Rocky Votolato preps first album in 7 years (stream “Evergreen”)

Long-running singer/songwriter Rocky Votolato is gearing up for his first album since 2015's Hospital Handshakes, Wild Roots, due September 9 via Spartan Records in the US and Thirty Something Records in Europe (pre-order). The album was produced, engineered, and mixed by Rocky himself, and it features James McAllister (Sufjan Stevens, The National) on drums and percussion, Abby Gundersen on piano, string arrangements, and vocal harmonies, Phil Wandscher (Whiskeytown, Jesse Skyes and the Sweet Hereafter) on guitar, and Marcel Gein (Perry O’Parson) on guitar.

The announcement refers to the album as "an intimate concept album inspired by and written for his family. Each song a letter dedicated to a specific family member and focused on a special memory or moment in time. After losing his child in December of 2021 in a tragic car accident, the entire album, and especially the song 'Becoming Human,' now a posthumous love letter, takes on an even deeper while devastatingly bittersweet meaning."

Rocky himself says, "This is a storytelling album, but to me, this record is really about how family has nothing to do with blood, but more to do with who sticks with you and who learns to be good to you, and love and appreciate you for who you are."

We're premiering lead single "Evergreen," a gorgeously somber, impassioned song that finds Rocky sounding as impactful as ever. Listen below.

Rocky Votolato
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Tracklist
Evergreen
23 Stitches
Glory (Broken Dove)
There is a Light
x1998x
Becoming Human
Breakwater
Little Black Diamond
Archangels of Tornados
The Great Pontificator
The Wildest Horses
Little Lupine
Bella Rose
Southpaw
Texas Scorpion (The Outlaw Blues)

Rocky Votolato -- 2022 Tour Dates
11/3 - Tacoma, WA @ ALMA
11/4 - Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
11/5 - Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern