FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Paste Magazine has put the Natural State on the map by listing multiple Arkansas musicians in their "30 Best Country, Folk, and Americana Albums of 2023."
The Atlanta-based monthly entertainment and music magazine crowned artists Bonnie Montgomery, Dylan Earl, Jude Brothers, and Nick Shoulders in their 2023 lineup.
These artists are all managed by the Fayetteville-based label, Gar Hole Records, which was established in the fall of 2020.
"Every new full-length record we put out this year is on the list, which is unbelievably kind," Gar Hole wrote on Facebook on Dec. 29.
The artists and their 2023 albums
Shoulders, who was recognized by Paste for his September album All Bad, is the co-founder of Gar Hole alongside Fayetteville cassette master Kurt DeLashmet. With a mix of "punk defiance" and country musicianship, Shoulders delivers commentary in his latest album on how the natural beauty of rural areas like the Ozarks and the Bayou is overshadowed by the struggles in the poverty-stricken South.
Fayetteville country artist Bonnie Montgomery was recognized by the music magazine for her November LP River. Gar Hole says the genre-bending album blends Montgomery's multifaceted musical experiences—from her childhood soundtrack of southern gospel, Texas swing, Delta blues, and Ozark bluegrass to her training as an opera singer. River shows just how broad "American roots music can be."
Arkansas singer-songwriter Dylan Earl specifically shouts out his home state in his third album I Saw the Arkansas. Gar Hole says the record, which was released in March, is full of contradictions. At surface level, Earl seems like a "classic ramblin' man," but his latest release shows his more thoughtful and poetic side. I Saw the Arkansas delivers the "tale of a homesick road dog howling for the rolling hills of his natural habitat," Gar Hole's website says.
Singer-songwriter and Celtic lever harpist Jude Brothers was also recognized by Paste for their May album Render Tender / Blunder Sunder. The artist, who is described by Gar Hole as "Arkansas forged and New Mexico molded," explores the complicated, vulnerable nature of navigating heartbreak. In reflection of the title, the folksy songwriting bounces between "existential dread and [the] intoxicating thrill of living and loving."
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