Everything feels just a little more right in the world today as we have new music from stunning singer and songwriter Charlie Marie. She wowed country fans with her early EPs and her debut album Ramble On (2021), but left us crestfallen when she announced she was stepping away from music for an extended period at the end of 2021.
Charlie steps back into music in a big way with her new song called “Heart” (listen below) ahead of what will be her second full-length album Signs to be released on June 5th. The album comes inspired by an extended journey Charlie Marie took after the death of her father and other trauma where she detached herself from all other priorities, packed up her car with no intention or itinerary, and embarked on what the old cowboys would call a “high lonesome” out West, venturing through Montana and even up to Alaska.
Through this journey, Charlie Marie not just lost herself in nature, she discovered herself through the journey, and also found the confidence through inner piece to approach music again, but this time with more purpose behind her words and actions, not just focusing on mere entertainment, but searching for enlightenment.
Though classic country is still Charlie Marie’s compass point—and her stunning voice often compared to Patsy Cline still crowns the listening experience—her journey helped expand her palette to the more folk-inspired music of folks like Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, John Denver, and Linda Ronstadt. The places she’s visited also became direct inspiration that comes through in songs like “Montana,” which she recorded a live video for via Western AF, and the new album’s final song “Aspens in Alaska.”
But it wasn’t just the places that inspired Charlie Marie, it was the Signs she found along the way hidden in plain sight. This comes through in the album’s first single “Heart.”
“‘Heart’ is a reminder of where we are all heading,” Charlie Marie says. “At the end of the day we are all the same. We all just want to be loved and accepted. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of hurt people out there and so many don’t ‘really’ know what love is. The scary part is we first have to find it within our hearts before we truly share it with others. To do that you have to face all of the blocks and walls you’ve built to protect yourself. It isn’t easy, but you are worth it!”
To put the new album together, Charlie Marie collaborated with the Boston-based country rock band These Wild Plains, along with Ben Klise, and recorded it at Rusty’s Recording Studio in Salem, Massachusetts.
“The opportunity to play with These Wild Plains fell into my lap; some say ‘when one door closes another door opens,’ I call it kismet, destiny, fate, when you are aligned,” Marie says. “Together we created a piece of music that feels good. Life can be so heavy at times. I am proof that if you face yourself, and listen to your heart, being alive becomes a gift not a burden. It took me many years to get to this place on the mountain. The view makes the trepidation climb worthwhile.”
Signs is now available for pre-order on Bandcamp.
TRACK LIST:
1. Signs
2. Heart
3. Namaste
4. Montana
5. Ponderosa Pine
6. Kancamagus Highway
7. Keleena
8. Only You Can
9. Rhode Island
10. Buffalo
11. Aspens in Alaska
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