Steve Earle & The Dukes will release Ghosts of West Virginia on May 22nd, 2020 via New West Records. Earle was also featured in the May issue of American Songwriter because of the project.
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In support of Independent Retailers, Earle has announced a virtual in-store performance for Friday, March 15th at 8pm Eastern. The private, solo performance will be pre-recorded from Grimey’s Records in Nashville, TN.
Of the effort, Earle stated, “Now is the time for artists to step up and support indie stores who have supported them — in any way we can.”
Fans are encouraged to support their local record store by pre-ordering a copy of the album on CD, LP, or Limited Edition “Yellow & Blue West Virginia Swirl” Colored Vinyl available exclusively at Independent Retail (While Supplies Last).
Each pre-order guarantees a copy of the album that will be shipped to arrive on or before the May 22nd release date and a ticket to view the virtual in-store that will go live on May 15th. Fans are advised to contact their local record store and/or check their socials to pre-order the album directly. 100% of the ticket price for the Virtual In-Store performance will benefit the Independent Retailer.
Fans who have previously pre-ordered Ghosts of West Virginia can purchase a standalone Virtual In-Store Ticket HERE with 100% of those funds equally allocated to all participating retailers.
On his latest album, The Ghosts of West Virginia, which contains seven songs written for the play Coal Country, he wanted to do more than drum up sympathy for the 29 miners who died in West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, and the families they left behind.
“I was looking for a project that would give me a way to speak to, and maybe even for, people who didn’t vote the way I did,” Earle explains from his New York home, while gently strumming his mandolin after applying a rawhide string damper. “What I’m hoping to accomplish is to let these people know that I hear them. … [and] I want other people like me to understand who these people are, and why their lives are the way they are and why they believe what they believe.
“The biggest problem that we’ve got in this country,” he adds, “is that everybody thinks everybody else is the enemy.”
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