Western North Carolina’s Rising Appalachia has just released an album, Trade My Troubles, which Leah Song, founder with her sister Chloe Smith of the band, calls their biggest body of work in ten years. “It’s full of original songwriting that covers monumental moments of our lives from becoming a new mother to Hurricane Helene, from heartbreak to triumph of community through tragedy,” Song says. “It’s an introspective folk album that pulls from our Appalachian and Irish roots as well as continuing the rhythm and dance styles we love to bring to the stage.”
Duets and trios fill the album for a quieter and more subtle sound. “My sister and I each lead different songs as well so you can really hear our voices on their own before lilting into the harmonies we are more known for,” Song says.
Contributing to the band’s sound are Duncan Wickel (fiddle, cello), David Brown (upright bass, baritone guitar) and Biko Casini (drums, percussion).
Tracks include love songs like “Chance at Wholesome” and “Million Colors,” which Song describes as “a dance piece that thumps along to the dynamic sounds my band mates bring on bass, cello and drums, mimicking the rhythm of a heartbeat. It’s funk and stream of consciousness lyrically, open and playful.”
Song says she finds peace in the thought of putting the songs Rising Appalachia writes and performs out into the world without a sense of where they’re landing. “There is something for everyone,” she says. “A song for the rowdy and a song for the resilient. A song for the farmer, the mother, the student, the traveler, the rager, the quiet star gazer, the dancer, the meditator, the nature worshipper, the intellectual, the poet.”
Learn more, buy the album and find tour dates at RisingAppalachia.com.
