Award Winning Americana Star Florence Dore To Deliver 'Signs Of Life' This Week

(HW) Nashville-born, Chapel-Hill based artist Florence Dore, winner of the Best Americana Album of 2022 at Lonesome Highways for her Highways & Rocketships, is releasing a single, "Signs of Life" on October 25. This single follows her 2022 album Highways & Rocketships release on Propeller Sound Recordings, produced by Don Dixon. Recorded with her stellar band, which includes Mark Spencer (Son Volt, Laura Cantrell) and husband Will Rigby (Steve Earle, the dB's), "Signs of Life" was originally recorded as part of Highways & Rocketships but was consigned to the shelf. Highways was paused due to Covid-19, and when it appeared the whole record was going to have to be recorded in quarantine, she and the band forged ahead and created "Signs of Life" from their various home studios.

Vaccines emerged soon after production on "Signs of Life" had been completed and Florence and the band were able to record the rest of Highways & Rocketships live at Mitch Easter's studio. Featuring the haunting fiddle tracks (and vocals) of Mipso's ingenious Libby Rodenbough (Florence's former literature student), "Signs of Life" has a vibe totally unlike the rest of the tracks on Highways. Libby noted "In the fall of 2020, I had a lot of time on my hands. So it was kind of a blessing to be sent this long track with lots of open space and have Florence essentially say, 'do as you see fit'. I got to layering string parts and harmonies and the end result was this fairly lush thing you're listening to now. Disappearing into the kingdom inside my headphones was such a welcome way to spend those solitary strange days." In Florence's words, "It feels far enough away from the sobering era of quarantine to bring it out now." Producer Don Dixon's exquisite attention to the moment is to be credited with how "Signs of Life" ended up sounding. The vocals, lead guitar track and fiddles soar slightly unhinged over deliberately ponderous, echoing beats, creating both isolation and deliverance in the song. It's wholly unusual track for Florence, and so it needs to stand on its own. It's finally coming your way on October 25 via Propeller Sound Recordings.

As a bonus, she is putting it out with her cover of Marshall Crenshaw's "Somewhere Down the Line" which she also recorded in quarantine--during the very first week of the Covid-19 lockdown in March of 2020. Florence's version of this tune launched the Billboard-charting benefit record Florence co-created, Cover Charge: NC Artists Go Under Cover to Help the Cat's Cradle, which features covers by such beloved NC artists as Superchunk, Iron & Wine, the dB's, Tift Merritt, and Southern Culture on the Skids. The fundraiser was a complete success, and so the creators just retired Cover Charge. The time is ripe for releasing "Somewhere Down the Line," and so it's available along with "Signs of Life." Check out the premiere of the new song via Rock and Roll Globe

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