Amy Annelle – East Texas Son
Austin-based veteran singer-songcrafter Amy Annelle has released “East Texas Son,” the latest from her forthcoming LP, The Toll, due out August 2nd.
Referencing Michael Hurley’s 1964 folk song, “No No No I Won’t Come (Go) Down No More,” “East Texas Son” could be about a real person or a set of too closely-held beliefs: dangerous, elemental, and indistinguishable from the hurricanes, rivers, quicksand, and snakes of the natural environment.
“One of The Toll‘s two originals that engage with the gargantuan aura nature wields over us all, the LP’s third lead single ‘East Texas Son’ arrives especially poignantly as Tropical Storm Beryl leaves millions of fellow Texans without power,” notes KUTX in the song’s premiere. “From flowing rivers and raging hurricanes to hungry quicksand and breezy, burning thunder, the ominous lyrical precautions of ‘East Texas Son’ are elegantly offset by an optimistic orchestral, acoustic arrangement, one that reminds us of the healing power of nature, even after a catastrophe. But it’s also the sound of a seasoned songsmith returning to form at the top of her game,” they continue. “Is that thunder you hear? No. It’s our applause for Amy Annelle.”
“East Texas Son” follows “Down and Out in Denver,” about bottoming out and breaking down in an old, bitterly cold, and inhospitable railroad town – though the song’s tone is one of joy and redemption, featuring Cooper McBean of The Devil Makes Three on old-time banjo and Beth Chrisman on fiddle. The album’s first single, “Pull Tabs and Broken Glass,” is the thematic overture of the album, featuring harmony vocals from Jolie Holland. The wistful song is about remembrance – of secret hopes and dreams, acknowledging the stories that haunt a checkered past, and the could-have-beens and used-to-bes.
Best known for her rendition of Townes Van Zandt’s “Buckskin Stallion Blues,” which featured prominently in the Golden Globe-winning, Academy Award-nominated film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Annelle’s heartfelt performance has resonated globally.
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