Article Contributed by HearthMusic
Published on 2026-10-03
For twenty years, Washington, DC’s Free Dirt Records has quietly shaped the modern roots landscape by championing emerging, tradition-steeped artists. The Long Memory: 20 Years of Free Dirt Records, coming November 6, 2026, celebrates two decades of independent music with 12 unreleased tracks from the label’s vault.
Unreleased demos, B-sides and live cuts from Willi Carlisle, Cinder Well, Kaia Kater and Viv & Riley run alongside brand-new material from newly signed artists like Nathan Evans Fox and Liv Greene, and older archival recordings from early Free Dirt breakouts like The Wilders. The compilation captures a community forged in tradition and a forward-thinking DIY spirit.
A label that operates more as a discovery engine, Free Dirt has been building the careers of some of the best young roots musicians, booking NPR Tiny Desk Concerts, KEXP in-studios, international press coverage and even GRAMMY nominations for these burgeoning artists.
“I feel like we have one foot in the mainstream of the music industry and one foot firmly outside—DIY, radical, independent,” label head Jonathan Een Newton explains.
This kind of balancing act fits well with the label’s interest in genres, providing a home under the roots music umbrella for boundary-pushing artists. But it’s the message at the heart of the music that means so much to Free Dirt. Where other Americana labels may balk at an artist’s activism or political and cultural statements, Free Dirt actively seeks out these artists, encouraging overdue, uncomfortable conversations in roots music while pushing for change.
The Long Memory will be released at the 2026 Brooklyn Folk Festival.
The first single from the compilation, “The Long Game,” from Viv & Riley and Rachel Baiman, is out now. Written by the late Jim Miller, the song originally appeared on Western Centuries’ 2016 debut, Weight of the World.
“Jim’s passing in 2022 while on tour left a profound musical void for all of us,” says Een Newton. In a poignant twist, Vivian Leva of Viv & Riley’s recently deceased mother, Carol Elizabeth Jones, herself a noted Appalachian musician, used to play with Jim Miller in an old-time band.
“‘The Long Game’ is a song written by our departed friend and mentor Jim Miller, an incredible singer, songwriter, and member of fellow Free Dirt band Western Centuries. It contains a constant stream of Jim wisdom, written from his perch a few decades down the line. After Jim’s passing, we found ourselves listening to this song again and again because it feels like Jim speaking to us from beyond.
“When we were first starting out playing together as 18 year olds and Viv was signed to Free Dirt, Jim invited us out to open for Western Centuries and it was a formative first touring experience. We still feel so proud to share a label roster with him on Free Dirt and it feels fitting to share this song as a part of celebrating 20 years of Free Dirt, a label that has greatly shaped the direction our lives have taken.
“This version was recorded as part of the first sessions of our collaborative project kissing other ppl with another dear friend and member of the Free Dirt family, Rachel Baiman. It is particularly profound for us because Jim and Viv’s mom made music together during their formative young musical years. We lost Viv’s mom, Carol Elizabeth Jones, earlier this year, like Jim, far too soon. We imagine them singing together once again, somewhere we can’t yet see. But we hear them all the time.”
