New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Sea Cliff, NY-based Americana singer-songwriter
Roger Street Friedman is set to release a new EP, Come What May, on July 9, 2021, via Nashville-based label Rock Ridge Music. Already, Friedman released the first single, the title track, "Come What May," on March 5th The track premiered at Americana Highways, who called it a "fluid lullaby… of a love story." The second single from the EP, a cover of the
Bruce Hornsby song, "Mandolin Rain," is set for release on May 28, 2021. It is a rare example of Friedman choosing to cover another artist's song, and he did everything on "Mandolin Rain," including producing, engineering, and mixing. The video for the song was shot and edited by Friedman himself, as part of a pandemic undertaking to learn more about video creation and production.
Fans eager to see Friedman live can do so via livestream from his studio on May 25th at 9 p.m. eastern when he celebrates the release of "Mandolin Rain" a few days early with a performance on TheBoot.com's Facebook page as part of their "Live & Socially Distant" series.
Produced by Friedman, with co-production on the title track from his trusted, Grammy-winning studio compatriot Larry Campbell (Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble, Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour), Come What May was mostly recorded at Friedman's own Playroom Studios. It builds on the artistic momentum that was well on display in the singer-songwriter's past releases. Friedman sings the lead vocals and plays the bulk of the instruments on all four Come What May tracks himself, including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, baritone guitar, harmonium, squeezebox, and mandolin.
He also enlisted his ace rhythm section from his most recent album, Rise — namely, Jim Toscano on drums and percussion, and Matthew Schneider on electric and upright bass — for some of the EP's band-oriented tracks; in addition, he deployed some mightily melodious background vocals on the title track courtesy of Teresa Williams and Lucy Kaplansky, and on "Big Truth" courtesy of Kim Kupershmidt. The EP was mixed by Friedman and engineered by Fader Istheman.
A quartet of fine aural earwigs tell the tale. Just witness the foreboding teardown of mass denial in the ramble-tamble opening track "Big Truth," the reassuring emotional acceptance that permeates the title track and lead single "Come What May," the stripped-down acoustified spin on Bruce Hornsby's always affecting "Mandolin Rain," and the sensitively stark take on Shawn Colvin's "Cry Like an Angel." Indeed, Come What May examines the soul of our shared human experiences and addresses head-on how we must move forward together in these challenging times.
Come What May is the follow-up to Friedman's fall 2020 single releases, "Carry Me (Acoustic) feat. Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams and Lucy Kaplansky" (October 2020 release) and "Poison in the Cut" (September 2020 release). Earlier in 2020, Friedman released the aforementioned album, Rise, which was produced by Campbell. American Songwriter praised the "poise of the arrangements and perfected production," while Goldmine Magazine called it "sumptuous… [with] affecting musical vignettes… Inspiring and infectious… striking and seductive… It's the culmination of a career that's seen his reputation elevated to upper strata of today's most consistent Americana artists." American Blues Scene was fond of the "honest, vulnerable songwriting that has won Friedman praise everywhere," and Americana UK espoused the "excellent songcraft," dubbing it "delicate and beautiful."
The award-winning singer-songwriter has consistently released honest, vulnerable songs that have won Friedman praise everywhere from USA Today to No Depression - reflective vignettes recalling the singer-songwriter tradition of
Marc Cohn and Robbie Robertson, set to a blend of folk-rock, progressive Americana, and soulful R&B. Friedman was bitten by the music bug early, learning to write songs and even developing his studio engineering skills. It was an avocation, however, until a combination of events - the deaths of his father and mother, marriage, and, later, the births of his two children - steered Friedman back to music, leading to the acclaimed 2014 debut, The Waiting Sky, and 2017's Shoot The Moon, which reached #2 on the
Roots Music Report Americana Country Album Chart and spent 25 weeks in the top 20.
With future additions to his ever-growing body of work already taking shape — Friedman freely cops to having a backlog of at least 60 songs he wants to get down on work tapes to share with Campbell to see if they can develop them together — the artist recognizes the trajectory of his ongoing progress as a songwriter. "What I'm trying to do is get to people on an emotional level," Friedman explains. "I'd like them to say, 'Wow, that's a great lyric,' or 'Wow, that made me sad,' or 'That made me happy,' or 'That's really hopeful.' I try to write about my life and my experiences in a way that is not so specific, and not so obvious. I don't like to hit people over the head with the message. I'm just trying to tell the story."
https://www.rogerstreetfriedman.com/
