NEWTOWN, "Old World," Mountain Home, 10 tracks
Lexington, Ky.-based NewTown will be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year.
It was born in 2009 when banjo man Junior Williams left NewFound Road to team with his wife, fiddler Kati Penn, to create NewTown, a band that describes itself as "playing traditional bluegrass with a newgrass attitude."
Aaron Ramsey on guitar, Mitchell Cannon on mandolin and Travis Anderson on bass round out the band today.
The new album, "Old World," continues to push boundaries.
"Naomi Wise," a modern murder ballad duet with Williams and Penn, and "Heart of Stone," a song about a woman who'll give her body but not her heart to a man, have already been released as successful singles.
"Evangeline" finds a man broken by the death of the woman he loves.
"Laura Lee," a song about a man leaving Liverpool, England, to sail around the world and hoping the woman he loves will wait for him, sounds like an old English folk song. But it's new.
"The Harvest" finds a man who's turned to crime explaining that it was because his crops failed and his baby needed food.
In "Never Miss The Sun," Penn sings about being so miserable that she wouldn't even miss the sun if it failed to shine.
Look for it Aug. 17 or preorder now at http://thenewtownband.com/www/store.
