Saving Country Music - Anticipated Albums

Most Anticipated Albums & Rumors for the 2nd Half of 2018

Trigger Reviews 

2018 has been incredibly busy with new albums in the country and roots realm, and the 2nd half of the year looks to be just as busy. So to help you keep track of it all and perhaps help separate the wheat from thew chaff, here is a handy guide to some of the top releases to anticipate, a more expansive list of confirmed releases, and a rumor mill where any potential insight into upcoming releases is included.

Karen Jonas – Butter – June 1st

A long-time favorite of Saving Country Music since the release of her debut album Oklahoma Lottery, Karen Jonas is back with her latest album called Butter, which is said to delve into the hectic life of a full-time musician having to balance a family life. Long-time guitarist Tim Bray joins Karen, as does producer Jeff Covert.

“Whether I’m finishing up a gig at midnight or getting pounced on by my kids at 6:30 a.m., I usually feel like my life is a circus. So I started writing songs about my circus,” Karen says. “My first two albums featured a lot of heartbroken songs. That didn’t feel authentic for this album. Butter is about my story now, as a working musician and mother — about the challenges of each role and, especially, the challenge of balancing the two. It’s about baking my cake and eating it, too.”

Lonesome Highway - Review

Reviews By Stephen Rapid

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2018 AT 07:55AM. 

Karen Jonas Butter Self Release

There is a sense of maturity about this new album from Karen Jonas. She is a mother as well as a working musician and so that has to mean that she doesn’t have a great deal of time to mess around and on her latest album she looks at her life and delivers a set of songs that reflect her life and loves. This means a smooth mix of twang and torch. A subtle blend of country, folk as well as a touch of soul and jazz tinged moments. 

The title song relates to a love of baking in her kitchen and the associations that butter has with her family, her upbringing and also the family she is raising currently.It’s about being at home with family as much as being at home with her music. There are also references to the circus of life in songs like the directly titled   as well as in Mr Wonka. Elsewhere she walks, reluctantly, down Yellow Brick Road (“paved with fool’s gold”), Butter is an allegory for the good things and Jonas alludes to that with the track’s big band feel. Then thereare the tales of heartbreak and woe that often are the subject of country aligned albums.

The album was co-produced by long term associates who worked on the last two albums, guitarists Tim Bray and Jeff Covert, in a studio in hometown Fredericksburg in Virginia. It features a full, warm sound that includes pedal steel, fiddle, keyboards and brass, alongside a strong rhythm section and some versatile guitar contributions. Often, they recorded in late night sessions after the kids were tucked up which gives the album a sense of comfort and ease with unforced late night attributions. There is a timeless feel throughout that has both class and sass. All three of Jonas’ albums are worthy of attention and the combined talents of all those involved have produced a set of recordings that are as real and tasty as butter on a good bread.

Johnny's Garden - Review

Karen Jonas: Butter

The Parlor Soldiers, het duo wat ze samen vormde met Alex Culbreth, bracht in 2011 het bijzonder fraaie album When the Dust Settles uit. Helaas bleef het bij dat wapenfeit en startte de in Fredericksburg, Virginia geboren en getogen zangeres een solocarrière. Haar tweede albumCountry Songs kon twee jaar geleden op veel bijval rekenen, waaronder van mij. De titel dekte de lading, een prima countryplaat van een uitstekende zangeres en fantastisch gitaarspel van Tim Bray. Ondanks al die lovende woorden en bijval kwam Butter via crowdfunding  tot stand. Voor de derde maal op rij werd opgenomen in de plaatselijke Wally Cleaver’s Recording Studio van Jeff Covert. Ook ontbreekt opnieuw het geweldige gitaarspel van Tim Bray niet. Deze keer reikt het palet echter verder dan alleen country. Zo horen we in het titelnummer dat Karen ook uit de voeten kan in jazzmateriaal. Naast haar gebruikelijke folk- en countryinvloeden, hoor je verder sporen terug van ragtime, blues en soul. Dat levert een heerlijk gevarieerde plaat op. Tekstueel omschrijft Karen het album kernachtig als : “Butter is about my story now, as a working musician and mother - the challenges of each role and, especially, the challenge of balancing the two. It's about baking my cake and eating it, too.”. Bij beluistering moest ik trouwens af en toe, mede door de pedal steel van Jim Byram, denken aan de prachtige alt country van Grey DeLisle. Beiden weten met hun extraverte zang hun songs iets extra’s mee te geven. Karen had ook de beschikking over een uitstekende, uit zeven man bestaande  blazerssectie, waarvoor Zack Smith de arrangementen schreef. Het is een album zonder fillers geworden, maar favoriete song  is toch wel Oh Icarus. De voorgaande twee albums waren al fraai, maar Butter is voor mij haar mooiste tot nu toe.

Song Premiere - Karen Jonas "My Sweet Arsonist"

Karen Jonas talks about the new track “My Sweet Arsonist” and gives C&I readers an exclusive first listen.

With two widely acclaimed albums already to her credit, country singer Karen Jonas is on the verge of releasing a third, Butter, available on June 1.

Putting a spotlight on her personal life, Jonas has created an entertaining compilation of songs that illustrate the triumphs and obstacles of balancing home life with touring and performing. She calls that balancing act a “circus,” but her journey as a working musician and mother of four has made for rich subject matter and captivating tunes.

A year in the making, Butter was coproduced with Jeff Covert and Tim Bray and written and recorded in Jonas’ hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia. As Jonas says on a Kickstarter funding site for the record, “The result is 10 vibey songs with retro feels and enough character to sink your ship of expectations.”

C&I caught up with the busy Jonas for a quick chat about the track “My Sweet Arsonist,” one of the standouts on Butter.

Cowboys & Indians: If you had to describe your music to someone who has never heard it before ...
Karen Jonas: Alt-country/Americana, more retro than vintage, smart and honest, and sometimes a little snarky.

C&I: What’s the story behind “My Sweet Arsonist”? Did someone in particular inspire it?
Jonas: I wrote “My Sweet Arsonist” when our son was an infant. It’s a love song inspired by looking at my fiancé and our beautiful family through the lens of all of this warm maternal energy and satisfaction, and wanting to make it last forever. We’ve both been married and divorced, so I wanted to capture a passionate but wiser, realistic love. It’s about remaining optimistic about love “through the wreckage” of life.

C&I: I’m sure you had an idea of what you wanted this song to sound like before you went into the studio. Is it what you imagined?
Jonas: I wanted it to sound like a peaceful morning, with all of those layers of rich and beautiful instruments — the guitar, piano, and pedal steel. But it was a little lost and wandering until Jeff added the harmonies and drums while he was mixing. In the end, it might be my favorite recording on the album.

C&I: Have you performed it live yet?
Jonas: We have not! It’s due for a debut any day now. I don’t sing a lot of nice love songs, so I’m interested to hear how people react.

Get an exclusive first listen to “My Sweet Arsonist” below.

Planet Country - Review

Karen Jonas - Butter

Da Fredericksburg, Virginia arriva una delle migliori sorprese di quest’anno in ambito country, fuori dal giro delle major di Nashville e proprio per questo portatrice di un suono meno standardizzato. Karen Jonas è al terzo album dopo l’esordio nel 2014 con “Oklahoma Lottery” e il seguito di due anni dopo con “Country Songs”. “Butter” riserva sorprese e il fascino delle influenze più diversificate, dal jazz al cosiddetto ‘barroom soul’ con le sue affinità a certe ballate country, patrimonio di un’artista dalle molteplici e caleidoscopiche qualità. Il disco è sospeso tra la bravura nell’interpretare country songs come le iniziali “Yellow Brick Road” e “My Sweet Arsonist” che ci conducono in territori conosciuti ma reinterpretati con sicurezza e talento per poi spiazzarci con un numero jazz come “Butter” che personalmente mi ricorda alcune cose della ormai quasi dimenticata Michelle Shocked, musicista che ha saputo unire queste diverse sensibilità e renderle credibili, con la tromba di Zachary Smith a stuzzicare l’ascoltatore trasportandolo nel tempo e nello spazio con grande bravura. “Gospel Of The Road” riprende il filo del discorso con una ‘southern ballad’ dove country e soul si incrociano in modo assolutamente naturale, “Kamikaze Love” non è l’ordinaria canzone country e il suo sguardo ‘obliquo’ la rende personale con eccellenti break chitarristici e di pedal steel, “Oh Icarus” conferma quanto Karen Jonas riesca ad essere originale, nei testi e nell’approccio, riavvicinandosi ancora ad atmosfere ‘jazzy’ e swingando alla grande, “Mama’s First Rodeo” è una sontuosa canzone country con tutti gli stilemi del genere ma, grazie ad un’altra grande performance, risulta tra le migliori del disco, “Dance With Me” è più pop ma come si faceva quaranta o più anni fa, una ballata agrodolce nuovamente splendida nel testo, quasi ‘Sinatriana’ è invece “Mr. Wonka”, curiosa e bizzarra unione di jazz e pop che non sarebbe dispiaciuta al ‘Rat Pack’ mentre la chiusura è affidata ad una “The Circus” che dà l’esatta misura delle qualità di Karen Jonas, notevolissime. Una cantante ed autrice che a volte si diverte a disorientare i suoi ascoltatori con deviazioni improvvise ma che alla fine porta a termine un lavoro più che buono. (Remo Ricaldone)

Mother Church Pew - Dance With Me

PREMIERE: “DANCE WITH ME” BY KAREN JONAS

MAY 14, 2018 SUSAN HUBBARD 

“Nobody told me that life would be so hard,” Karen Jonas sings as she makes the understatement of the century in her new single “Dance With Me,” featured on her new album Butter, set for release on  June 1st.

“Dance With Me” is an invitation to the listener to participate, to “step down from the mansion and dance”–she literally dares us to stay in the game. The waltz-y feel of the tune, grounded in an alt-country low end-leaning guitar atmosphere that provides a lovely foundation for her tender vocal style, shows us that she’s ready and not going anywhere, y’all.

“I wrote ‘Dance With Me’ when we had a potential music industry deal fall through,” she explains of the song’s inspiration. “I had to let them know that I was pregnant with my third child, and they backpedaled hard. The song was an invitation for them to hang in there with us, to believe in me enough to work through it. I think a lot of women lose their voices because of the assumptions people make about the challenges of pregnancy and parenthood, and it’s hard to catch back up,” she says. “I worked hard through all of my babies, but it still lost me a potentially valuable deal.”

It’s a sad reality that society, on some level, expects women to choose between their careers and their families; artists  like Jonas (as well as the very existence of this outlet where you’re reading this post at this moment) are solid proof that we can, and we will if we so choose, to have both.

Without further ado, Mother Church Pew proudly presents “Dance With Me” by Karen Jonas:

Wide Open Country - Oh Icarus

Song Premiere: Karen Jonas Deconstructs a Myth With ‘Oh Icarus’

BY BOBBY MOORE

Amber Renee Photography

A mother of four with steadfast musical ambitions, Virginia-based singer, songwriter and guitarist Karen Jonas finds inventive ways to tell her story on forthcoming album Butter, out June 1. She even turns to ancient literary inspiration in the form of “Oh Icarus,” an allegory about a Greek god wiped out by his own hubris.

Horns and other ancillary instruments make it sound like a country guitarist starts playing in unison with Cajun musicians. This melting pot sets the proper cinematic pace for a detailed update to an ancient myth.

“We asked Fredericksburg musician Zack Smith to record a trumpet part on this song,” Jonas says. “It was the first song on the album with trumpet, and we were so blown away by the sound. He had some awesome ideas that fit in with (band mate Tim Bray’s) guitar parts perfectly. It came together really smoothly, and we decided to add horns to a few other songs on the album. ”

As for why she chose to revisit the story of Icarus, Jonas sees him as a cautionary tale about more than just aiming too low or overshooting your limits.

“He is judged harshly, and the moral is that we shouldn’t be so bold,” she says. “I began to think about the way we use other people’s failures to limit our own goals. I wrote the song from the perspective of judgment, but the underlying message is that we should support each other and believe in ourselves. I want to aim for the sky, even though Icarus failed.”

Although the song’s themes reflect her life, Jonas tells the story with an air of light-heartedness. “I always smile when I sing, ‘“Wasted resources,” he thought on his way down/I’d be better off if I built a boat/Be grateful for the ground‘,” she says. “It’s supposed to be a bit of a sideways joke, because Icarus drowns in the sea when his wings melt. Sometimes we simplify the answers to other people’s complicated problems.”

Glide Magazine - Butter Premiere

SONG PREMIERE: KAREN JONAS CELEBRATES WARMNESS OF MOTHERHOOD WITH “BUTTER”

With three albums under her belt, four kids at home, and a touring schedule of 150+ shows per year, Karen Jonas doesn’t have time for any fillers. “Whether I’m finishing up a gig at midnight or getting pounced on by my kids at 6:30 a.m., I usually feel like my life is a circus,”she says. “So I started writing songs about my circus.”

She shines a light on the triumphs and challenges of that busy life with her newest release, Butter, which is out on June 1st. As rich as its name suggests, Butter mixes the textured twang of Jonas’s folk and country roots. It’s a sound she explored fully on her previous album, 2016’s Country Songs, a diverse influences of ragtime, blues, jazz, and barroom soul. It’s her broadest, boldest album to date, with songs that anchor themselves in Southern storytelling and Jonas’s smooth, unforced croon. Written and recorded in her hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia, Butter is a retro-minded album for the modern age – the sound of a songwriter celebrating her circumstances. Butteris Karen Jonas’s finest combination of melody and message to date, stripped free of artificial ingredients and fillers. This is Butter – smooth one minute, decadent the next, and fulfilling throughout.

Today Glide is excited to premiere the title track from the album. The feels like it could be in a dimly lit lounge with Jonas dishing out her sultry, swaggering vocals to a soundtrack of slinky, jazz soul. While it may not strike you on first listen, this is a song that is as much about the joys of motherhood as it is about soaking up the nightlife. Jonas leaves it open to interpret it as an ode to either or, and that is exactly what makes her such a compelling singer and songwriter. She also exudes a command over her platform, letting her vocals swing and sway with the brass, piano and organ that backs her up. 

Listen to the tune and read our quick chat with Karen below…

What prompted you to write this song? Was there something specific that happened or that inspired you to put pen to paper?

I truly do use a lot of butter in the kitchen! I love to bake. I was baking one day and I said aloud, “Mama cooks with butter,” and it stuck in my head. I was pregnant with my baby Maggie and playing a show in New York City last year when I decided to finish up the song. There’s something warm and sensual about pregnancy and motherhood, and I wanted to capture a little bit of that energy in “Butter.”

This song really seems to encapsulate juggling work and home life successfully. Is this something you feel passionately about? Do you feel you have a grasp on doing both well with four kids at home?

I do feel passionate about being able to do both things! “Butter” is really about embracing the “at home” angle. One of the big challenges of trying to be a successful artist AND a mother is being able to stay focused on one thing or the other. If I’m worrying about my kids at a show, I won’t perform well. And I can’t parent well if I’m too caught up in my own head and my music business. “Butter” is about embracing the at-home role, and being confident and authentic while doing it.

What do your kids think of your music? Do any of them show any interest in making music themselves?

My kids are so sweet about my music. We play some daytime events, and it’s always a treat to have them there to watch. One of my favorite moments this year was when my daughter June (she’s 9 but an old soul) walked up and gave me a hug after a show and said, “I’m so proud of you, Mommy.” They are all artistically inclined, and they see art as a valid career path and way of life. My goal is to support them as they find their own paths; I don’t want to push them to pursue anything in particular.

What are your favorite things to cook with butter?

I’m a baker first, I’ve been baking cookies since I was a little kid. I’ve expanded my repertoire to include more practical things like cooking dinner, but usually with some buttery dinner rolls to go along and cupcakes for dessert.

Karen Jonas releases Butter on June 1st. For more music and info visit karenjonasmusic.com.

Whurk Magazine - Review

Karen Jonas
Butter

Fredericksburg • June 1, 2018

On Karen Jonas’ third album, she nimbly transposes her simultaneous experiences as both musician and mother of four into a smooth collection of her trademark country songs. The dual role must absolutely be a challenge, but Jonas is such a natural that the output comes off seemingly effortlessly. The tracks draw from a number of genres and reference a litany of twentieth century notable personalities. The title track drips with jazzy horns as she decadently describes a mama who “looks like Grace Kelly” and “tastes like Betty Crocker.”

Guitarist Tim Bray dazzles as usual, soloing and shredding his way across the verdant plain, most notably on “Gospel of the Road.” The tongue-in-cheek “Mama’s First Rodeo” features an entrancing slide guitar as Jonas calls bullshit to an unseen spinner of lies while playfully toying with her own half truths, “It’s just like Abraham Lincoln said, ‘I pity the fool.’” The final track “Circus” is an encapsulation of the album’s overall theme: What is life like when you you have one foot in showbiz and the other in a domestic household? If these ten songs are any indication, Jonas is an acrobatic master worthy of the center ring.

The Boot - Yellow Brick Road Premiere

KAREN JONAS, ‘YELLOW BRICK ROAD’ [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Virginia-based singer-songwriter Karen Jonas is premiering her song "Yellow Brick Road" exclusively for readers of The Boot. Press play below to listen.

Taking obvious inspiration from The Wizard of Oz, Jonas got the idea for "Yellow Brick Road" while reading the classic book written by L. Frank Baum with her daughters. In its pages, she found some interesting parallels to her own experiences as an artist.

"Dorothy takes a long walk down the Yellow Brick Road and hinges her fate on the Great and Powerful Oz. He’s a likable enough character, but a fraud," Jonas tells The Boot. "I was in the middle of particularly unproductive conversations with some music industry folks, and I found a lot of relevance there."

According to Jonas, "Yellow Brick Road" is a song about choosing your own path: "[It's] about deciding to do things your own way, seeing through the farce and not waiting for someone to come do the hard work for you," she says.

Originally the first song that Jonas recorded for her forthcoming album, Butter, "Yellow Brick Road" took two takes to get right. After initially opting to cut the song from the album, Jonas decided to re-record it -- and, that time around, thought it was a perfect fit.

Jonas is currently running a campaign to fund the release of Butter, set to debut on June 1. Fans can pre-order the album and get more details via Kickstarter.