EXCLUSIVE: Kassi Valazza Shares 'Your Heart's A Tin Box' Taken from Forthcoming Album From Newman Street

Anyone who went to see A Complete Unknown at the cinema recently and, instead of leaving the cinema boy-crushing over Bob Dylan, came away with a new appreciation and affection for Joan Baez - despite the film's eye-rollingly misogynistic depiction of the legendary folk singer - will find a lot to love in the new record from Kassi Valazza.

The follow up to 2023's Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, her new album, From Newman Street, treads a similarly well-trodden path, following in the footsteps of singers like Bridget St John, Judy Collins and Sandy Denny, but deviating to follow her own course as she gives us her uniquely modern take on Ladies from The Canyon folk. The deliciously mouth-watering 'Your Heart's A Tin Box' is served up as the latest entrée ahead of the album in May.

Growing up between Prescott and Phoenix, Arizona, Kassi Valazza relocated to the Pacific Northwest as an adult, but after building a cult following with her debut, Dear Dead Days, touring with her folk contemporaries like Melissa Carper and Riddy Arman and putting out her sophomore album, she was ready to move on from the stagnancy and complacency she was feeling as an artist in Portland, where she was still living in a basement apartment between regular tours. So, with her sights set on Nashville, Valazza landed in New Orleans.

“It wasn’t the plan. I spent three months there between tours, and it just kind of happened," she says, going on to describe how the city brought fresh inspiration and unexpected challenges, as it threw a light on Valazza’s sense of self.

The latest preview of her forthcoming album, From Newman Street, due out in May, touches on all those feelings she was experiencing as she upped her roots again, offering us a candid look at the troubles and struggles of being an artist these days, out there putting your heart on the line at a time when it's harder than ever to be one.

"Walking through the airport with no money I can spend / I had two weeks to be at home and now I’m out again," she sings. "And your guarantees won’t cover what you lost / It’s just money, it’s just time, it’s what it costs."

"This song was written when I took a three month break from touring and found myself living in New Orleans," explains Valazza. "In those three months I was broke, falling in love again, and discovering the less likable parts of myself as I began a new life in a strange place. This song is kind of an ode to every fear and worry I’ve had in the past year."

"I moved down to New Orleans / Thinking love would reappear," she sings with breezy acuity. "But people tell you everything but what you wanna hear."

Self assured and sweetly melancholic, it feels like another bold side step for an artist who continues to plot her own singular path through the contemporary folk landscape, surprising us and capturing our hearts anew with every unexpected turn.

Watch the video for 'Your Heart's A Tin Box' below.

From Newman Street by Kassi Valazza is released on May 2nd on Fluff & Gravy Records in the US and Loose Music in the UK.