“Treat Me Like A Tree & Love Me For My Crookedness” — Jude Brothers
Fayetteville folk wonder Jude Brothers is so good that even the longwinded title of their new single, “Treat Me Like A Tree & Love Me For My Crookedness,” is pretty much a work of art. Out today on Gar Hole Records, the song is their first release since 2023, when they shared “Render Tender / Blunder Sunder,” a devastating, masterful and entirely idiosyncratic LP that cemented them as one of my favorite singer-songwriters in Arkansas.
Unlike “Render Tender / Blunder Sunder,” which featured only Brothers’ voice and one instrument at a time, “Treat Me” is a group affair. Brothers’ harp — their signature form of accompaniment — is still there, but also present is an upright bass (Geoff Henderson), an acoustic guitar (Grady Drugg) and, perhaps most importantly, a wandering fiddle (Patrick Mcgonigle). Mcgonigle snaps into tangled lockstep with the harp at 2:05, but for the most part, he roams freely all over the track, lending it levity and light.
Vocally, Brothers sounds somewhat restrained here, occupying a lower and more controlled register than on previous recordings. It’s a choice that works especially well because it makes room for tight harmonies — another marvelous side of Brothers that we’ve yet to encounter until now.
When we spoke with Gar Hole Records co-founder Kurt DeLashmet in April, he mentioned that Brothers’ next album would be coming out before the end of the year. Here’s hoping that “Treat Me” is a sign that the release date is imminent.
“Diamonds (Are Hard to Destroy)” — Stephanie Smittle
How coincidental that Arkansas Times contributor (and former staffer) Stephanie Smittle, another of Arkansas’ best singer-songwriters, would also release her first new song in years today. Perhaps even more coincidental is the fact that, like Jude Brothers, Smittle’s fresh tune sees her expanding her formerly solitary sound of only voice and harp (autoharp in Smittle’s case) to include more sonic elements, particularly the violin. Stephanie Just provides the strings for “Diamonds (Are Hard to Destroy),” a dazzling track with the South itself cast as protagonist.
“She is a mother and she is a mirror / Queer is her bedrock, painted in blue / Her story is borrowed, her jewelry’s been taken / And still she makes diamonds, still she is new,” Smittle sings, her voice carrying a sweet authority.
“Diamonds” is the first single leading up to the June 23 launch of “Passiontide,” Smittle’s second full-length album, which will be available on CD and vinyl (Little Rock photographer Anna Culpepper shot the epic cover image). Recorded by Jason Tedford at Wolfman Studios, “Passiontide” will be the third release from Mutants Records, a new Little Rock label founded by Christopher “C.T.” Terry, Sammy Williams and JP Langston.
“Under the Current” — Morning Fog
The last time Kyle Mays, Jordan Trotter and Justin Seymore released music together, the year was 2011 and the three Arkansas musicians, alongside Trevor Ware, were performing as Grand Serenade, an indie rock band that got its start in Heber Springs in the early 2000s. Just a year later, Ware was hit by a drunk driver while riding his motorcycle. He survived the accident, but he incurred a traumatic brain injury that left him with lifelong disabilities. Grand Serenade soon faded away.
Morning Fog, a fresh project from Mays, Trotter and Seymore, will never be an adequate substitution for Grand Serenade, but the new group’s self-titled EP, which came out on Friday, invites comparisons to Grand Serenade’s slower and more pensive side as well as Mays’ solo work. My favorite track is closer “Under the Current,” a sleepy, spellbinding track in 6/8 time that features Mays singing partially in French. The gently dueling vocals that begin at 1:27 are unforgettable.
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