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Last week, reigning CMA Awards entertainer of the year Morgan Wallen teased that his new album will feature his first duet with a female artist, and ever since, fans have been speculating about who the collaborator could be. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news They’ve thrown names of […]

Could Morgan Wallen and Post Malone have hot summer song up their sleeves, repeating the success of last year’s “I Had Some Help”? Possibly! The two announced Tuesday (April 15) that they are set to release a new song titled “I Ain’t Comin’ Back” on Friday (April 18). Last year, “I Had Some Help” topped […]

By the time Nashville-based digital marketer Jennie Smythe launched her company Girlilla Marketing in 2008, she had already gained significant experience working in marketing and promotion for companies including Hollywood Records, Yahoo Music, and Elektra. She also forged her path in digital marketing as the music industry was undergoing the profound transition to a primarily digital medium.

“A portion of it was just being in the right place at the right time,” she recalls to Billboard. “I found myself in a unique position to be able to be the bridge between the two. And it just so happened that nobody was speaking the digital language. I became the person—this was [when] Napster [was happening], when the industry was suing kids in college and doing everything in their power to squash the new business. I was one of the people who was like, ‘Wait a second, if we’re hearing that this is what they want and they’re seeking it out…’ It was very ‘flip the script,’ because up until then, it was the industry telling the people what they were going to get, the industry making those decisions. That’s completely changed.”

Today, the all-woman team at Girlilla Marketing leads social media initiatives and content creation for its clients, helping to develop online audiences, virtual events, digital monetization, analytics tracking and more. During her career, Smythe has worked with artists including Willie Nelson, Darius Rucker, Vince Gill, Blondie, and Dead & Company. She chairs the CMA board and serves on the boards of the CMA Foundation and Music Health Alliance.

Trending on Billboard

Now, Smythe is sharing the lessons she’s learned along the way in her memoir, Becoming Girlilla: My Journey to Unleashing Good — In Real Life, Online, and in Others, which releases via Resolve Editions/Simon & Shuster today (April 15). Her book also delves into Smythe’s personal journey including her 2018 breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Smythe was named a 2025 Advocacy Ambassador with the Susan G. Komen Center for Public Policy.

Jennie Smythe

Courtesy Photo

“[The book] really was a way for me to express my gratitude to the music business and the digital marketing community. It was a way to share my survivorship so that I could help other people. And my intention was to be able to be a support document for entrepreneurs and especially young women,” she says.

Billboard spoke with Smythe about writing her book, launching Girlilla Marketing, the importance of mental health advocacy and leading the next generation of women music industry execs.

Why was it important to you to share your life and career experiences in this book?

I thought I was going to write a business book about business lessons, anecdotal humor in the workplace, generational bridges, that kind of thing. But I got sick and our music community also lost several people to cancer, like [music industry executives] Jay [Frank], Lisa Lee, and Phran Galante. I had 12 rounds of chemo, six surgeries. [Part of me] was like, ‘Can I just go back to work?’ But I realized, ‘No, you can’t. This is part of your story now.’ Every single one of those three people–Jay, Phran and Lisa–called me every day when I shared my story [about her battle with breast cancer]. They all were in harder circumstances than I was. So I was like, ‘I want to do this for them.’ And the Nashville community, it is like a family. That’s one of the most special things, and no matter how big Nashville gets, we don’t lose that.

A conversation with your father led you to launch Girlilla Marketing. What do you recall about that?

I was 30, I had had a pretty successful career, and then my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  I was in the hospital room with him and he said, ‘What would you do if your life was half over?’ When he asked me that question, in that moment, it drilled down to two different things: I want to start a digital agency and I want to travel more. I realized, “There’s never going to be a perfect time, a perfect amount of money—if I don’t do it now, I will not do it.”

Girlilla Marketing is an all-woman company. What inspired you to launch a female-first company?

I feel like through my whole career of working for other people, I only had the opportunity to work for one woman, and she was amazing. But I wished I would’ve had more opportunity to do that. So, I created what I wanted, the place I wanted to work, because it didn’t exist.

One of the key early moments in the book was when, during your career at Yahoo Music, you received a performance review from your former boss, Jay Frank. You received some feedback you didn’t expect.

That’s what made him my trusted mentor because he was like, “You’re so smart and you’re doing all the right things, but you’ve got to be human, or people won’t want to work for you.” I thought if you are the champion and you are the best, then you will be rewarded for that behavior. Not at all. Everything that has come to me in a good way has come because of a team mentality. It was a lesson in leadership.

What are some things were you able to implement because of that conversation?

How do you come into the office in the morning, no matter how stressed you are—do you say good morning to everyone, or do you just ignore everyone? When you are in a meeting and somebody is not prepared, instead of drilling somebody down to where they feel like they can’t get out of that hole, what do you do? Isn’t the job of a manager to lift them up?

What are some of the biggest myths that persist around digital marketing in music?

One of the myths is that [artists] have to create all the time. That’s not true. You do have to figure out what your cadence is, but if you are creative and you’re constant, you’ll be okay. Some people are too precious with it, they feel like they can’t, and we have to get them out of that.

With things like TikTok and A.I., so many things are swiftly changing in the industry. What do you think are some of the biggest issues?

Mental health. Giving people the space to create without the pressure of the analytics, which are glaringly upfront in every conversation that we have. Once a week, somebody comes in here ready to quit because they’ve been told that if they don’t hit a certain threshold, that they don’t have a career. I’ve been around artists my whole life and that’s not conducive to a creative career. My thing is telling artists constantly that they are the CEOs of their lives, and their digital ecosystem is part of it, but it’s a wide net.

Also, the mental health thing starts from the top. I am so lucky to be in this community with people like Tatum [Allsep] from Music Health Alliance, and grateful for people like at the CMA who put together the mental health fund. People talk about artists, but it’s also the people in the business that need support, like our touring families.

For those who are just starting out in digital marketing, what essential tools do they need to know?

I think just being an avid user, and you need to know how to shoot and edit content. It’s all video. This is the biggest merge of the decade. We used to have the creative people and the analytical people. To inform the creative, sometimes you need to understand what the market is requesting—very much the same conversation we had with Napster, when it was like, “So this is the most illegally downloaded file in Green Bay, Wisconsin—maybe we should go play there.” It’s also having somebody that can purposely come up with a creative strategy that also speaks to the analytical success to something, that’s the job for the next 10 years. That’s exciting because I think when I was in college, my [current] job didn’t exist. But along the way, everything I picked up mattered.

Thomas Rhett‘s surprise appearance at Contemporary Christian Music artist Forrest Frank’s recent sold-out Bridgestone Arena show in Nashville on Sunday night (April 13) didn’t quite go as planned. The eight-time ACM award winner surprised fans by joining Frank for a performance of their recent collaboration “Nothing Else” — and ended up leaving the arena in […]

Rapper BigXthaPlug’s team-up with featured artist Bailey Zimmerman, the genre-bending “All the Way,” debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (dated April 19).
Released April 4, the collaboration launches with 24.1 million official U.S. video and audio streams, 30,000 in radio airplay audience and 8,000 sold in the week ending April 10, according to Luminate.

The track concurrently opens atop the all-genre Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales lists, and at No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs.

Trending on Billboard

As previously reported, “All the Way” soars in at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, marking BigXthaPlug’s first top 10 and Zimmerman’s second.

BigXthaPlug (real name Xavier Landum), from Dallas, tops Hot Country Songs in his first appearance, while Zimmerman, from Louisville, Ill., earns his initial leader among five top 10s. They each crown Streaming Songs and Digital Song sales for the first time.

BigXthaPlug has notched 16 titles on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, beginning in late 2023. He has sent three tracks to the chart’s top 20: “Mmhmm,” his first entry (No. 11 peak); “The Largest” (No. 16); and “2AM” (No. 18). On Hot Rap Songs, the No. 3 start for “All the Way” marks a new career best, joining two other top 10s of his: “Mmhmm” (No. 8) and “The Largest” (No. 10).

The new track, which is being promoted to pop radio, previews BigXthaPlug’s forthcoming country-focused collection.

“It gives me a better feeling how they’ll feel about the [country] project,” BigXthaPlug tells Billboard about the first-week reception for “All the Way.” “I knew that song was gonna do something.”

Additional reporting by Michael Saponara.

Fiddler Deanie Richardson was about to go onstage for a sound check at the Grand Ole Opry in 2023 when she got word that her father had died.
He had abused Richardson verbally, physically and — during her teens — sexually. She had longed for his passing for years, but now that the moment had come, she experienced a complicated mix of emotions. She was sad to have never had the kind of supportive dad that she deserved. But she simultaneously sensed something new and hopeful.

“It felt like all the chains [were broken],” says Richardson, a founding member of all-female bluegrass group Sister Sadie. “I felt like a prisoner to him my whole life. But that moment, I felt free, and for the first time in my life, I got onstage and I felt like I was playing for me.”

Her father had been abused by his father, and when he got Richardson’s mother pregnant at age 16, he resented the marriage and the child. He dealt with his anger in the same way he had learned from his father, doling out severe levels of abuse to the family.

Trending on Billboard

After his death, Richardson, Erin Enderlin and Sister Sadie lead singer Dani Flowers co-wrote “Let the Circle Be Broken,” bending the title of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” a country standard that has been shared through multiple generations. They wrote it in a way that was “less about what I experienced and more about how I chose to stop it,” Richardson says. “It can die right here.”

Sister Sadie released the song on April 4. It captures Richardson taking control over her life and demanding to tell her story, which she believes can help other females in similar situations. But it also parallels the way that women in country have evolved creatively.

“I think Deanie’s story can be a powerful metaphor for what is happening with women in country music,” says Middle Tennessee State University College of Media and Entertainment dean Beverly Keel, a co-founder of Change the Conversation, a Nashville organization that supports women in the music business. “They are reclaiming the narrative and sharing things from their perspective.”

Murder Ballads: Illustrated Lyrics & Lore (April 29, Andrews McMeel/Simon & Schuster), authored by Katy Horan, documents some of the most horrific male aggression toward women. It compiles the histories of numerous early folk and country songs about stabbings and drownings, including songs in which men kill women, usually to hide an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. The perpetrators prioritize their reputations in the community over the life of their girlfriends, who would have been viewed more like an accessory than an equal partner in that era.

“These songs were used to force women to control their behavior,” Horan notes, “but they never hold men accountable.”

Caroline Jones‘ first BMLG release — “No Tellin’,” out March 28 — finds her mining an abusive relationship from her youth, demonstrating how bringing oppression out of the shadows can deflate its power.

“The shame and the manipulation around secrets is the way that people are able to stay in abusive situations,” Jones notes. “The song is about the freedom of telling the truth, because as long as something is a secret, there’s no oxygen around it, and the only story that you know is the one that you’ve been told. Once you tell the story to other people, you can get a different truth from people that truly love you.”

Richardson carried the secret that inspired “Let the Circle Be Broken” for years as she became a prominent Nashville musician. She toured with the likes of Patty Loveless, Bob Seger and Vince Gill, and regularly plays fiddle during the Country Music Hall of Fame inductions as a member of the Medallion All-Star Band. Sister Sadie became the first all-female ensemble to win the International Bluegrass Musicians Association’s entertainer of the year award. Richardson, after first playing the Opry at age 13, became a regular member of the show’s band. Her father inevitably haunted those performances.

“I knew every night he was listening, and I knew I was going to get the same reaction on the way home from the Opry,” she recalls. “I would call him and I would just ask if he had been listening, hoping to get some sort of encouragement, hoping that one day he’s going to say, ‘Wow, you really killed it tonight.’ But it was always some sort of little jab, you know — it was always ‘not good enough’ or ‘never going to measure up.’ But I was always trying, at least before he died, to get that one moment where he said, ‘Wow, you’re really fucking good.’ “

Abuse, she would discover, has affected a number of people that she knows, but was allowed to flourish in silence.

Hiding the violence, as they did in her house, mirrors the way society treated it until the late 1800s, when laws were first enacted in some states that made domestic assault a crime. Though discussed rarely in everyday conversations, the subject found its way into murder ballads such as “Ommie Wise,” “Delia’s Gone” or “Knoxville Girl,” covered by The Louvin Brothers in 1956.

“They’re so damn chipper when they’re singing that song,” Horan says. “It’s so weird.”

The women in the murder ballads were almost uniformly desirable, and they were pitied in their deaths, but also blamed for them. By killing them, the murderers were able to gain full control since the dead women could no longer act of their own accord.

“The dead white woman is almost like this image of perfection,” Horan says. “She has no agency. She cannot transgress any rules. She is perfect in her stillness.”

The threat of violence is one of the methods that abusers use to control others. Richardson witnessed that in her father.

“He controlled how I wore my hair, the clothes I wore, who I talked to at school every single day,” she remembers. “As a teenager, my stomach was just in knots knowing at 3:30 he was going to walk through that door and I was going to have to endure all these questions: ‘Who’d you talk to today?’ ‘Who’d you sit with at lunch?’ ‘Did you talk to any boys?’ There was anxiety every single day, just living with him.”

She knew the penalties if she didn’t please him.

“He would crush my fingers if I didn’t play the way he wanted me to play,” she says. “He was just very, very abusive on all fronts.”

Several generations of women have retaliated against that kind of abuse, though progress is typically gradual. That was particularly true in country music. Kitty Wells was the first female to earn a No. 1 single in 1952 with “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” an “answer song” to Hank Thompson‘s “The Wild Side of Life,” which blamed a man’s heartbreak on female philandering.

Women were, for years, widely referred to condescendingly in country as “girl singers.” Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Faith Hill, Shania Twain, Martina McBride, The Chicks and Carrie Underwood were among those whose music supported females claiming their independence, in some cases taking revenge for domestic violence.

During the bro-country era in the last decade, women were often reduced to sexual objects, and their voices were mostly silenced as airplay waned for many females. Those who broke through — particularly Underwood, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves — embraced empowerment themes. 

By building on the strength of the women who preceded them, country females in 2025 continue to push the boundaries. A trio of current songs — Ella Langley‘s “you look like you love me” (a collaboration with Riley Green), Dasha‘s “Not at This Party” and Chappell Roan‘s “The Giver” — feature women in frank discussions about their most private moments. Instead of repressing their personalities, as they would have likely been forced to do in previous generations, they are operating in control of their own stories and their relationships.

“They’re owning all the aspects of their life: their needs, their desires, their hurts, their pains, their dreams, and they’re not ashamed by any of it,” Keel says. “Shame and blame have been so strong in so many women’s lives.”

These songs would have likely been poorly received in previous eras. But instead of being shunned, Langley is the Academy of Country Music’s top nominee and Roan earned a No. 1 single on Hot Country Songs. Dasha, an ACM nominee for new female vocalist of the year, is insistent that women should fight for their full expression.

“No one else is going to do it,” Dasha says.

The current generation of country women is addressing difficult topics more readily than ever, pushing the envelope in their frankness about relationships, but also increasingly pulling the curtain back on the family secrets.

“A lot of these things are being addressed as never before, so I think it makes for a much more open conversation,” Jones says. “And I feel very lucky to be living in a time when that’s possible, because we’re going to help a lot of people.”

Women may need to fight to maintain that possibility. Recent national developments — from the Supreme Court’s rulings on abortion to the dismissal of several women in leadership roles — have reduced the gender’s autonomy and influence.

“We’ve got the federal government erasing the history, experiences and accomplishments of women on their websites and in their language,” Keel says. “Female military leaders are getting fired, so we need to hear about the entire female experience.”

Richardson personifies country females’ creative development. After hiding the misery of her family’s abuse for most of her life, she has publicly shared her story in “Let the Circle Be Broken,” conquering her father’s domination each time Sister Sadie plays it.

“When we do this song every night, it’s coming out of my fiddle, which is so ironic and so therapeutic because the fiddle was a thing that he tried to control,” she says. “And now I’m up there playing this song about him, and every night we do this improv thing at the end of it where I just play as long as I want to play. Some nights I just cry and play. And some nights I play for five minutes. It just depends on what I need.”

Just as Richardson has claimed the freedom to tell her story in recent years, the women of country have fought for the same privilege.

“We’ve gone from women being impregnated and killed, and everything blamed on them, to women singing about, ‘Hey, I’m going to rock your world tonight,’ ” Richardson says. “That feels very empowering to me.” 

Olivier Bergeron brought the judges — and much of America — to the brink of tears on American Idol Monday night (April 14), performing Jelly Roll’s “I Am Not Okay” with vulnerability and raw conviction. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The 22-year-old Canadian contestant, who grew […]

BigXthaPlug is quickly becoming country’s “favorite rapper,” and the rising star teamed up with Bailey Zimmerman for the ultimate cross-genre hit.
“I feel like for the past decade it’s been a lot of mumble rap. People not talking about nothing,” BigXthaPlug told Billboard of his musical inspirations. “I’m talking about something. A lot of the older people who love music, that’s what they grew up on — actual substance. Here’s this young dude that sound old, but he on these young-old beats. I literally mixed everything up so everybody could love it.”

Below, find the lyrics to BigXthaPlug’s “All the Way” featuring Bailey Zimmerman.

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Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave meBaby, go and leave me all the wayDon’t ask for all your things back, cussin’ out my name, yeahJust to go and take back what you sayBurn all the bridges, don’t ask forgivenessWalk away like I’m someone you hateDon’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave meBaby, go and leave me all the way

Trending on Billboard

Ayy, if it’s over, it’s over, so fuck itJust don’t act like my love wasn’t nothin’Like I wasn’t the one you was holdin’ at nightTellin’ all of your secrets and huggin’Guess you right, it’s too good to be trueWas a point all I needed was youBut shit, time after time, all this fussin’ and fightin’It’s time that you do what you doAnd it’s coolMama said it was fish in the sea, I got lost in the poolKnew it was comin’, I watched how you moveHow you turn your back on me and leave me to lose?Remember the text, all you said that you’d doSaid that you’d never leave, we would fight ’til it’s dueBut as it went on, I was fightin’ for youSeen the texts’ turn green, why the fuck it ain’t blue?Guess you done and I get itSaid you stayin’, you wanted my name and you leftSo I’m guessin’ that you never meant itSaid you’d try and hold on ’cause the love was so strongNow I’m standin’ alone this kitchenSingin’ sad songs, but I’m knowin’ that this shit don’t last longIf you leavin’, then leave ’cause your bags goneBut just know, you can never come back home

Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave meBaby, go and leave me all the wayDon’t ask for all your things back, cussin’ out my name, yeahJust to go and take back what you sayBurn all the bridges, don’t ask forgivenessWalk away like I’m someone you hateDon’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave meBaby, go and leave me all the way

Ayy, if you say that you done, ain’t no take backsSaid you fell out of love and I hate thatBut see me, I was stuck like a drugReally fiendin’ for love and somehow, I can’t shake backWhen you walked out that door, I was hurtin’All the dreams in my head, you was perfectYou remember the very first time that we chilledAnd I reached for your hand, where them nerves at?Time repairs and shit, that’s what it doIt be times I be sick, sittin’, thinkin’ ’bout youIt was death do us part ’til you gave me the bluesReally played my heart, left me lost and confusedThought this shit was fair game, but you made up the rulesOn my heart, left a scar and a bruiseHope that you can stand on all the shit that you did‘Cause I’m done, yeah, I’m finally through

Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave meBaby, go and leave me all the wayDon’t ask for all your things back, cussin’ out my name, yeahJust to go and take back what you sayBurn all the bridges, don’t ask forgivenessWalk away like I’m someone you hateDon’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave meBaby, go and leave me all the way

Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFindWRITERSBen Johnson, Charles Nelson Forsberg, Jenna Johnson, KK Johnson, Krishon Gaines, Xavier LandumPUBLISHERSLyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

It’s not easy to perform a Jelly Roll song in front of the artist himself, but Jamal Roberts proved he was up for the challenge. The 27-year-old American Idol contestant performed the country superstar’s “Liar” during Sunday night’s (April 13) episode at Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa in Ko Olina Hawaii. Roberts commanded the […]

In this week’s crop of new tunes, Jelly Roll releases a new song that ties into his recent acting debut. Meanwhile, Turnpike Troubadours and Muscadine Bloodline both issue new albums, while Avery Anna goes deep into fan connections on her latest track.

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Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country, Americana and bluegrass songs of the week below.

Jelly Roll, “Dreams Don’t Die”

Trending on Billboard

Tied to Jelly Roll’s acting debut on CBS’s Fire Country, the Billboard 200 chart-topping artist released this moody, anthemic track, which he wrote with Chris Tompkins, Daniel Ross and Jessie Jo Dillon. Here, Jelly Roll pleads with a lover for real, unconditional love and support on lines such as “I know how to hurt, been doing it all my life/ Please don’t bring me down/ I just wanna fly.” Sonically, the polished, soulful and rock-infused track fits right in Jelly’s wheelhouse and he wrings out every nuance of anguish and far-flung hope.

Turnpike Troubadours, “Heaven Passing Through”

One of Red Dirt country’s most revered groups just digitally released the new album The Price of Admission, via Bossier City Records/Thirty Tigers. The group also just launched a four-concert run at Stillwater, Oklahoma’s Boone Pickens Stadium, marking the group’s largest shows yet.

Among the standout tracks on the new project is the Evan Felker-written “Heaven Passing Through.” Shimmering guitar work backs this pensive musing on soaking in good moments as they come. The song’s lyrics depict the swift changes life brings, from the wide-eyed perspective of a young child gazing at nighttime stars and wishing to grow up, to party-seeking teenage impulses, and finally to the wisened viewpoint of an adult looking at those same stars and trying to recapture that childhood perspective again. Gentle fiddle and guitar put Felker’s warm voice and timeless message forward, culminating in the feel of a new, timeless fan favorite song.

Avery Anna, “Danny Don’t”

Anna has a sterling, gripping vocal that she wraps around this response to a letter from a fan who was battling internal struggles and contemplating giving up on life. “Can I just talk you through it?” she entreats as she traces the man’s journey from growing up in an abusive home to now, as an adult, struggling to change the habits he’s learned. “You don’t wanna talk and you don’t wanna listen/ Don’t know why you’re broken, so how could you fix it?” she sings. The song is the first from her upcoming Warner Music Nashville album, Let Go Letters, out May 16. The project is built upon letters Anna received from fans, and serves as her response to the struggles, heartaches and trauma that her fans shared with her through those letters.

Brett Young, “Drink With You”

A mesh of acoustic guitar and twangy pedal steel elevates Young’s newest release, which marks a bit of a departure for the soulful country singer. He’s known for loved-up songs such as “In Case You Didn’t Know” and “Here Tonight,” but on his latest, his lends his simmering, honeyed vocal to a tale of two ex-lovers who tend to make poor decisions when alcohol flows. The song is an early glimpse from his upcoming album 2.0, marking Young’s first project since 2023’s Across the Sheets.

Muscadine Bloodline, “Borrowing a Broken Heart”

On their new album …And What Was Left Behind, the ACM Award-nominated duo offers a varied palette of sounds, from the bluegrass-dipped “The High Horse vs. The White Horse” to the bluesy grit of “Ain’t For Sale.” “She won’t ever be mine/ Am I just wasting my time?” they ponder on the rustic, self-reflective “Borrowing a Broken Heart” — a particularly stellar track, one that adds to Muscadine’s potent canon of top-shelf heartbreak anthems.

The SteelDrivers, “The River Knows”

Bluegrass group The SteelDrivers, known for songs such as “If It Hadn’t Been for Love,” offers up another entry in bluegrass music’s legacy of murder ballads, this one written by SteelDrivers fiddler and singer Tammy Rogers along with songwriter Tom Douglas (“The House That Built Me”) and artist-writer Daniel Ethridge. The group’s signature blues-bluegrass mesh works particularly well on this haunting track, filled with fiery fiddle and jaunty mandolin scaffolding the song, along with the group’s coolly intertwined harmonies, as the lyrics spill out a mystery of small-town denizens pondering how the death of a known scoundrel came to be. “The River Knows” will be featured on their new album Outrun, which releases May 23 on Sun Records.