FALL AWAY BLUES (2016) Spotify Apple Music Physical CD
‘Fall Away Blues,’ the fourth full-length studio album from Red Tail Ring, is the culmination of years of writing, arranging, rewriting, and recording by Beauchamp-Cohen and Premo. Tracked by Ian Gorman of Kalamazoo’s beloved La Luna Studio, the album features eight original songs, three traditional interpretations, and one blistering tune. Woven together by RTR’s signature instrumental variety (with guitar, fiddle, and both open-back and gourd banjos) and close harmony singing, the album spins tales of hard times, changing love, and the challenge of finding a place in the world. ‘Fall Away Blues,’ the title track, exemplifies the artistic thrust of the album by functioning both as a declarative command and as a hopeful prayer for better days ahead.
THE RIGHT HANDS ‘ROUND (2014) Spotify Apple Music Physical CD
Bowhunter is the name of the traditional American dance music collaboration between Laurel Premo, Michael Beauchamp-Cohen, banjo player Sam Herman, and fiddler Sam Cooper. This project’s debut album features traditional and original fiddle tunes that the quartet is known for at square dances as well as a few ballads with sweet harmony singing.
The full, unadorned album also includes jokes and other commentary at no extra charge.
THE NEW ROOTS EXCHANGE, VOL. I (2014) Spotify Apple Music
This split 7″ vinyl project marks the first recorded collaboration between these two Michigan-based Americana bands – Red Tail Ring and Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys. On side A of “The New Roots Exchange, Vol. 1” the listener gets to sit in on what could be a jam session after hours at a festival. Two traditional numbers are performed live in studio by all of the members of both groups. Side B features a musical trade, with re-imaginings from both bands of one another’s songwriting.
THE HEART’S SWIFT FOOT (2013) Spotify Apple Music Physical CD
‘The Heart’s Swift Foot’ is full of new songs from two years of the band’s creative work, spanning 2011-2013. Mournful heart ballads, upbeat bluegrass-influenced riffs, and fierce old-timey fiddle instrumentals tie this new project together in Red Tail Ring fashion.
As Jasmine Zweifler, of iSpy, puts it, “it was Beauchamp-Cohen and Premo’s intent to create a record that sounded as close to their live performances as possible, with simplicity and intuition playing central roles. And they succeed mightily. ‘The Heart’s Swift Foot’ is an album that is remarkable for what it isn’t just as much as what it is. It isn’t flashy, it isn’t self-conscious. . . for that reason it feels like a life-giving breath into the stale and stagnant lungs of radio approved ubiquity.”
DAYTROTTER SESSION (2013 & 2016) Daytrotter
‘The Anguish Of Heart And Its Autumn Day’
Illustration by Johnnie Cluney Engineered by Mike Gentry
Four tracks – “Katy Came Breezing,” “Suffer Every Sound,” “Body Like a Bell,” and “Horse Race Rapids/Reuben” – recorded live in 2013, and another four tracks – “The New Homeplace,” “Fall Away Blues,” “Visiting,” and “A Ghost Whispers” in 2016, both at the Daytrotter Studio in Rock Island, IL. Daytrotter has featured such artists as Wilco, Avett Brothers, and Bon Iver, in addition to some of our Michigan-based friends like Breathe Owl Breathe, Matt Jones, and Chris Bathgate.
I. MIDDLEWEST CHANT (2011) Spotify Apple Music
In 2011, Red Tail Ring released two studio recordings featuring a unique two-way connection between old and new- I. Middlewest Chant showcases the duo’s original songs and II. Mountain Shout features the duo’s favorite traditional tunes. These projects blend the loving attention of revivalist fervor with the raw creativity of brand new sounds. Whether rendering a traditional tune or one of their many original compositions, the duo infuses each song with musical imagination, haunting harmonies and instrumental artistry. As Premo states, “The albums are companion pieces that stand alone but also complement one another. The crossover between old and new is constant in the music Michael and I write and play.”
II. MOUNTAIN SHOUT (2011) Spotify Apple Music
The traditional complement to Middlewest Chant
August Roads E.P. (2010) Spotify Apple Music
Features 5 tunes from the original Red Tail Ring repertoire
FOX & HAWK T-SHIRTS (2019) ** SOLD OUT **
Hearkening back to the namesakes of the band, a hand carved woodblock print of the red-tailed hawk and red fox graces the front of Red Tail Ring’s 2019 Shirts, which are available at Spring & Summer 2019 concerts. If you’re not able to be at a concert, order your shirt online. Printed in Traverse City, MI with artwork by Kevin Clinton of Greenville, SC. If you have any questions, or if you don’t see the size you desire, get in touch: redtailring@gmail.com. Black and white version available in t-shirt and tank, rust version available as t-shirt.
