NEW ALBUM THE BIRD AND THE RIFLE OUT JULY 29, NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER
PRODUCED BY DAVE COBB
SUMMER/FALL TOUR CONFIRMED
Lori McKenna’s “Humble & Kind” premiered on July 7th at CMT.com and can now be streamed via Spotify and purchased at iTunes.
Written by McKenna, “Humble & Kind” was recently recorded by Tim McGraw, who took it to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts––the first time in more than four years a song written by one person has topped the charts (the last was Taylor Swift’s “Ours”). Read more about the remarkable accomplishment via Billboard. Of the song, McKenna comments, “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. My kids know that it’s theirs, and it’s nice in that way. It worked out pretty well.”
McKenna’s version of the song is featured on her anticipated new album, The Bird & The Rifle, which will be released July 29 on CN Records via Thirty Tigers and is now available to pre-order. Each digital pre-order comes with immediate downloads of “Humble & Kind” as well as the title track and “Wreck You.”
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 onJuly 29, New York’s City Winery on August 4, Boston’s The Sinclair on August 13 and L.A.’s Hotel Café on October 21, among others. See below for complete details.
Produced by Grammy Award-wining producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton),The Bird & The Rifle 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.”
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 acclaimedNumbered 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 andThe 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.”
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.”
THE BIRD & THE RIFLE TRACK LIST
1. Wreck You (Lori McKenna/Felix McTeigue)
2. The Bird & The Rifle (Lori McKenna/Caitlyn Smith/Troy Verges)
3. Giving Up On Your Hometown (Lori McKenna)
4. Halfway Home (Lori McKenna/Barry Dean)
5. Humble & Kind (Lori McKenna)
6. We Were Cool (Lori McKenna)
7. Old Men Young Women (Lori McKenna/Luke Laird/Barry Dean)
8. All These Things (Lori McKenna/Liz Rose)
9. Always Want You (Lori McKenna/Liz Rose/Hillary Lindsey)
10. If Whiskey Were A Woman (Lori McKenna)
LORI MCKENNA “WRECK YOU” TOUR
July 22—Vienna, VA—Jammin Java
July 29—Nashville, TN—City Winery
July 30—Atlanta, GA—City Winery
August 4—New York, NY—City Winery
August 13—Boston, MA—The Sinclair
August 19—Brownfield, ME—Stone Mountain Arts Center
August 20—Plymouth, MA—Spire Arts Center
September 9—Northampton, MA—Iron Horse
September 10—Ogunquit, ME—Jonathan’s
September 20-25—Nashville, TN—AmericanaFest 2016
October 12—San Antonio, TX—Tobin Center for the Arts
October 13—Austin, TX—One World Theater
October 14—Houston, TX—Dosey Doe
October 15—Dallas, TX—Kessler Theatre
October 21—Los Angeles, CA—Hotel Café