August 8, 2017<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Album is a masterful overlay of gentle acoustic textures,<\/strong><\/p>\n emotional turbulence, and philosophical insight<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAnd Hope Dunbar\u2026 caught me off guard with some incredible<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n language and truth telling\u2026 It\u2019s these kind of surprises in the<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n after-midnight hours when the endorphins of music ecstasy meet<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n the endorphins of fatigue, that make Folk Alliance special.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 Craig Havighurst, The Bluegrass Situation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nebraska-based Americana-country-folk singer-songwriter Hope Dunbar is set to release her new album,\u00a0Three Black Crows<\/em>, on October 6, 2017.\u00a0 Produced by Emily White, the album was recorded at Little School Street Studio in Chicago, with Rachael Moore assuming mixing duties in Nashville.\u00a0 The album is a masterful overlay of gentle acoustic textures, emotional turbulence, and philosophical insight. Dunbar is a pioneer of the New American Prairie Style \u2013 the incarnation of Americana and country-folk that is staking claim under a big sky, shouting at the north wind, and digging in and refusing to leave.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese songs are more honest than what I\u2019ve done in the past,\u201d Dunbar says. \u201cThey\u2019re based on real-life people I see every day. In a small town, you get real close to your neighbors. You hear about moms and dads who lost a son you didn\u2019t even know they had because you weren\u2019t there when they died. Their loss will never go away but they\u2019re living with it. They keep going because they have to. If anybody needs a song, it\u2019s these people.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dunbar\u2019s songs live on two planes simultaneously. One describes the everyday routines to which we all eventually surrender. The other zooms in on the people who move through their habitual rituals. Her target is the sorrow from which they\u2019ve learned to hide but can never escape. (\u201cThe victim didn\u2019t know what hit him\u2026\u201d \u201cShe keeps going \u2019cause she has to\u2026\u201d \u201cWe can\u2019t keep these clocks from ticking\u2026\u201d \u201cJenny don\u2019t drink a drop but her husband does\u2026\u201d)\u00a0 And — perhaps her greatest achievement — she reconciles the two, time and again, with resignation (on \u201cBetter Than Ever,\u201d which also features vocals from Darrell Scott) or fury (on \u201cRevolver\u201d) or even empathy for the well-intentioned but alarmingly clueless lover (on \u201cJeneane\u201d).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sometimes a few words spin a narrative suddenly into unexpected directions. With just the phrase, \u201cI sighed,\u201d \u201cLiving After Losing\u201d veers from unspeakable tragedy to the necessity of moving on. After describing a horrific murder in \u201cThe Shooter,\u201d she contemplates the fate of the victim and horror of the witness. And then she whispers, \u201cI\u2019m more like the shooter.\u201d Taken together, these songs and the others from her new album,\u00a0Three Black Crows<\/em>, confirm that Dunbar is a singer-songwriter like none other.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Growing up in Mission Viejo, California, she shied away from the beach culture that predominated. Her parents enjoyed hosting foreign exchange students; their languages, accents, and songs whetted Dunbar\u2019s curiosity about unfamiliar cultures. Six months spent in Paraguay during high school stimulated her interest in writing as she journaled about her experiences, while Dunbar\u2019s fascination with travel led her to enroll at Valparaiso University, halfway across the country. She met and married her husband there and moved with him to a small town in Iowa, where he had been appointed to minister at a Lutheran church. She started singing folk songs with a new friend, at public libraries, farmer\u2019s markets and fairs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The wildfire need to write hit her, and she began penning her own songs, and the prairie of her current hometown of Utica, Nebraska (population 800) is perfect for her writing process. \u201cI really enjoy the empty space,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s no noise where I live in Utica that can get in the way of what my brain wants to write about.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Drawing from Simon & Garfunkel, Indigo Girls, Patty Griffin, Nanci Griffith, Joni Mitchell, John Prine, Lori McKenna, and other inspirations, she developed a distinctive perspective, musically and lyrically. Her debut solo EP,\u00a0Woman Like Me<\/em>, came out in 2013.\u00a0 In 2014, as a participant in the \u201cRealWomenRealSongs\u201d project, she wrote 52 songs, one per week. The following year, Dunbar recorded an EP,\u00a0The End Of Wanting<\/em>, and was a finalist at the Kerrville New Folk Festival. She took second place in\u00a0American Songwriter<\/em>\u00a0magazine\u2019s lyrics contest early in 2017 with her song \u201cWe Want.\u201d\u00a0 She also performs in the ukulele trio, Star Belle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dunbar is planning to play live in support of her new album. In the past, she has shared stages with Darrell Scott, Richard Shindell, and Tom Paxton, among others. Confirmed tour dates are listed below and more will be announced soon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hope Dunbar Tour Schedule:<\/b><\/p>\n August 23 – Utica Senior Center, Utica, NE (solo show)<\/p>\n August 26 – Red Path Gallery, Seward, NE (solo show)<\/p>\n September 1 – Crescent Moon Coffee, Lincoln, NE (solo show)<\/p>\n September 8 \u2013 Swallow Hill Music, Denver, CO (Star Belle show w\/Brewer and Shipley)<\/p>\n September 9 \u2013 Pioneer Days, Bayard, NE (Star Belle show)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n