A meditative timestamp reflecting the isolation, uncertainty and worry prevalent amongst society throughout the outbreak of the pandemic, Shining In The Half Light is an album of self-realisation, but one that lets everyone share in its sense of realism and, ultimately, positivity. It’s a record inspired by those who spread love in a time of heartbreak, happiness in a time of fear, and connection in a time of loneliness. Shining In The Half Light sits at 10 tracks offering nothing short of a brazen, bold and bluesy disposition.

For many artists, the events of the past two years have induced a profuse of challenges. Still, when you’re recognised as one of the hardest-working women in blues, rock and roots music, not even the tumultuous ongoings we’ve collectively faced can falter the laser-focused determination that Elles Bailey hones so offhandedly. Having powered her way to the forefront of the British Blues and Roots scene in recent years, this heavily-awaited third installment is yet another significant step forward in a career already dignified with huge acclamation and a plentiful of awards.

Without hesitation, opening track ‘Cheats And Liars’ launches the album in true Elles Bailey fashion, gracefully bonafide from the outset. Typically not one to throw lyrical punches, we see a new side to Bailey within the introductory minutes of the album, alternately delivering knockout blows. ‘Cheats And Liars’ is Elles’ response to the people sitting quaintly in their ivory towers after showing a lack of regard for those working in the arts. “Thirty-eight percent of musicians, including myself, didn't get any kind of government funding, and some people lost everything. It's been so hard watching how arts has been undervalued at a time when that was what was bringing people together.”

Abundant with flare ‘The Game’, presents Elles’ iconic husky vocals atop riffy layerings - emblazoned with charisma which persists going into track three, ‘Stones’. Plug yourself in and oblige to be consumed by the beguiling workings of Elles Bailey; you can’t help but subconsciously be transported to a location central of Tennessee.

‘Colours Start To Run’ sees the mood shift, leading into the gentle and romantic ‘Different Kind Of Love’. A subdued halfway mark, poised of delicate lulls, tenderness and warmth. Whilst the sultry ‘Who’s That’ sees the soulful remarks return with a hypnotic chorus-driven six-string, the roaring warble of an organ and a creamy blend of voices. ‘Sunshine City’ ramps up the heat, heading into the closing tracks of the record, full of frisk, grit and buoyancy, easing off into the sentimental acoustics of ‘Halfway House’. Penultimate track, ‘Riding Out The Storm’ is a slow-flowing, philosophical number carrying us to closing track ‘Shining In The Half Light’.

Being a new mother, Elles found an unsuspected comfort in the dystopian haze the pandemic placed the world within. She’s explained how having to get off the road, and stepping back to have a baby, would’ve been difficult had she watched everyone else around her carry on doing their thing. The dismal forced stop allowed for growing room and, ultimately, a pertinent shift in perspective. The first of Elles' albums to be fully recorded in the UK - Shining In The Half Light was created whilst she was six months pregnant. Tracking was completed just weeks before Elles gave birth to her first child, and she sat in the hospital waiting room listening to mixes on the big day!

Shining In The Half Light is Bailey’s third full-length album. Featuring guitarist Joe Wilkins, bassist Matthew Waer, Jonny Henderson on the Ivories and drummer Matthew Jones, the record was captured at Middle Farm Studios (Devon) in December 2020 - produced by unlikely creative counterpart, Dan Weller (Enter Shikari). The follow up to 2019’s LP, Road I Call Home, Elles was keen to feature more gospel-infused elements with this next take; in steps Izo Fitzroy. An incredible artist in her own right, Fitzroy arranged the stunning backdrop of vocal opulence heard on Shining In The Half Light, latterly performed alongside Jade Elliot and Andrusilla Mosley.

A profound team of co-writers were involved in the project, with three credits for Ash Tucker and Will Edmunds (previous collaborators of 2019’s Road I Call Home). Longtime guitarist Joe Wilkins (Riding Out The Storm), guitar maestro Martin Harley (Different Kind Of Love), and Matt Owens of indie-folk outfit Noah And The Whale (Sunshine City). Writers Alex Maile, Tamara Stewart and Brett Boyett also have a track each.

At the height of the pandemic last year, Elles unveiled Ain’t Nothing But. A series of cover version livestreams “totally unedited, completely stripped nail and bare to the bones.” The ensuing record was nominated as Blues Album of the Year at the UK Blues Awards 2021, where Elles was named UK Blues Artist of the Year for the second year running. A notable feat subsequent to her previous success at the same awards in 2020 - winning Album of the Year with the critically acclaimed Road I Call Home. Elles also won UK Song of the Year at the 2020 UK Americana Awards with the album’s track ‘Little Piece of Heaven’ (co-written with Bobby Wood and Dan Auerbach).

Shining In The Half Light will be available from 25th February 2022. Pre-Order here.

Tracklist

1.     Cheats And Liars

2.     The Game

3.     Stones

4.     Colours Start To Run

5.     Different Kind Of Love

6.     Who’s That

7.     Sunshine City

8.     Halfway House

9.     Riding Out The Storm

10.  Shining In The Half Light

On May 6th 2022 two-time Grammy nominee Beth Nielsen Chapman returns with her bluesy new single ‘Hey Girl’, her first new music in over four years, and the first taste of her upcoming 15th album, CrazyTown, out this autumn on Cooking Vinyl (Pre-order)

With a career spanning nearly 40 years, Beth proves she’s still as vital as ever with this anthemic new track written in reaction to the ‘Me Too’ movement, a song Beth calls her “celebratory shout out to our sisters making their way in the world.”

Beth Neilsen Chapman: “We were talking about the capacity for survival and overcoming the challenges that are part of being in the world as a female, balancing strength and vulnerability. As the writing of the song progressed, we touched on feeling lost, being taken advantage of, and navigating one’s safety and the experience of not being taken seriously.”

Produced by legendary producer Ray Kennedy (Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle) and co-written with hit songwriter Annie Roboff and the UK’s Jessica Sweetman, ‘Hey Girl’ blends elements of classic rock, blues and pop to great effect, demanding attention with its addictive chorus and Beth’s effortless vocal. It’s a welcome return for this acclaimed singer songwriter and a bold introduction to the forthcoming new album.

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016, Nashville based, Beth Nielsen Chapman has released fourteen solo albums and written seven #1 hits and songs recorded by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Elton John and Neil Diamond, plus many more. It’s been four years since her last album, 2018’s ‘Hearts of Glass’ and for the upcoming ‘CrazyTown’ Bethhas signed to UK imprint Cooking Vinyl.  

Beth: “CrazyTown’ is a collection of songs that reflect all the twists and turns of life, especially reflective of this wild ride we have all been living through. I’m looking forward to hitting the road with this new music finally seeing the light of day.” 

To celebrate the release Rough Trade have a signed exclusive coloured edition of the album. You can also get a personally signed and numbered Test Pressing on the D2C store, along with LP & signed CD via Amazon Pre Order.  

Beth will also be returning to the UK for a new 20-date tour, kicking off on 18 October in Stamford. Full dates, dates below. Tickets here.

Ever since the release of her first album ‘Hearing It First’ in 1980, Beth Nielsen Chapman has undoubtedly made her mark in music. Her body of work includes seven #1 hits and spans a diverse roster of legendary artists who have covered her songs including Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Keb’ Mo and Elton John, and has often been featured in Film and T.V. The depth of her music reflects her resilience and strength, having come through many life challenges, she has survived with humour and an endless sense of wonder, as vital as ever. Her new album ‘CrazyTown’ offers further insight into the heart and soul of a hugely established artist who, 40 years into her career, continues to take risks and create something entirely new.

Produced by the celebrated 5-time Grammy Award winner Ray Kennedy (who’s worked with everyone from Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, and Shania Twain, to John Mellencamp and Taylor Swift) ‘CrazyTown’ combines elements of classic rock, blues and pop to great effect. It’s a deeply personal collection, exploring themes of navigating the ups and downs of life and love, but, as with all Beth’s albums – still with plenty of light at the end of the tunnel.

“It’s about navigating chaos” says Beth. “How, even despite everything being crazy, on some level one can trust that things are in divine order and that we will be OK. There’s a lot of groove and joy and fun on this album, along with a couple of deep dive ballads.”

Album highlights include the celebratory opener ‘All Around the World’ and ‘Put a Woman in Charge’ - a powerful- more humanitarian than political- declaration for female leadership, originally written with and released by Keb Mo (ft Rosanne Cash) and now recorded by Beth herself. The upcoming single, ‘With Time’ (Out July 15th) is a beautiful lament on the passing of time, illustrating all Beth has ever wanted to say about “wonder and time and love, the magic of life and the breath of our journey through it.” The retro-sounding ‘Dancin’ With the Past’ tackles a similar theme but handles it differently, finding Beth at peace with what has gone before, and preferring to look forward rather than back.

You can feel the emotion in epic ballad ‘The Edge’ written about losing her first husband to cancer in 1994. “It is about acquiescing to the absolute depths of sadness and fear and a loss of trust in how to turn things around,” says Beth. “Sometimes when we are in deep grief we have to speak about the experience because others are there in it too and writing about it and expressing it moves us through it.”

Things pick up a gear with the blistering blues rock of tracks like ‘The Universe’, which Beth calls ‘“Jumpin Jack Flash” meets Tom Petty on “The Last Train To Clarksville’ and ‘Pocket of My Past’ – a survivor’s anthem about better times ahead with the addictive chorus -“I stuck a picture of my future in the pocket of my past and when I wake up from this nightmare, I will get to live my life at last.” Something we can all relate to post Covid.

There’s also the recent single - ‘Hey Girl (We Can Deal With It)’ - a modern blues triumph written about celebrating the power of women looking out for their sisters. In the spirit of Ginger Rogers who, when asked how it felt to dance with Gene Kelly replied, “Oh it’s great. I just do everything Gene does except backwards and in high heels!”  Ironically completed around the time of the beginning of the “Me Too” movement.

Tumbling along in the feel-good vibes of ‘Everywhere We Go’ is the message about how messed up things can get and how sometimes you’ve just got to grab that person you love and take a break from it all so as not to lose your mind. Whilst the melancholy album closer ‘Walk You to Heaven’ is a beautiful comforting goodbye to a loved one written with Kimmie Rhodes and Mindy Smith, in the style of the brilliant John Prine not long after his death.

Whilst CrazyTown will give fans everything they want from a Beth Nielsen Chapman record it’s actually quite a departure for her, in terms of overall sound and also in the recording process. “I let go more on this record than I have ever before in my recording experiences” admits Beth, who happily let producer Ray Kennedy take the reins on which musicians played on the record. “I turned to Ray and said “put me together a slamming band”. And boy did he ever!”

Beth: ‘CrazyTown is a bit of a leap for me. I’ve always loved being in the studio and making records, but I think this experience of these sessions with Ray Kennedy producing really captured the feel and the breath of what happens when I perform live…there’s a spontaneity and immediacy to my vocals and the whole sound has a rawness and an edge that I really love.’

Though Beth had originally intended to re-record her vocals and guitar, which she always plays simultaneously when tracking sessions, she found this time that she couldn’t come close to topping the excitement and energy that got captured as everything went down live with the band.

Beth Nielsen Chapman is an artist with many accolades to her name: mega-hit ‘This Kiss’, sung by Faith Hill, was ASCAP’s 1999 Song of The Year, garnered a Grammy nomination and Nashville NAMMY’s 1999 Songwriter of the Year. Beth also received a special award by The Alabama Music Hall of Fame and was the recipient of The Distinguished Artist Award from the Alabama State Council on the Arts in 2009 and in October of 2016, Beth was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, one she considers to be the highest honour she’s ever received.  In 2019 Beth was invited to become an Ambassador for the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation.

‘CrazyTown’ is out now on Cooking Vinyl. To celebrate the release Rough Trade have a signed exclusive coloured edition of the album. You can also get a personally signed and numbered Test Pressing on the D2C store, along with LP & signed CD via Amazon Pre Order.

Beth will also be returning to the UK for a new 20-date tour this October. Full dates, dates below. Tickets here.

Born out of a day’s writing with Kimmie Rhodes and Mindy Smith, ‘Walk You To Heaven’ is a beautiful and comforting goodbye to a loved one. It serves as the closing track on the upcoming album and showcases Beth Nielsen Chapman’s talent of conveying difficult emotions in a beautiful melody. ‘We were talking about the depth and beauty of the songs written by John Prine and his body of work and how exquisitely simple he could be while also bringing us to such a rich place with his lyrics,’ says Beth. ‘He had just passed not long before the day we were writing this song and we sent up an invitation to Heaven for him to feel free to send down any hints on how to write it.’

As for ‘The Universe’, another song written with Kimmie Rhodes, Beth describes it as ‘“Jumpin Jack Flash” meets Tom Petty on “The Last Train to Clarksville”’. This blistering blues rock track hurtles along as it takes a look at our world and beyond. The chaotic musicality of it matches with the scale of its themes: ‘It was just such a big idea and it covered so much territory (thus the title). It’s about what we’ve done to the earth and the way that the earth so brilliantly operates from the center of its own deep wisdom and how its creatures (including us) are “trapped in the forces and synchronistic consequences of the universe.”’ – Beth

Produced by the celebrated 5-time Grammy Award winner Ray Kennedy (who’s worked with everyone from Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, and Shania Twain, to John Mellencamp and Taylor Swift) ‘Walk You To Heaven / The Universe’ is the third release from ‘CrazyTown’ following previous singles ‘With Time’ and ‘Hey Girl (We Can Deal With It)’. The new album, out this September combines elements of classic rock, blues and pop to great effect. It’s a deeply personal collection, exploring themes of navigating the ups and downs of life and love, but, as with all Beth’s albums – still with plenty of light at the end of the tunnel.

“It’s about navigating chaos” says Beth. “How, even despite everything being crazy, on some level one can trust that things are in divine order and that we will be OK. There’s a lot of groove and joy and fun on this album, along with a couple of deep dive ballads.”

Beth Nielsen Chapman is an artist with many accolades to her name: mega-hit ‘This Kiss’, sung by Faith Hill, was ASCAP’s 1999 Song of The Year, garnered a Grammy nomination and Nashville NAMMY’s 1999 Songwriter of the Year. Beth also received a special award by The Alabama Music Hall of Fame and was the recipient of The Distinguished Artist Award from the Alabama State Council on the Arts in 2009 and in October of 2016, Beth was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, one she considers to be the highest honour she’s ever received.  In 2019 Beth was invited to become an Ambassador for the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation.

Award-winning Americana collective Morganway continue their upward trajectory with latest single, ‘World Stopped Running’, ahead of their UK headline tour this spring and forthcoming new album Back To Zero out May 5th.
 
Placing themselves in a different world from previous release ‘Wait For Me’, which showcased the band’s darker, rockier influence, ‘World Stopped Running’ was written during lockdown on a retro synthesiser and features bassist Callum Morgan on lead vocals.
 
“I was cooped up at home and playing around with synth patterns,” Callum recalls. “I can’t play the keyboard well at all, so when I started this riff it was pretty primitive, but something about it stuck. I combined it with a more folky, protest song I was working on and the riff became the chant the song is built around.”
 
Still unable to perform together, Callum sent a demo of the song to the band. Upon hearing, there was initially some resistance.
 
“I admit when I first heard the tune it was a dark time and I was jarred by its somewhat childish frivolity,” says Nicole J Terry, who plays fiddle in Morganway. “I have come to see it more as an act of rebellion at the situation that created it – why not just sing your heart out with joy if that’s all you can do? It shows the importance of supporting the visions of your bandmates. Unity wins.”
 
Despite the underlying fears of the time, it was also unity that inspired the song, sparked by a conversation with a friend, who suggested Callum should write a hopeful song about the future.
 
“That message fitted with the upbeat, major key synth riff, and even though there is a slight protest element to the lyrics, they are above all a celebration” continues Callum. “‘World Stopped Running’ as a phrase may sound quite literal regarding lockdown, but I think it’s more about facing something together, like the future, like change. You’re not running away anymore.”
 
Morganway are the BCMA’s Group of the Year for the second year running. A Norfolk/Cambridge-based six piece founded by twins Callum (lead vocals, bass) and Kieran Morgan (lead guitar, vocals),  SJ Mortimer (lead vocals, guitar), Matt Brocklehurst (keyboard, vocals), Nicole J Terry (fiddle, vocals) and Ed Bullinger (drums, vocals) complete the lineup.
 
‘World Stopped Running’ is available on all major streaming platforms.  The single features on Morganway’s second album Back To Zero, which will be released Friday 5th May.

Songwriting legend Beth Nielsen Chapman is back, announcing two new singles and a UK summer tour for August 2023.

Following last year’s album CrazyTown, which charted at Number One on the Official UK Country Chart and won praise from the likes of Record Collector, Maverick and RnR Magazine, acclaimed songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman is making her return with new music for 2023. Her first new single ‘Back To This Moment,’ co-written with Michigan singer-songwriter May Erlewine towards the end of the pandemic is a sprightly Americana-bluegrass tune with a kick-ass backbeat, reflecting on and longing for better days gone by. In lines such as ‘waiting for the sun to shine through’, Beth skilfully taps into the collective mindset of those who would love for the good times to return.

“Back to This Moment is a song about resilience in the face of the world coming through chaos and pain” says Beth.  “The rhythm helps to offset some of the pain in the song, we wanted it to be entertaining and uplifting musically but also talk about that stuff life puts us through. It’s got to have that depth of field which I think we all need to acknowledge.”

“Boy I can relate to that now in a totally different way than I was relating to it when we were actually writing the song. I went through a big loss this past December when my husband Bob died of cancer. This song came back into my mind and I thought - “I really want to put this song out.”

It tells the truth but it also carries the feeling that we’re gonna keep going because that’s what we do and I really love that it has that energy of hope in it. We’re all in this together and it’s music that is keeping me going moment to moment.”

‘Back To This Moment’ will be followed quickly by another new track, ‘Love’ out July 14th. Stay tuned for more information coming soon. Alongside the new music Beth has also announced a brand-new UK tour, taking in England, Scotland and Wales this August. Tickets available here. And full dates as follows:

2nd August – Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis
3rd August – Acapela Studio, Cardiff
4th August – Nell’s, London
6th August – Underneath the Stars Festival, Cawthorne, Yorkshire
8th August – The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

Last year saw Beth release her latest album CrazyTown, an album that charted at Number One on the Official UK Country Chart. The record won press support from Record Collector, The Independent, Maverick, AmericanaUK and RnR Magazine among many other titles, while receiving radio coverage from Ken Bruce and Bob Harris on their respective shows on BBC Radio 2, as well as BBC Radio 4 and Radio Scotland. Following the album’s release, Beth embarked on a 22-date tour of the UK, receiving glowing reviews for her performances from Louder Than War, God Is In The TV and The Arts Desk.

Beth Nielsen Chapman is an artist with many accolades to her name: mega-hit ‘This Kiss’, sung by Faith Hill, was ASCAP’s 1999 Song of The Year, garnered a Grammy nomination and Nashville NAMMY’s 1999 Songwriter of the Year. Beth also received a special award by The Alabama Music Hall of Fame and was the recipient of The Distinguished Artist Awardfrom the Alabama State Council on the Arts in 2009 and in October of 2016, Beth was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, one she considers to be the highest honour she’s ever received.  In 2019 Beth was invited to become an Ambassador for the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation.

Recently Beth’s collaboration with her friend Olivia Newton John was included on ‘Olivia – Just The Two of Us’ – a special collection released to celebrate Olivia’s career. Their song Stone In My Pocket, which originally appeared on 2016’s ‘Liv On’ - Olivia’s album with Beth and Amy Sky - is part of 17-track album celebrating Olivia’s duets. Other artists featured include Dolly Parton, Mariah Carey, Barry Gibb, John Travolta, Sir Cliff Richard and more.

Multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Jack Francis invites you to ‘buckle up for the ride’ on the deceptively buoyant single ‘Failure’, taken from his new album Early Retirement due for release 22nd March.

While touching on a similar theme of frustration like previous track ‘Lifeline’, Southampton-based musician Jack Francis flips the narrative with his new release ‘Failure’ and sings from a place of humbling acceptance. He draws from personal experience and reflects on his success as a musician, or lack thereof, with plenty of ironic humour as he opens with the stellar lines, ‘No money in my future, no gown made of silk… They say the cream rises to the top, I guess I’m the milk.’ Yet for the misery the lyrics suggest, musically, the singer-songwriter’s unique brand of ‘soulful folk’ is on glorious display, providing a perfect counterpart to the lyrics with gospel-inspired harmonies, choppy guitar lines and hazy organ chords.

Jack Francis: ‘They say to write what you know… “Failure” is about what it’s like to be an artist in the current climate. Whilst it is tongue in cheek, it definitely comes from personal experience. In the time I’ve been an active musician, pretty much everything about what it means to do this for a living has changed and “Failure” conveys some of those difficulties and frustrations.’

‘Failure’ is the second of Jack Francis’s 2024 singles following ‘Lifeline’, both of which precede his new record Early Retirement (out 22nd March), exploring a broad range of influences and touching on areas of great British, Irish and American songwriting. The lyrical content demonstrates the writer’s acerbic wit and attention to detail, compounding his experience navigating modern society and fallen dreams. On production duties once again is Archie Sylvester (of folk duo Ferris & Sylvester), making the entirety of the record at their home studio. Providing a wide-open window into his psyche, the musician tackles tough yet common subjects in the current climate with no filter, as he blurs the lines between folk, rock, soul and country.

Jack Francis: ‘Early Retirement is a record about endings and new beginnings. It’s about riding out fallen dreams and trying to navigate modern society as an old soul in a new world. It comes from a very personal place as a writer and conveys my concerns, doubts, sense of humour and stubborn determination to build a life in the field I’ve dedicated myself to.

‘This was a concept album from the very start – it was a conscious choice to make this a singular, coherent piece of work that would stand the test of time in both the aspect of the songwriting and the messages I’m trying to communicate.’

Jack Francis’ career in music began when he was 15, honing his craft performing in pubs, clubs and venues. After more than 10 years of touring around the UK, he briefly became a songwriter for a publishing house, penning pop songs for other artists. This resulted in a creative fire being fuelled to write and record music on his own terms. Early single releases were championed by Tom Robinson on his BBC 6Music show and BBC Introducing, with further radio support down the line from BBC Radio 2 as well as Iain Anderson and Ricky Ross of BBC Scotland.

Upon release of Jack’s self-titled debut album, it received press support from Louder Than War, AmericanaUK, and Holler Country among many other titles. Jack has also gained a reputation as a must-see live performer, having played a slew of Sofar Sounds shows, opened for the likes of Flyte and Courtney Marie Andrews and appeared at several major UK festivals such as Isle of Wight, Victorious and Stone Free Festival at London’s iconic O2 Arena.