GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter and musician Gregory Alan Isakov’s new song, “Appaloosa Bones”—the title track of his anticipated new record—is debuting today. Listen/share HERE.
Of the song, Isakov shares, “To me, ‘Appaloosa Bones’ is about confronting your mind during difficult and isolated times. I guess it’s my ‘pandemic song’—lines like, ‘There ain’t no work / Just Pennsylvania birds / I heard they’re nesting now in the city / And the TVs on from every window / Evenings fall and flicker through the glass.’ It’s about recognizing that things can be hard, and there’s beauty there, and there’s hope.”
Watch: ‘Appaloosa Bones’ by Gregory Alan Isakov
Appaloosa Bones will be released August 18 via Dualtone Records and Isakov’s own label, Suitcase Town Music (pre-order/pre-save here). Ahead of the release, Isakov has unveiled two additional tracks: “Before The Sun” and “The Fall,” which has earned considerable support from AAA and Americana radio stations across the country. Of “The Fall,” Atwood Magazine praises, “An intimate, breathtakingly beautiful folk song of failure and acceptance, ‘The Fall’ forces us to confront our imperfections and mistakes, all while keeping in mind that age-old mantra: The show must go on.”
Produced by Isakov and Andrew Berlin (Descendents, Rise Against) and recorded at Isakov’s farm outside of Boulder, Appaloosa Bones is his first new album in nearly five years and is filled with his signature “emotionally evocative songwriting style” (NPR Music). With these eleven tracks, Isakov creates an atmospheric collection, infusing lush harmonies with layered instrumental textures of guitars, banjos and piano, many of which Isakov played himself.
In celebration of the new music, Isakov will kick off his extensive headline tour later this summer, which includes shows at New York’s Beacon Theatre (sold out), Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, Seattle’s Paramount Theatre (sold out), San Francisco’s The Masonic, Los Angeles’ Theatre at Ace Hotel (two nights, both sold out), Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre (sold out), Chicago’s Chicago Theatre, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium (two nights, one sold out), Atlanta’s Tabernacle (two nights), Washington DC’s The Anthem, Philadelphia’s Franklin Music Hall and Boston’s Roadrunner (two nights) among many others. Special guests for the tour include Shovels & Rope, Damien Jurado, Lucius, The Milk Carton Kids, and Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers. See below for complete itinerary.
Reflecting on the album, Isakov shares, “I set out to make a folky, small lo-fi rock ‘n’ roll record. And then the songs kind of told me, ‘No, this is what it’s going to be.’ And so I said, ‘OK,’ and after a while, I was just holding onto the reins, waiting to see where it was going and how the material worked. What I found was a collection of songs that brought me back to when I was starting out playing with the band—traveling a lot in the van, playing throughout the Southwest and West. These wide open landscapes had this quietness and expansive deepness that grounded me and evoked a lot of the curiosities I was drawn to when I started writing songs.”
Beloved by his devoted community of fans and critics alike, Isakov has garnered over 1 billion streams to date and recently reached over 5.1 million monthly Spotify listeners. He has released five full-length albums to date, including 2018’s Evening Machines, which was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards. Of the record, NPR Music praised, “rich in narrative detail and beautifully contemplative,” while Billboard asserted, “characteristically ruminative…blending a gentle spaciousness with dusky atmospheres and carefully nuanced textures” and Rolling Stone declared, “beautiful collisions of acoustic instruments, Isakov’s soothing vocals and otherworldly noise.” Additionally, Isakov’s music has been featured in hit shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Big Sky, A Million Little Things, The Haunting of Hill House, Virgin River, The Blacklist, This is Us and many more.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and raised in Philadelphia, Isakov now calls Colorado home. When he isn’t on the road, he spends much of his time writing and recording songs in his barn studio, as well as running Starling Farm (his farm in Boulder County), which provides produce to the farm’s CSA members, local restaurants, and Community Food Share (a Boulder County food bank).