For over a decade, John Craigie has made music that brings people in. Not with spectacle, but with sincerity and songs that feel like conversations.   I Swam Here, Craigie’s forthcoming studio album is due February 6, 2026 via Zabriskie Point Records. Much of the album, recorded in New Orleans in January 2025, finds Craigie backed by musicians handpicked by Sam Doores of The Deslondes. With him on piano, organ and vocals he brought along Howe Pearson on drums, Max Bien Khan on bass, Jonny Campos on pedal steel and an appearance by Desiree Cannon on vocals on one track.  Longtime friend and collaborator, Anna Moss, appears on almost every song. While Craigie served as producer you can feel the influence and the talents of the New Orleans musicians on the seven of the ten tracks that were recorded there. The other three songs were recorded a few months later at the Rope Room up in Astoria, Oregon with a different band but mirroring the aesthetic of the New Orleans sessions. The cover art, painted by B. Schall, who herself has spent time living in New Orleans, mirrors the style and design of many samba and jazz records of the 50s and 60s.   The record’s first single, “Fire Season,” was engineered by longtime collaborator Bart Budwig. This was one of  the first songs written for the project and was recorded in Astoria with Cooper Trail on drums and Nevada Sowle on bass, both returning after working with Craigie on Mermaid Salt. It also has Luke Ydstie on bass (Blind Pilot, Michael Hurley) and Jamie Greenan on pedal steel. The second single “Dry Land” took a different path. They recorded a version in New Orleans but Craigie didn’t like the pacing and it had a long unneeded bridge.  It was re-recorded in Astoria a few months later with a different piano line and a bowed upright bass. The 3rd upcoming single, “Edna Strange” is inspired by the songs of Marty Robbins and other western gunfighter ballads. This is the only song where Craigie plays steel string acoustic.  Max Bien Khan is doing the nylon string guitar leads.  One of the few songs to not feature Anna Moss vocals, instead they opted to reference Marty Robbins with the male trio vocal you can hear in the background,   Following 2024’s Pagan Church — his acclaimed collaboration with TK & The Holy Know-Nothings that spent 6 weeks at #1 on the Americana Albums charts— I Swam Here feels both expansive and intimate, drawing from the musical history of the Gulf Coast and the quiet natural sounds of the Pacific Northwest.   Craigie’s music continues to resonate far beyond the studio. He has packed out solo and band tours across the U.S., Europe and Australia, performed at Newport Folk Festivals, Pickathon, Edmonton Folk Festival, and High Sierra, and shared the stage with Langhorne Slim, Brett Dennen, Sierra Hull, Gregory Alan Isakov, Mason Jennings, Bella White, and Jack Johnson. His annual #KeepItWarm Tour donates $1 from every ticket sold to regional nonprofits fighting food insecurity, while his beloved John Craigie On the River trips on the Tuolumne (CA) or Rogue (OR) rivers have become a one-of-a-kind gathering for fans and friends alike.   I Swam Here is another step forward for Craigie. Rooted in place, shaped by collaboration, and guided by his steady hand as a songwriter and producer. It blends the spirit of New Orleans with the stillness of the Pacific Northwest, and shows the quiet confidence of an artist who is still exploring his limits.

Long-time friends and collaborators Emily Mann and Wila Frank, known together as Paper Wings, dream up warm, pastoral folk songs suited to wandering through a forest or field, quiet contemplation, and long winding journeys. Furnished with delicate banjo and spellbinding harmonies so close you often can’t tell their voices apart, Frank & Mann deliver dynamic performances emboldened by the strength of their sincere songwriting. The duo have an uncommon ability to tastefully reference nostalgic sounds of American folk music while maintaining their own compelling style of artful and unpretentious lyricism. The strength and solitude one finds in the wilderness is a theme throughout their writing, and they lovingly transport listeners to open landscapes in which to find comfort and ask the questions which we all have in common.   With roots in California and Oregon respectively, Mann & Frank met as fellow fiddle players attending music camps and festivals growing up. As teenagers, they developed their instrumental prowess by studying and performing with folk legends such as Alice Gerrard, Laurie Lewis, Tim O’Brien, Steve Earle, Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz among others. It was during this time that they began writing and touring together, eventually making their way to Nashville where they recorded their debut album Paper Wings in 2017 and sophomore album Clementine in 2019. After garnering streaming success with their heartfelt track “Troubled Soul”, the duo hit the road opening for Avi Kaplan’s ‘I’ll Get By’ tour.    During the lockdowns of 2020, Frank & Mann began working on a third album. Partway through, they placed the project on hold to focus on other projects. The last song they had released before parting ways was single “Marigold,” a potent balm for the heart, telling of new beginnings and second chances. Perhaps this song was a prophecy of sorts, for in 2023 Frank & Mann reunited to finish the album, much to the delight of their fans. Over the course of four days, the duo captured their collection of songs in an intimate private studio outside of Nashville. This upcoming work of 12 tracks is titled Listen to the World Spin and is set to release March 15th, 2024.   On Listen to the World Spin, the duo’s songwriting flourishes in new ways while maintaining their intuitive sparseness and eloquence. Throughout the album, they invite us to take a step back to look at our lives as a landscape from above. Like co-passengers on a long voyage, the two old friends explore the textures of shifting relationships with ourselves, with each other, and with the world around us. A profound sense of solitude and yearning resonates throughout the album. On the title track, they implore “I feel so small, show me how to burn bright” and “I feel so alone, show me how to hold on”. This theme of seeking is echoed in album highlight “Funny Little World” with a series of questions: “What’s up with the pain in the world? Am I gonna be alright? Will I survive? What have I got myself into?”   In lieu of answers to their questions, Frank and Mann simply remind us throughout the album that we are not alone in our search for meaning and certainty. The journey is the destination in this collection of songs, along with the friendship and empathy found along the way. “These songs brought us back together, tugging at our hearts until we made them into something,” says Frank. “We needed these songs to guide and comfort us through the last few years, and we hope they’ll do the same for others.”