Bonny Light Horseman 2022

Bonny Light Horseman announce their 2nd album ‘Rolling Golden Holy’, which will be released on October 7th on 73d03d Records. Produced by Josh Kaufman, ‘Rolling Golden Holy’ follows their acclaimed self-titled debut album, which was twice nominated for GRAMMYs (Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Performance) and was named one of the “Best Albums of 2020” by Paste, Boston Globe,, MOJO, Uncut Magazine…The light and bittersweet first single “California” (an incorruptible classic and timely on leaving in search of something else , or something more) is already available.

“This track started out as a twisted old track in a minor key. Then the three of us reworked it and it became what you hear today.” explains Eric D. Johnson about the track “California”. “Our first album was very much about the old world, whether it was some sort of mythical grand landscape on a British island, or ancient cities in the American East. This is probably our first song on the west coast. It’s a sad story, a story of separation from one’s roots, of new beginnings, of farewells, of long journeys in the early morning, of rides towards sunrise instead of sunset. They don’t usually end movies at sunrise, but this movie has that scene. »

If the band’s debut album sounded like the work of a short-lived supergroup or a one-off diversion (it never was), ‘Rolling Golden Holy’ pushes the idea forward with unearthly beauty, charm and imagination. These 11 songs – all original, written and performed by the trio – follow the paths of the traditional tunes the band cherishes, taking them to new musical and lyrical frontiers, and give the sounds and situations of the story gravity and depth. form today. ‘Rolling Golden Holy’ confirms that Bonny Light Horseman is not a project but a band, working at the forefront of modern American folk.

The first writing sessions for ‘Rolling Golden Holy’ – and two subsequent recording sessions, first at Aaron Dessner’s Long Pond studio and then at what they call their “spiritual home”, the magnificent old church called Dreamland – were a series of “yes, and” get-togethers, with each member encouraging the others to take an idea and go a step further, beyond their comfort zones. The trio poses – and, with each track, answers – an essential question about ‘Rolling Golden Holy’: where does traditional folk music end and modern folk music begin, if there is such a binary? These songs continuously suggest and embody an unspoken continuum.

While their debut album featured plenty of guests, on ‘Rolling Golden Holy’ they deepen their collaboration with JT Bates on drums and Mike Lewis on bass and saxophone – the only other musicians on the record. These constraints motivated the quintet. With its frolicking banjo and light horns, “Sweetbread” is an ecstatic existential manifesto, Anais Mitchell smiling as she exclaims “Blue sky, Lord, when I die” over Bates’ drums. The majestic “Comrade Sweetheart” is the other side of the coin, with harmonies between Eric D. Johnson and Anais Mitchell over Bates’ muted cymbals, Lewis’ restrained bass, and Kaufman’s organ and guitar symphony. Here’s Bonny Light Horseman in all its glory as a band in its own right.

Being in a band is obviously not a new venture, but Bonny Light Horseman has always done well bringing new wisdom and insight from old patterns, whether it’s old songs or the spark of voices always intertwined. It is a network of collaborations, created to share, learn, take risks, sing and play together; and not a simple sum of fractions. ‘Rolling Golden Holy’ is then Bonny Light Horseman’s testimony to interdependence, partnership and trust at a time when we so yearn for such relationships. Mitchell, Kaufman and Johnson fully appreciate what they’ve found in each other through Bonny Light Horseman, and on ‘Rolling Golden Holy’ we live through that magic too.

Bonny Light Horseman are currently on tour in the United States supporting Bon Iver. They will play at the Newport Folk Festival on July 23 and will be on tour (in the US) in the fall.