Article Contributed by Signature Sounds
Published on 2026-09-10
AJ Lee & Blue Summit have shared “Red Dirt Girl,” the third single from their forthcoming album Cover To Cover, due September 11 via Signature Sounds. The new track is a mesmerizing rustic take on the Emmylou Harris favorite and features guitar legend Jerry Douglas weaving dobro around AJ Lee’s crystalline voice.
Fans can also watch video of AJ Lee performing “Red Dirt Girl” at WinterWonderGrass Steamboat.
“‘Red Dirt Girl’ was written by Emmylou Harris and released in 2000. I first came across a version on her 2001 album, Hickory Wind, and fell in love with it,” Lee reflects. “The story of a girl named Lilian whose dreams were never achieved tug at my heartstrings every time! The weight of the lyrics and emotion in Emmylou’s voice attest to her superior songwriting and musicianship.”
“When we recorded our version I was a little under the weather, but I think it surprisingly worked out for the better,” continues Lee. “I had to execute a more gentle approach than planned and I was actually happy to have some airy notes.”
A virtuosic four-piece that has taken the progressive bluegrass world by storm, AJ Lee & Blue Summit live for the stage, spending well over a hundred nights a year on the road and putting on the kind of rapturous, ecstatic performances that have made them critical and festival favorites alike. For all the acclaim they’ve garnered over the course of their first three albums, though, there’s an element of the group’s captivating live show that has rarely made it into the studio.
“Our records have pretty much all been original material up to this point,” says Lee (mandolin, vocals), “but our set lists have always had a lot of covers in them. Country, folk, bluegrass, swing, gypsy jazz, we love taking all sorts of songs and putting our stamp on them.”
Cover To Cover, the band’s fourth album, collects eleven of their favorites into a showcase of both the band’s musicianship and their ambition and imagination as arrangers and interpreters. Recorded with longtime friend and engineer Jonathan Kirchner and featuring appearances from Jerry Douglas, Lindsay Lou, Trey Hensley, and more, the album reinvents tunes by Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Emmylou Harris, and others.
Several of the songs date back to the band’s earliest days playing bars and cafes around Santa Cruz, and the arrangements leave plenty of room for solos and harmonies. The result is a love letter from AJ Lee & Blue Summit to the songs that shaped them and a journey through generations of American roots music.
AJ Lee recently served as The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival’s Artist-in-Residence, an honor shared with Billy Strings.
The band resumes an extensive U.S. tour September 23 in Milwaukee and will also appear at Boats and Bluegrass and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
Cover To Cover Track Listing
1. “Fishin’ In The Dark” (Jim Photoglo/Wendy Waldman)
2. “Wish I Could Say” (Bryan Simpson and Ashley Gorley)
3. “Matterhorn” (Mel Tillis & Fred Burch)
4. “Red Dirt Girl” (Emmylou Harris)
5. “Soak Up The Sun” (Sheryl Crow)
6. “Meet Me In The Morning” (Bob Dylan)
7. “Tear My Stillhouse Down” (Gillian Welch)
8. “Drivin’ Nails In My Coffin” (Jerry Irby)
9. “Who Walks In” (Al Goodhart, Al Hoffman, and Ralph Freed)
10. “Takes One To Know One” (Harlan Howard & Freddie Hart)
11. “Glendale Train” (John Dawson)
AJ Lee & Blue Summit 2026 Tour Dates
SEP 23 WED – Falcon Bowl – Milwaukee, WI
SEP 24 THU – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
SEP 25 FRI – Stoughton Opera House – Stoughton, WI
SEP 26 SAT – Boats and Bluegrass Festival – Winona, MN
OCT 2 FRI – Sweetwater Music Hall – Mill Valley, CA
OCT 3 SAT – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass – San Francisco, CA
OCT 9 FRI – Lobero Theatre – Santa Barbara, CA
OCT 10 SAT – Casbah – San Diego, CA
OCT 21 WED – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
OCT 22 THU – The Ramkat & Gas Hill Drinking Room – Winston-Salem, NC
OCT 23 FRI – The Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC
OCT 24 SAT – Neighborhood Theatre – Charlotte, NC
OCT 30 FRI – Sierra Nevada Big Room – Chico, CA
OCT 31 SAT – Rio Theatre – Santa Cruz, CA
NOV 12 THU – The Southern Cafe and Music Hall – Charlottesville, VA
NOV 13 FRI – Pearl Street Warehouse – Washington, DC
NOV 14 SAT – The Sultan Room – Brooklyn, NY
NOV 15 SUN – 118 NORTH – Wayne, PA
NOV 17 TUE – 3S Artspace – Portsmouth, NH
NOV 18 WED – One Longfellow Square – Portland, ME
NOV 19 THU – The Sinclair – Cambridge, MA
NOV 20 FRI – The Iron Horse – Northampton, MA
NOV 21 SAT – Hudson Hall at The Historic Hudson Opera House – Hudson, NY
NOV 22 SUN – Infinity Music Hall – Norfolk, CT
