We're dropping a new album on our record label

Don Rogers has deep roots in Kentucky old-time music: his grandfather and great uncles recorded on the Gennet label as the Kentucky String Ticklers in the 1930s, while his father, Donnie, played with the Kentucky Clodhoppers. Don himself is a versatile multi-instrumentalist and singer who performed with the beloved band Kentucky Wild Horse and recorded several solo albums — now including  "The Tiny Thread That Ties Us All Together."

Don's newest album, recorded with Blakeley Burger playing the fiddle and Roddy Puckett on bass, recalls childhood memories, drug overdoses, immigrants without documents, and the Kentucky landscape they all share. With lines that reflect American history ("The land of liberty sits on stolen property") and economic injustice ("held down by our bootstraps"), the album ultimately speaks of hope ("The songs we sing, the tiny threads that tie us all together").

Recorded during the COVID quarantine, "The Tiny Thread That Ties Us All Together" is a tremendous effort from an artist who shares — according to John Harrod — "Tom T. Hall's big heart, the all-embracing compassion for the people who struggle, and the sense of place that is Kentucky."

After all, John writes — "Don and others like him are just passing it on down the line."

Founded in 1974, June Appal Recordings has distributed mountain music over a period in which the very definition of what it means to be "mountain music" has grown and evolved.

We're very proud to still be supporting artists today — especially artists like Don Rogers. Get the new album on Bandcamp, and while you're there, explore the rest of our catalogue: nearly 100 albums all together, it represents the best of tradition bearers and innovators alike.

More information about Appalshop available at @appalshop on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.