Description

The Dark City Song Swap takes place once a month and focuses on the art and craft of singer-songwriters. Our featured artists are:

Jess Klein has always used music to dream her way forward. Over multiple decades and 11 albums, Klein has pursued a creative evolution that has seen her delve into her own empowerment for emotional insights, while continuing to refine her eloquently melodic, effortlessly accessible song–craft.

The Bluegrass Situation hails her work as “one part grassroots social activism, two parts alt-country guitar rock — a combo we can certainly get behind.” Klein’s new album, When We Rise, harnesses this potent combination with themes of empowerment and the joy of overcoming set to a dynamic and deeply introspective roots-inflected soundtrack.

For Klein, songwriting is a problem-solving process: writing it out to ask questions and get answers, not only for herself, but for others who are struggling. As the world emerges into a place where many people are still struggling to express their feelings about where we’ve been and where we’re headed, When We Rise provides a much-needed outlet…and empowers us to keep moving forward.

Ryan Tailor Price strumming the guitar that first captured his imagination as a young man in the Cascades, turning songs about resilience and personal growth into something universal.

Laced with pedal steel and mellow grooves, his solo debut The Axe & The Tree, is a classic record for modern times rooted in sharp songwriting and gorgeous atmospheric Americana. “Half Written Songs” unfolds like a blue-collar roots-rock anthem. “Careful With My Heart” blends timeless twang with country hooks. Fiddle and mandolin take centerstage on the string-band song “Old and Crazy.” At the core of that sound is Price himself, pulling double-duty as the album’s singer/songwriter and producer, crafting his own version of American roots music.

Price recorded The Axe & The Tree at home, pulling long hours in his basement studio in western North Carolina. The album marked the start of a new era. After decades of band projects and songwriting partnerships, this was Price’s first time creating something truly personal and undiluted. The Axe & The Tree took shape during those basement recording sessions, with Price discovering his authentic creative voice as a solo artist. He filled the recordings with everything from acoustic guitar to an heirloom piano inherited from his wife’s great-grandmother.