth, lived-in storytelling.

Fittingly, the album is the product of Dominique Gomez’s comfortably poised footing as a California-based country artist. “I’m a vocalist first. But I grew up singing all kinds of genres, country being one of them. In my younger days, I couldn’t really decide on which one I wanted to pursue more because I just loved it all,” Gomez says. As a working songwriter, who has worked in the worlds of sync and music libraries since 2020, the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter found strength and reassurance in country. “I’ve always written different types of songs; soul, pop, rock, country, R&B, blues, etc. But I kept getting hired to write more and more country songs,” she recalls. This helped pushed Gomez to dive deeper within country, and the release of the band’s debut will mark one of many milestones in her career.

Representation is central to the album. The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter is proudly Latina and she carries that identity into every performance. Her visibility and leadership are deeply intentional: to create a space where her community feels safe, seen and accepted in a genre that admittedly has a troubled history and is still evolving — albeit sometimes, slower than it should. ““I had my hesitations of getting involved in country music for many reasons, but being a daughter of Colombian immigrants was by far the biggest reason why I didn’t think I would fit in. I’m half white and half Colombian but very Latina presenting.”

But as the band progressed and began to build a fanbase, she quickly realized how important her role was, “Connecting with our fans on tour is what really did it for me. In Sacramento, I had a girl come up to me after the show and tell me, ‘I love country music but I don’t feel safe in those spaces being Latina. Because of you, I feel safe to love it now,'” Gomez recalls. “Representation matters and I hope to continue to deliver safety and inclusion to everyone who comes to our shows or listens to our music.” Though the band sounds nostalgic, they’re also a promise — that classic country can expand its circle, embrace new voices and still honor the soulful and gritty roots that inspired it.

Honky Tonk Queen‘s latest single, album title track “I Don’t Mind” is a classic country-styled ballad that showcases some gorgeous, shimmering pedal steel, Gomez’s mesmerizing delivery and her lived-in, story-as-song driven songwriting rooted in a mix of heartache, uncertainty, hope and gratitude.

“I moved to LA in 2021 for music, but the entire reason I ended up in southern CA in the first place was from fleeing a dangerous relationship in the Bay Area,” Gomez recalls. “I didn’t want to leave West Marin. I was heartbroken over that, not so much the relationship itself. I had plans of making it back to that small coastal town I lived in, but when I found out my ex had planted roots there, I knew it wouldn’t be safe for me to go back.” Though Gomez’s heart will always live in that small town, she also knew that Los Angeles had much bigger plans for her

“Moving to LA was the best decision of my life. Yes, what I had experienced was terrible, but unfortunately, I don’t think I would have ended up here if I hadn’t gone through it all. There would be no Dominique and the Diamonds, no songwriting opportunities, no touring. This incredible, dream-like life that I live now because of this project would have never existed. So in the end, I don’t mind that my ex took that old dream away from me. This is exactly where I’ve always wanted to be all along.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

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New Audio: Alex Amen Shares Breezy “Cabin by the Sea”

Alex Amen is a rising, 26 year-old Texas-born, Los Angeles-based indie folk/country singer/songwriter. When he was 18, Amen relocated from Texas to California to study filmmaking. After one semester, he dropped out and moved onto the Dittman Family Commune, a commune with historic ties to the countercultural movements of the mid 1960s. While on the commute, he formed his first band in 2017. The band broke up shortly after, resulting in his relocating from Southern California to an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound.

Over the course of the next three years, Amen spent in relative isolation, taking up interests in mycology, mountaineering, poetry and wooden boat building. But as the years began to pass, he felt an increasing need to return to California to pursue music.

In January 2023, the Texan-born artist began self-production his debut EP, last year’s The Zorthian Tapes in a self-built studio at Altadena, CA’s historic Zorthian Ranch. He now resides in Los Angeles, releasing music among the city’s growing folk/Americana/country scene and playing shows across North America and elsewhere.

Just in the past year, he has toured with Folk Bitch Trio, a tour that included a stop at Baby’s All Right. He has also made the rounds of the international festival circuit, playing Pitchfork Festival London and Pitchfork Festival Paris, Newport Folk Festival, Iceland Airwaves, Austin City Limits and Outside Lands. And he participated in the Americana Music Association‘s annual Grammy Eve concert at the Troubadour to honor the legendary Neil Young.

The rising young singer/songwriter recently signed to ATO Records, who will be releasing his highly-anticipated debut album late this spring. He also announced that he signed to Rick Rubin’s American Songs/PULSE Music Publishing. Adding to a what may be a breakthrough year, he has a busy touring schedule that incudes a just started, month-long NYC residency across three boroughs, performances at Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion at SXSW, Analog Reunion Festival and Green River Festival. (As always, tour dates below.)

In the meantime, “Cabin by the Sea,” his debut album’s first single is informed by his proclivity for nature and his time spent at the Dittman Family Commune and the Puget Sound. Featuring some gorgeous and expressive pedal steel from Tommy de Bourbon, strutting bass from Grammy-nominated Billy Mohler, Amen’s deftly plucked guitar, accompanied by his easy-going John Denver-like yet subtly Texan drawl singing lyrics describing a simple yet beautiful scene — a bluebird that he sees flying near his cabin. And naturally, he envies the birds ease, simplicity and freedom.

The result is a song that sounds a bit like a mix of classic Nashville-era country and Laurel Canyon-era folk while showcasing a songwriter that pairs poetry and songcraft with a breezy ease.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 94th Birthday, Johnny Cash!

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Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Haylie Davis Shares Shimmering and Introspective “Country Boy”

Raised in Northern California and currently based in Los Angeles, Haylie Davis is a rising artist, who has received attention global attention for her passionate reimagining of classic Laurel Canyon folk pop, anchored by her gorgeous, remarkable vocal range and her knack for intricate storytelling.

After collaborating with a series of like-minded artists including Drugdealer, Sylvie, Alex Amen and Sam Burton, Davis steps out into her own path, meshing gorgeous melodies and strikingly original songcraft its a new band of cosmic Americana.

“Young Man” is latest single off the Los Angeles-based artist’s highly-anticipated debut album, which will feature the previously released “Country Boy” and “Golden Age,” and is slated for release later this year through Fire Records. “Young Man” is an introspective lived-in lament on the breakup of a misplaced, perhaps even unearned affection and its aftermath. And as a result, the song’s narrator expresses a mix of relief, exhaustion, despair and bit of “wait, what the fuck was that?” while nursing a bruised heart.

Fittingly, the song features some heartbreakingly gorgeous steel guitar paired with Davis’ timeless, world-weary delivery. It sounds a bit like a 70s country ballad, much like Johnny Cash‘s take on the Kris Kristofferson-penned “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” — with a subtly modern vibe.

“‘Young Man’ was born a few years back in a Texas green room while I was out on tour with Sam Burton,” Davis explains. ““I was fresh off a breakup, emotionally raw, and the song arrived naturally in that in-between space – part exhaustion, part reflection, part release. Later, I brought it to life with Michael Harris at Valentine Recording Studio. Working with Michael was a joy; he creates an atmosphere that’s both encouraging and effortless, making the recording process feel less like work and more like discovery.”

Directed by Magnolia Ellenburg, the accompanying video for “Young Man” is a gorgeously shot fever dream of heartache, despair and pride that should feel familiar to anyone who has had to nurse their bruised heart and investigate themselves in the aftermath of a breakup. Those answers aren’t easy to come by, but you figure out a way to move on and learn from it as best as you can.