For those unaware, Surrender Hill has explored many sonic nooks and crannies across their 6 albums. With their 7th album, River Of Tears, the Americana duo has produced its grittiest album thus far. They have leaned into rock and soul influences, delved into classic country and western sounds, taken listeners dancing into roadside honky tonks, and devastated them with heartfelt ballads and love songs.

“It wasn’t intentional, but some of the songs called for an edgier, at times, darker perspective”, says Robin Dean Salmon, who previously spent several years in a rock band signed to a major label and has also produced acts making everything from gospel to metal music. “We ended up exploring a rock’n’roll edge, balanced equally with tender, southwestern soul feeling landscapes”.

1. River of Tears
2. Holding Me
3. Rent Is Due
4. Get Out of Your Own Way
5. In Our Time
6. Last Goodbye
7. Great Divide
8. Palomino
9. Unconditional Life
10. That Kind of Living
11. Cry Baby
12. Pining Over You
13. Black Birds Are Black
14. End of the Line
15. You Can Always Call
16. Angel, The Devil, and Me

This wonderfully flourishing, mightily impassioned new recording opens on the waning yearn within River of Tears and the gentle twang of Holding Me and then we get the quietly rambunctious Rent Is Due, the languishing rocker Get Out of Your Own Way, the veritably cinematic In Our Time, and then come the euphorically emotional Last Goodbye, the balladry of Great Divide and the earthy nuances that drive Palomino.

Along next is the ambiently sculpted Unconditional Life and the gritty storytelling of That Kind of Living and they are in turn backed by the free wheeling Cry Baby, the low slung Pining Over You, and then comes the soaring Black Birds Are Black, the rangy End of the Line, the album rounding out on the all-embracing ballad You Can Always Call, closing on the enthralling Angel, The Devil, and Me.

For this newest offering, the range of sounds matches the range of emotional experiences. As Afton Seekins Salmon, the other half of the duo and Robin’s wife, points out, those titular tears are both sad and joyous. “I certainly shed a tear when Robin played ‘River Of Tears’ for me, a love song about us”, Afton recalls, “and the healing sadness writing ‘Cry Baby’ helped me through a very rough patch”.

“It’s not dark or morbid at all, but it’s very, very reflective of personal relationships and experiences”, Robin says of the album’s subject matter. “This record’s not so much about our relationship, although there are moments", specifically, the title track and “Holding Me”. Robin wrote the former for Afton, and she wrote the latter for him, both for Valentine’s Day in 2023. “Those 2 songs, for us, are wonderfully important”, Robin says. “They’re very much from the heart, very honest, and for each other”.

“Overall, though”, Robin says, “‘River Of Tears’ is more about relationships that we have with people in our lives, family and non family, and places we’ve lived and been, and growth in our personal lives”.

Musicians: Robin (lead guitar, acoustic, vocals) and Afton (vocals, percussion); Jonathan Callicutt (guitar); Matt Crouse (drums); Mike Daly (steel guitar, dobro); Eric Fritsch (organ); Drew Lawson (bass); Kevin Thomas (organ); and Mike Waldron (guitar).

Surrender Hill - Call Upon My Friends (Official Audio Only)

www.surrenderhill.com