Lori Mckenna's The Bird And The Rifle Now Available for Pre-order

The Bird & The Rifle, the new album from Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and performer Lori McKenna, is now available to pre-order. Each digital pre-order comes with immediate downloads of the title track as well as the lead track, "Wreck You."

Out July 29 on CN Records via Thirty Tigers, The Bird & The Rifle was produced by Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton) and is already receiving widespread acclaim. NPR Music's Ann Powers praises, "Given space by Cobb to be both conversational and inspirational, McKenna, like that bird she imagines, catches a perfect current and soars," while Rolling Stone asserts, "ruminative... featuring lovely filigreed guitar work in the vein of James Taylor."

In celebration of the release, McKenna will embark on a nationwide headlining tour this summer and fall--her first since 2013. Shows include stops at Nashville's City Winery on July 29, New York's City Winery on August 4, Boston's The Sinclair on August 13 and L.A.'s Hotel Café, among others. See below for complete details.

Recorded live over ten days at Cobb's studio in Nashville, the album also includes McKenna's version of her own "Humble & Kind," which Tim McGraw recorded and took to country radio this past January. McKenna wrote the song alone at home while her kids were at school-a loving attempt to impart wisdom, layered over three chords. "I can say it's one of my favorite songs, mostly because I had my kids in my head the whole time I was trying to write it," she says. "My kids know that it's theirs, and it's nice in that way. It worked out pretty good."

Of the recording process with Cobb, McKenna adds, "This record was made in a way that's very different from anything else I've ever done. It's very much me--this record and the songs. But it's like I took the ten songs and just got in someone else's car and took a ride down the coast. I completely plugged into the world of Dave Cobb."

Additionally, Cobb remarks, "I really wanted to work with Lori because of the truth and honesty she carries with her pen. I love her wit and humor and the fact she writes her own songs purely for the sake of art."

The Bird & The Rifle is McKenna's tenth studio album and follows 2014's acclaimed Numbered Doors, which Rolling Stone named one of the 40 Best Country Albums of 2014. Throughout her prolific career, McKenna has consistently received widespread critical acclaim, including notice from American Songwriter, Paste, CMT, The New York Times and The Boston Globe, who described 2011's Lorraine as, "13 perfectly crafted gems of observational insight" and Country Weekly who calls her "one of the finest and most descriptive writers in any genre."

In addition to her success as an artist, McKenna remains of the most sought after songwriters in the industry, with songs recorded by top artists including Faith Hill, Reba, Alison Krauss, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. Her credits include the double Platinum Billboard No. 1 hit, "I Want Crazy," by Hunter Hayes and radio favorites like Little Big Town's "Your Side of the Bed" and "Sober." She also penned Little Big Town's massive 2015 hit, "Girl Crush," which remained on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart for eleven weeks and netted McKenna CMA and NSAI Awards for "Song of the Year" and her first Grammy Award for "Best Country Song." Moreover, Billboard recently spotlighted McKenna for bringing the solo songwriter back to No. 1 with McGraw's version of "Humble & Kind." The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts marking the first time in more than four years a song written by one writer topped the charts.

While Nashville has become an important artistic and business hub, Stoughton, Massachusetts has remained home. A married mom to five kids, McKenna explains that leaving Massachusetts just never made sense. "My whole family is here," she says. "I don't think it changes your growth as a writer, where you are. I think you will grow no matter what, as long as you put the work into it."

Photo credit: Becky Fluke

To post a comment, you must register and login.