Mary Bragg Releases New Single "HI-FI" Ahead of SECRETS TO STRANGERS Album
Recorded in Muscle Shoals, the album features players from Jason Isbell's 400 Unit and Alabama Shakes.
Nashville-based singer/songwriter/producer Mary Bragg has released her new single 'Hi-Fi.' The track is the latest to release off her forthcoming album Secrets to Strangers, produced by Grammy Award-winner John Paul White and producer/engineer/keyboardist Ben Tanner, due out October 16th through Single Lock Records via Secretly Distribution. One of the more rock-tinged tracks on the album, the radio-ready 'Hi-Fi' leans into its modern pop groove, while wrestling with uncompromising radical honesty.
'In numbing ourselves, trying to outrun our own truths, we romanticize the past in avoidance of the present,' stated Bragg. 'This song is about considering the other option, where facing your own realities - including the brutal, ugly ones - make you a better person for it. There's no drowning out the fact that we all have room for improvement as human beings, and sometimes I think just opening your eyes and ears to that can lead to some beautiful healing. It certainly has for me.'
'Hi-Fi' follows the release of 'What Do I Do' (feat. John Paul White) along with an official video. Upon its release, Rolling Stone named it a Song You Need To Know, while Billboard added it to their New Music Friday Guide, along with highlights by No Depression and The Bluegrass Situation who called it 'a passionate, soulful Americana song that's existential, yes, but also aspirational. The production is a lovely vehicle for Bragg's poetic and insightful lyric-smithing.'
Every great song is essentially a secret told to a stranger. And when the truth is clear, the stranger recognizes themselves in it. Whether those conversations happen from the stage, in therapy, or between strangers at an airport bar, they're all attempts to bridge the distance between people. With her sixth full-length album, Bragg does just that, as she delivers a collection of deeply personal stories offered to the outside world. Across twelve songs written with notable co-writers including Mindy Smith, Maia Sharp, Brady Stablein, and Zach Berkman, she approaches memory, longing, and self-acceptance with grace and lyrical finesse anchored by her signature songwriting craft that 'beautifully weaves rock, folk, and Americana' (Vice/Noisey) and has been hailed by NPR as a 'refined, sumptuously melancholy take on southern storytelling.'
After years of producing and engineering her own work, as well as for others (including Grace Pettis, The Accidentals, and Jackson Emmer), Bragg handed off the reins this time in order to expand her sonic landscape and open herself up to new creative possibilities. The search led her two hours southwest to Muscle Shoals, where Ben Tanner and John Paul White were waiting with open ears. Bragg quickly found a kindredness with White, Tanner, and the Shoals, having grown up in a similar topographical and cultural small town in rural Georgia. Together, they assembled a dream team of players, including drummer Chad Gamble (Jason Isbell's 400 Unit), bassist Zac Cockrell (Alabama Shakes) and guitarist/keyboardist Jay Gonzalez (Drive-By Truckers). The result is a record that moves beyond easy categorization, one that stretches Americana to include indie rock, pop, early '80s radio vibes and southern soul. Indeed, that sonic movement in Bragg's work reflects the sound recorded in that hallowed FAME Studios: a place that was home to legendary records from Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and Keb' Mo' to contemporary classics from Jason Isbell, Band Of Horses, and Margo Price.
'Being in the Shoals felt like home to me. But I'll attribute the feeling largely to Ben and John, because we are all cut from the same cloth. When we started recording, none of us knew how joyful it would become, not only musically but personally.'
'Working with Mary is a producer's dream,' stated White. 'She's a total pro, works hard, hits her marks. Sings beautifully - and like no other. This is one of my favorite projects I've had the pleasure and honor to produce - and no small part of that is how much I adore her as a person.'
Next month, Bragg will be a showcasing artist at AmericanaFest in Nashville, where she'll perform at The Bluebird Cafe on September 19th. She'll also be a guest on two panels: 'Art & Activism: Wielding Your Art In Tumultuous Times' alongside Mon Rovia, Raye Zaragoza, and Chris Pierce moderated by Rolling Stone's Marissa R. Moss, and 'The Body Electric: Women of Americana on the Alchemy of Instrument & Song' alongside Valerie June, Pieta Brown, and Martin Guitar's Theresa Hoffman moderated by NPR's Ann Powers.
Tracklist
01) Kid Flamingo
02) Hi-Fi
03) Secrets to Strangers
04) What Do I Do (feat. John Paul White)
05) Champion Sleeper
06) Easy
07) B-Side
08) Way Back When
09) Stop Thinking
10) I Like It Here
11) The Game
12) Speaking Different Languages
Tour Dates
09/19 - Nashville, TN - AmericanaFest
09/23 - Columbus, OH - Natalie's Grandview*
09/24 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall*
09/25 - Peoria, IL - Dingeldine Music Center*
09/26 - St. Louis, MO - (ware)HOUSE Concerts
10/14 - Nashville, TN - Eastside Bowl
10/22 - Opelika, AL - The Sound Wall
11/22 - Los Altos, CA - House Concert
* w/ The Secret Sisters
About Mary Bragg
Hailed as Nashville's 'Americana Queen' (Vice/Noisey), Mary Bragg has quietly become one of Music City's most respected artists/songwriters/producers. The Swainsboro, GA native began to fully come into her own with her critically acclaimed 2017 record Lucky Strike, which was praised by NPR as a 'sublime distilling of Southern grit.' It was followed by Violets as Camouflage, which earned further acclaim from Rolling Stone as a 'mix of classic country twang and gentle chamber-pop' as well as NPR Music who named it one of the year's best and raved 'These gorgeously crafted and executed songs touch the listener on a deep level, where insight occurs.' Bragg would take her fervent, vulnerable songwriting to the highest level with her 2022 self-titled album Mary Bragg, a lush and achingly gorgeous collection of raw, honest, and unguarded new songs that confront heartbreak, grief, and self-actualization. No Depression called it a 'personal and powerful set featuring a courageous plumb line,' while Americana Highways hailed, 'Mary Bragg levels up as songwriter and producer,' and Folk Alley said her 'exquisite vocal performances convey her struggles and triumphs with both intimacy and vulnerability. As we listen, we live her pain alongside her. We feel with her the tentativeness of moving forward, acknowledging regret, and grasping hope.' Bragg tours extensively, both with her band and solo, playing headline and festival dates to ever-growing audiences across the US, Canada, and Europe. Having opened tours for the Indigo Girls, The Secret Sisters, Mick Flannery, and Caroline Spence, Bragg is gearing up for a robust new chapter, because, as Saving Country Music said, 'Watch out.'
Photo Credit: Alex Berger
Photo Credit: Alex Berger
