Acclaimed Santa Cruz, California string-band AJ Lee & Blue Summit have announced their highly-anticipated EP, Cover To Cover V1 will be released digitally October 17th via Signature Sounds. Cover To Cover V1 is available for pre-save here. An extensive tour is underway including RockyGrass, Bluegrass in La Roche, Bourbon and Beyond, and Pickin’ in the Pines festivals. The band will also unite with East Nash Grass for a co-headlining tour in November. Please see their complete list of tour dates here.
Lee reflects, “Cover to Cover V1 breathes new life into five of our most beloved songs with tasteful interpretations, modern acoustic textures, and some special personal touches. New tempos, jammed-out, or stretched psychedelically, each track pays tribute to some of our favorite artists and songwriters.”
“Even with deep roots in Bluegrass, we have very broad musical interests throughout the band,” Lee continues. “Bluegrass or not, Cover to Cover V1 is all about reimagining songs we love, mixing in a little bit of our personal connection to the genre, and giving them a fresh, down-home twist.”
Today, the band shares the EP’s third single, “Glendale Train,” featuring Kyle Tuttle. The song refers to the historical event of the first train robbery in American history. Written by New Riders of the Purple Sage’s John Dawson, “Glendale Train” has been a long- time favorite of AJ’s. From jamming it in a friend’s backyard to performing it on stage, AJ Lee and Blue Summit keep the song fluid in its structure and feel. The song takes you on an unexpected journey with its quick paced, high energy before down shifting to an extended low and slow groove.
The EP’s second single, “I’m A Believer” was previously released on July 20th. Watch the live video here.
In addition to the announcement of Cover to Cover V1, AJ Lee & Blue Summit have just been nominated for IBMA New Artist of the Year, and AJ Lee was nominated for IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year. The band also successfully launched and curated their inaugural Sierragrass Festival in May, bringing a world class folk centered lineup to a 1300 acre former golf course and nature reserve in the Sierra foothills.
Cover To Cover V1 Tracklist:
1. Tear My Stillhouse Down (Feat Lindsay Lou) (Gillian Welch)
2. I'm a Believer (Neil Diamond)
3. Glendale Train (Feat Kyle Tuttle) (John Dawson)
4. It Takes One to Know One (Harlan Howard and Freddie Hart)
5. Who Walks In When I Walk Out (Feat Anh Phung & Trey Hensley) (Ralph Freed)
AJ Lee & Blue Summit Tour Dates:
JUL 26 SAT RockyGrass Festival 2025 Lyons, CO
AUG 1 FRI Bluegrass in La Roche 2025 La Roche-sur-foron, France
AUG 16 SAT Delfino Farms Camino, CA
AUG 17 SUN Hopmonk Tavern Novato, CA
SEP 4 THU Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago, IL
SEP 6 SAT 52nd annual Wheatland Music Festival 2025 Remus, MI
SEP 11 THU Bourbon & Beyond 2025 Louisville, Kentucky
SEP 13 SAT Pickin' In The Pines Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival 2025 Flagstaff, AZ
SEP 18 THU Levitt Amp Middlesboro Middlesboro, KY
SEP 20 SAT IBMA World of Bluegrass 2025 Chattanooga, TN
SEP 21 SUN Eddie's Attic Decatur, GA
OCT 16 THU Casbah San Diego, CA
OCT 17 FRI The Hotel Cafe Hollywood, CA
NOV 6 THU Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC
NOV 7 FRI Cat's Cradle Carrboro, NC
NOV 8 SAT The Grey Eagle Asheville, NC
NOV 9 SUN The Ramkat & Gas Hill Drinking Room Winston-Salem, NC
NOV 13 THU Jefferson Theater Charlottesville, VA
NOV 14 FRI Union Craft Brewing Baltimore, MD
NOV 15 SAT F. M. Kirby Center Wilkes-barre, PA
NOV 16 SUN Ardmore Music Hall Ardmore, PA
NOV 19 WED Portland House Of Music and Events (HOME) Portland, ME
NOV 20 THU Narrows Center For The Arts Fall River, MA
NOV 21 FRI The Sinclair Cambridge, MA
NOV 22 SAT Colony Woodstock, NY
NOV 23 SUN Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
More About AJ Lee & Blue Summit:
AJ Lee & Blue Summit are an award-winning, energetic, charming, and technically jaw-dropping bluegrass band quickly rising on the national roots music scene. Based in Santa Cruz, California, the group met as teenagers, picking and jamming together as kids at local bluegrass festivals until one day, they decided they would be a band.
Currently made up of AJ Lee on mandolin, fiddler Jan Purat, bassist Sean Newman and guitarists Scott Gates and Sullivan Tuttle, the band carries that youthful, festival-parking-lot energy with them still today, but at the same time there’s a genuine ease and confidence to their music making. Their Signature Sounds debut, City of Glass (July 19, 2024) is a spellbinding collection of original songs and covers that’s just as much country soul and gritty, bluesy Americana as it is rock club and festival-ready string band fare, all framed through a California folk lens.
