Lori McKenna’s new song, “Young and Angry Again,” premieres today. Listen/share here. It’s the second track unveiled from the Grammy, CMA and ACM Award-winning singer-songwriter’s anticipated new album, The Tree, which will be released July 20 on CN Records via Thirty Tigers and is now available for pre-order. Each digital pre-order comes with an immediate download of “Young and Angry Again” as well as “People Get Old.”
Already receiving widespread acclaim, Rolling Stone hails “People Get Old” as, “yet another deeply affecting tune in McKenna’s repertoire, which specializes in incisive emotional expression…a tapestry beautifully woven from the sensations of youth,” while NPR Music proclaims, “[it] immortalizes everyday intimacy…the album’s 11 songs deliver plenty of eloquently plainspoken gut punches like that…McKenna’s delivery is plucky and neighborly, and her compositions are framed by [Dave] Cobb’s spacious, naturalistic treatments,” and Idolator furthers, “Country music’s go-to songwriter aims that golden pen at father time on her latest, emotionally devastating anthem. Start engraving the woman’s Grammy and bring on The Tree.” Watch the song’s official music video now via Billboard.
The new album takes one of McKenna’s signature themes—family—and builds a tapestry of experiences she has lived and overheard, been told and dreamed up. Of the album, McKenna comments, “I love people’s stories about their families—the way they tic and the ways we’re all crazy and love each other. I hope my songs shine a little light on that for a second. Maybe our stories remind us of our families and what they give us. It’s beautiful, and sometimes we take it for granted.”
The Tree is McKenna’s eleventh studio album and second in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile). Recorded by Matt Ross-Spang over seven days at Nashville’s historic RCA, the 11-song album features McKenna (vocals, acoustic guitar), Cobb (acoustic/electric guitar, mellotron), Anderson East (electric guitar), Brian Allen (bass), Chris McKenna (mellotron), Chris Powell (drums, percussion) and background vocals from Kristen Rogers, Natalie Hemby and Hillary Lindsey.
In celebration of the release, McKenna will embark on “The Way Back Home Tour” this summer. The headline tour kicks off June 29 at Annapolis’ Rams Head On Stage and includes stops at City Winery venues in Boston, New York, DC, Chicago, and Atlanta as well as Philadelphia’s World Café Live and Nashville’s CMA Theater among others. McKenna will also join Alison Krauss on two tour dates in Ohio this June. See below for complete details.
The new album follows a series of breakthrough years for McKenna following the release of her Grammy-nominated album, The Bird & The Rifle. Released to widespread acclaim, NPR Music called it, “one of 2016’s best releases,” while Pitchfork asserted, “one of the most accomplished and devastating singer-songwriter albums of the year,” and The Washington Post declared, “the best-sounding album of McKenna’s 15-year recording career.” The album—which garnered Grammy nominations for Best Americana Album, Best American Roots Song (“Wreck You”) and Best American Roots Performance (“Wreck You”) and two nominations at the Americana Music Association’s Honors & Awards—also landed McKenna a profile on “CBS News Sunday Morning” and a performance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Additionally, McKenna continues to enjoy tremendous success as a songwriter. In 2017, she became the first songwriter to win back-to-back Best Country Song awards at the Grammys since Shania Twain in 1999-2000 with her solo-penned, No. 1 hit “Humble & Kind” following 2016’s win for “Girl Crush” (co-written with Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey). McKenna also won Song of the Year for “Humble & Kind” at The 50th Annual CMA Awards and became the first songwriter to win the award in consecutive years since Vince Gill (1991-1993) and the first female songwriter to win back-to-back nods in the history of the CMAs. Moreover, she made history at the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards becoming the first woman to be awarded Songwriter of the Year. McKenna’s current songs include Carrie Underwood’s lead single, “Cry Pretty,” written with Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey.
THE TREE TRACK LISTING
- A Mother Never Rests (Lori McKenna, Barry Dean)
- The Fixer (Lori McKenna)
- People Get Old (Lori McKenna)
- Young and Angry Again (Lori McKenna, Barry Dean, Luke Laird)
- The Tree (Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Aaron Raitiere)
- You Won’t Even Know I’m Gone (Lori McKenna)
- Happy People (Lori McKenna, Hailey Whitters)
- You Can’t Break A Woman (Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose)
- The Lot Behind St. Mary’s (Lori McKenna)
- The Way Back Home (Lori McKenna, Luke Laird)
- Like Patsy Would (Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose)
LORI MCKENNA’S “THE WAY BACK HOME TOUR”
June 14—Sylvania, OH—Centennial Terrace (supporting Alison Krauss)
June 15—Kettering, OH—Fraze Pavilion (supporting Alison Krauss)
June 29—Annapolis, MD—Rams Head On Stage
June 30—Northampton, MA—Iron Horse Music Hall
July 1—East Greenwich, RI—Greenwich Odeum
July 18—Boston, MA—City Winery
July 20—New York, NY—City Winery
July 21—Philadelphia, PA—World Café Live
July 22—Washington, DC—City Winery
August 3—Ann Arbor, MI—The Ark
August 4—Chicago, IL—City Winery
August 5—Minneapolis, MN—Dakota Jazz Club
August 15—Atlanta, GA—City Winery
August 16—Charlotte, NC—North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
August 17—Nashville, TN—CMA Theatre, Country Music Hall of Fame