Artist - Brit Taylor 3

Brit Taylor is a vision in blue when she arrives for her Holler Railbird Session in Lexington, Kentucky. It's a fitting look, too, her floating aquamarine dress celebrating what feels like a full-circle moment of sorts. 

Released in February, Taylor's sophomore album 

sees her reflecting back on all the things she's learnt on her journey to becoming the artist and person she is today. It's a determined record, one that offers tastes of bluegrass, vintage country and a little rock-inspired honky tonk for good measure. 

The title track begins her session set in a delicate and wistful manner. "I've been Texas tired, I've been New York wired, I've been Louisiana lonesome too. I've been Colorado high and I wish I was tonight, but I'm just Kentucky blue", she sings, her husband Adam Chaffins offering beautiful harmonies and some acoustic guitar backing. 

'Cabin in the Woods' follows, picking up the tempo. "We live in a little cabin outside of Nashville, Tennesee with five pygmy goats all named after country music stars", Taylor shares happily. "And what else we got? We got donkeys, cats, chickens, the whole nine yards. So this is a song about our little cabin in the woods". It’s a foot-stompin’, hillbilly revival about loving the simple things in life and having friends along for the ride.

The set closes with 'Rich Little Girls', a song that addresses the lavish lifestyle more fortunate women are able to lead - "Clink clink they drink champagne / Another hundred dollars ain't no thing". It's self-affirming though, as she states, "Well everybody plays with the cards they're dealt / Everybody's gotta work it out for their self / But I wouldn't wanna be anybody else but a working girl". 

Brit Taylor's songs are those of someone fun, free and wise, delivered with effortless grace and touch of joyful attitude. If 

 was anything to go by, then we felt assured we'd be getting plenty more from Brit Taylor, but this Holler Railbird Session confirmed that for us beyond doubt. 

Performing 'Kentucky Blue', 'Cabin in the Woods' and 'Rich Little Girls', this is Brit Taylor for the Holler Railbird Sessions. 

Holler presents Brit Taylor, performing her songs 'Kentucky Blue', 'Cabin in the Woods' and 'Rich Little Girls' for the Holler Railbird Sessions at Railbird Festival 2023 in Lexington, Kentucky. 


Holler Railbird Sessions: Brit Taylor

Holler Railbird Sessions: Brit Taylor Videos | Holler

Ciara

Ciara with Charley Crockett

Artist - Jillian Jacqueline Holler Live Sessions 1

, Jillian Jacqueline closed out another chapter in her already storied life. The album represented not only a maturation in sound for the Pennsylvanian singer-songwriter, but was a representation of creating something on her own terms, something she has always seemed to hold dear throughout her career.

Joining Holler at The Betsey Trotwood pub for her Holler Live Session, Jacqueline performs solo, stripping back the heartrending production of the record to somehow deliver something even more raw and sincere than on an album called 

Jillian's music is like a warm embrace when you're feeling unsure of yourself. She doesn't have all the answers, and knows she won't too, but is happy in working it out as we all go. "I wrote this song after I met my husband" She begins as she introduces her first track. "I wanted to express the idea that there's really not a lot that makes sense in the world, until you find that one person that you want to spend your life with". 

'Sure', with all it's unanswered questions and wonderings on why the world turns the way it does, is a beautiful perception of acceptance in the unknown, Jacqueline's soft, pondering voice echoing the strength of a commanding pop singer, even in her lowest of whispers.

"I wrote this next song about anxiety, actually", Jacqueline continues. "It's about what it's like when you've gone through many many years of dealing with it and being so driven by it that it causes you to run away from a lot of the people that you love and are just trying to help you". 

The weighty, sweeping production that embellishes the studio recording of 'Hummingbird' is washed away for her performance here, leaving the jewels of her moving lyricism to process and seek reassurance from. "I hate to be alone, but I'd rather be alone" Jacqueline immediately begins, so succinctly capturing the disquiet feelings so many of us have felt.

Closing with the frank 'Hurt Somebody Else', Jacqueline turns the familiar trope of heartbreak on it's head, an open admittance of the hurt that comes from breaking someone's heart; "I had to leave somebody that is a really good person and didn't deserve to have their heart broken. The person that does the breaking doesn't always get that much sympathy because you're the bad guy, so this is coming from that perspective".

A tough pill to swallow, Jacqueline isn't asking for sympathy; she isn't going to hide the pain and hurt that fills her in causing someone's suffering. It's unshielded and exposing, and some of her finest songwriting to date.

Performing her songs 'Sure', 'Hummingbird' and 'Hurt Somebody Else', this is Jillian Jacqueline for the Holler Live Sessions.

Holler presents Jillian Jacqueline for the Holler Live Sessions, performing her songs 'Sure', 'Hummingbird' and 'Hurt Somebody Else'.

Holler Live Sessions: Jillian Jacqueline

Joining Holler at The Betsey Trotwood pub for her Holler Live Session, Jacqueline performs solo, stripping back the heartrending production of her record to somehow deliver something even more raw and sincere than on an album called 

Holler Live Sessions: Jillian Jacqueline Videos | Holler

Ross

Author - Ross Jones 2

Artist - Town Mountain 2

Through six studio albums and various changes in members, the six-piece self-styled Bluegrass group have developed a cult following with their down-home songs on life and living.

Joining us to record their Holler Railbird Session in Lexington, Kentucky, between the six members they brew up a wondrous concoction of frank and free music, inspired rather than burdened by life's hurdles.

On opener 'Big Decisions', the group all immediately throw in their two cents, fiddle player Bobby Britt adding some melodic levity as Robert Greer and Phil Barker trade reflections on making big life changes, taking chances and knowing when you just have to hit that open road for the next chapter.

What makes the group stand out from other bluegrass, or even country, bands, is the sage awareness they display in their observations. 'Firebound Road' feels lived in and battle scarred, but possessing a sense of ambition for waking up the next day while the old worlds still spinning. 

That may sound a little heavy, and that's not to say Town Mountain aren't a fun band. In fact, they are probably one of the most unbound and free-flowing groups Holler have seen live. That's not lost in the session either, even on a tender, emotionally devoted number like 'Rene'. The band huddle like support for another, as Barker sings "I'll be the sunlight on your doorstep, come to dance the dark away".

Performing their songs, 'Big Decisions', 'Firebound Road' and 'Rene', this is Town Mountain for the Holler Railbird Sessions.

Holler Presents Town Mountain, performing their songs 'Big Decisions', 'Firebound Road' and 'Rene' for the Holler Railbird Sessions at Railbird Festival 2023 in Lexington, Kentucky.


Holler Railbird Sessions: Town Mountain

The ever-evolving six-piece band join us to record their Holler Railbird Session in Lexington, Kentucky.

Holler Railbird Sessions: Town Mountain Videos | Holler

Artist - The Head And The Heart 1

The Head and The Heart don't just feel like a band. 

They feel like an essence, a united being. The physical pull of their performances, alongside the emotional understanding that bleeds from their lyricism, has led them to more and more listeners and long-standing devotees who take so much from what they do. 

Whether in their full band, or as a duo here with us in the session, they have the bewitching ability to make you feel like the only person in the room - a private conversation between friends that you come away from having had the weight taken off your shoulders.

As the sun begins to set on the final day of revelry at Railbird Festival 2023, John Russell and Matty Gervais join Holler to close out the festival, delivering a show-stealing turn that shows us why we keep returning again and again to their songs of spirit and benevolence.

"I'd just moved out from Seattle to Virginia, and I was hanging out with these work friends that I'd known for two-and-a-half weeks. We all went to this bar in Freemont - and this was pre-iPhone - and when they left they didn't even know they'd left me, because I barely knew them. I walked home and it took me nearly 9 hours through these valleys of all these different neighbourhoods of Seattle to get to where I lived, and so I wrote a little song along the way".

Even in the hush of the space, you hear the rivers and hum of the wildlife through their voices, the push and pull of their harmonies swimming through the protagonist's journey as they capture moments of serenity in being outside.

"This is one of our earliest songs off of our first record, which is self-titled. This was one of first songs to get picked up for radio play which was a wild feeling at the very beginning of the band's career. This is one that, anywhere in our set, you can throw this one in and it uplifts everyone on stage and in the audience; it's a clears the air sort of feeling".

'Lost In My Mind', despite it's insular title, is certainly a balm for sore hearts and fractured souls. With John and Matty's synergy, it's a melodic lift that gets you back on your feet and asks you to take that first step in finding yourself again. 

"I keep moving and coming back to the state of Virginia, over the course of two decades" John explains before introducing their final track. "Every time I come back I'm in a completely different part of my life, so it's an interesting feeling when a city stays the same and gradually changes, but you come back and there's people that you used to know you really well that aren't even there anymore. You go to your familiar haunts and they feel like they belong to someone else now. So, it's this concept of what is home".

'Virginia (Wind in the Night)', in it's simple, evocative nature, shows not only the groups harmonic richness but their lyrical brilliance. 

The Head and The Heart are an expressive and powerful group; their songs, in whatever setting, offering great solace to regroup and regrow.

Performing their songs 'Down in the Valley', 'Lost In My Mind' and 'Virginia (Wind in the Night)', this is The Head and the Heart for the Holler Railbird Sessions.

Holler Presents The Head And The Heart, performing the 'Down In The Valley', 'Lost In My Mind' and 'Virginia (Wind In The Night) for the Holler Railbird Sessions at Railbird Festival 2023 in Lexington, Kentucky.


Holler Railbird Sessions: The Head and The Heart

As the sun begins to set on the final day of revelry at Railbird Festival 2023, John Russell and Matty Gervais join Holler to close out the festival, delivering a show-stealing turn.

Holler Railbird Sessions: The Head and The Heart Videos | Holler

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Live sessions and music videos from the world of country, Americana and roots from Holler.

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Holler Railbird Sessions: Brit Taylor

Holler Live Sessions: Jillian Jacqueline

Holler Railbird Sessions: Town Mountain

Holler Railbird Sessions: The Head and The Heart