Ali Sperry Releases New Single 'Excuses'

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Ali Sperry has released "Excuses," the latest from her forthcoming LP In Front Of Us, due out on March 11th.

"In keeping with the archetypal characters in this record, 'Excuses' centers around the person who you want to give the benefit of the doubt to but repeatedly lets you down, a person that makes a mess and holds no accountability," says Sperry of the track. "As I continued to tease out the lyrics to the second verse, I found myself picturing our then president and wondering whether in his quietest moments he was ever able to experience the weight of the harm he was doing."

With Owen Biddle on bass, Jen Gunderman on keys, Kai Welch on synth, and Sadler Vaden's rip-roaring guitar, Sperry was able to explore a broader palette of colors, and channel into the music some of the innate anger that comes with being human.

"Excuses" follows the release of album track "In Your Dreams," a mantra-driven exploration of the importance of being our most authentic selves, and lead single "Cool Under Pressure," a celebration of women as leaders and inspired by watching Kamala Harris in the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate.

Sperry grew up in a small Iowa community built around the practice of Transcendental Meditation and moved to Nashville in 2009 to join a band called Sweetwater Rose. Since then, she has become a beloved member of the Nashville creative community, frequently sought after for collaborations and co-writes due to her songwriting prowess.

In 2020, when faced with a year of trauma, racial reckoning, and downright worldwide existential crisis, Sperry did what she has always done-turned inward and wrote songs that channeled, mirrored, and ultimately distilled those cultural currents into what became In Front Of Us. The album was made in the thick of the pandemic and was produced by her husband, Jamie Dick. The restrictions of life compelled the couple to set up a home studio and create a safe place to make the record, remotely collaborating with friends like Allison Russell, Kyshona, Jill Andrews, and Natalie Schlabs.

"While it is not a record about the pandemic, it was very much informed by the stillness of life at that time," Sperry reveals. "The concurrence between our new quieter, slower daily pace with the intense political atmosphere of 2020, including the racial reckoning that was taking place in our country and the #metoo movement still active in the public discourse, spilled into a batch of songs about mortality, our place in the universe, how we treat one another and ourselves, and what we are passing along to the next generation," she adds.

With In Front Of Us, Sperry wisely avoids long-form folk indulgence for streamlined contours and razor hooks that feel more rock/pop than folk, and are fairly begging for a decent car stereo and an open road. In her singing and writing, she is the people's champ of the "less is more" ethos. There is a slight echo of Laurel Canyon in the sonics of the record, and, always, the confident under-singing of a woman who knows her words and melodies will happily do the heavy lifting.

The album also features an absolute murderers' row of beloved Nashville players, including Jen Gunderman, Audley Freed, Sadler Vaden, Joe Pisapia, Owen Biddle, Kai Welch, Kristin Weber, Rich Hinman, and a slew of other bright lights. It's a testament to both their instincts and their respect for Sperry's presence and voice, that it never feels like a cavalcade of assembled star-turns, but a real love-in of massively talented musical souls.

Listen to the new single here:

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