The Lone Bellow, Early James
Majestic Theatre 115 King St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Courtesy of Dualtone Records
The Lone Bellow
$30 ($25 adv.).
press release: The Lone Bellow are excited to announce more 2021 tour dates. Touring in support of the newly expanded version of their chart-topping fourth album, HALF MOON LIGHT DELUXE EDITION, the shows are a combination of the newly confirmed and rescheduled ones from 2020. All tickets are currently on sale. Early James will be opening most of the shows; the complete itinerary is below. In celebration of the new tour, The Lone Bellow is releasing a video of a stripped-down performance of "Goodness," one of the songs added to the recently released deluxe edition of their latest full-length, Half Moon Light.
Earlier in the month, The Lone Bellow released the hilarious official music video for "Dried Up River," another fantastic new song added to the deluxe edition Half Moon Light. "Dried Up River" is enjoying an incredible run at radio, currently sitting at #1 on the Americana chart, and rising rapidly at other formats.
WATCH "DRIED UP RIVER"
HALF MOON LIGHT DELUXE EDITION was heralded in April with the song “Making You Cry." The Lone Bellow have partnered with the charitable organization No Kid Hungry and will donate 25% of sale prices of Lone Bellow items purchased on the Dualtone store until May 26 up to a maximum donation of $10,000.
The Lone Bellow’s first new album since 2017, HALF MOON LIGHT debuted at #1 on Billboard’s “Americana/Folk Albums” chart upon its February 2020 release while also coming in at #2 on “Independent Albums” and #4 on the “Vinyl Albums” tally. Produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, HALF MOON LIGHT finds the trio – guitarist Brian Elmquist, lead vocalist Zach Williams, and multi-instrumentalist Kanene Donehey Pipkin – pushing their acoustic storytelling prowess past new horizons, experimenting with textures and instrumentation to create their most sophisticated work to date. Recorded at Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in Upper Hudson Valley, NY and featuring guitarist Josh Kaufman and drummer J.T. Baites, the album includes such indelible tracks as “Wonder,” “Good Times,” “Just Enough To Get By,” and the inspiring hit single, “Count On Me,” the latter of which hit #1 at Americana radio outlets nationwide. A super-charged “Count On Me” lyric video – along with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, live performances, and much more – is streaming now at The Lone Bellow’s official YouTube channel.
Don’t got no tattoos cause Grandma knew it’d keep you out of heaven,” sings the prolific, eclectic, and flat-out entertaining singer and songwriter Early James in the opening line of his newly released tune, “Tumbleweed.” Further cementing the Americana amalgamation of styles and sounds he’s becoming known for, “Tumbleweed” finds James delivering quick, gravelly verses over a jovial fingerstyle guitar part, exploring an idea he describes as “patting yourself on the back while getting pickpocketed.” Finding a song under a previously unturned stone or in the quickness of a passing thought is—his unique vocal delivery notwithstanding—James’s calling card, and “Tumbleweed” is very much on brand.
“‘Tumbleweed’ is about how you’re always kind of in this limbo of thinking you’re smarter than your older self while falling for someone’s new bullshit at the same time,” says James in his profoundly simple way. “Tumbleweed” and its b-side, “Mama Can Be My Valentine” are holdover tunes from James’s 2020 debut, Singing For My Supper, produced by Dan Auerbach and released via his Easy Eye Sound label. After a full year of touring was canceled, the tracks were shelved, but are now available digitally at this link and in 7-inch vinyl format on September 3rd through independent record stores, the Easy Eye Sound online store, and at all Early James tour stops. A full list of tour dates can be found below.
“Mama Can Be My Valentine,” which fills up side two of this new release on Easy Eye Sound, leans a hair more Bakersfield country, grooving and swirling forward as James lists off his ideal “type” of a yet-unattainable lover. The refrain—“Until then, Mama can be my valentine”—came about out of hilarious necessity. “I didn’t have any songs about Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day so I killed two birds with one stone,” James recalls. On the whole, the one-two punch of “Tumbleweed” and “Mama Can Be My Valentine” are a natural extension of the songs from Singing For My Supper, both different examples of just how well James can weave together a story and deliver it with his commanding, earnest voice. “Some people are good singers,” says The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who decided he needed to produce the singer’s debut album at his Easy Eye Sound studio after watching just two seconds of a video of him performing. “And some people are better than good singers, they just have this great form of expression.” That expression which James possesses is on full display with his new 7-inch release and will officially be getting the live treatment on a healthy run of tour dates with The Lone Bellow this fall.