SONG PREMIERE: Valley Flower Give Us Jamboree-Ready Bluegrass Romp with “Critter Junction”

Valley Flower is a 5-piece string band of friends who met picking in the Central Texas bluegrass scene by way of Virginia, North Carolina and Minnesota. To describe their sound, KUTX noted, “Valley Flower cross pollinates those iconic Appalachian sounds with the freshest petals of country, folk, and jam..clearly [infused by their] unique regional influences.” Valley Flower’s distinctive style and powerful songwriting is captivating audiences locally and around the country, earning residencies at Austin’s largest Americana venues and spots opening for national touring acts out of Nashville & Denver’s newgrass/alt-country scene. Valley Flower’s debut EP drops on January 30th.

Today Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the rollicking tune “Critter Junction,” a jamboree-ready romp loaded with downhome charm. Frontwoman Rose Flower’s silky yet road-weary vocals take the spotlight as her band members provide warm harmonies. We also get a healthy heaping of bluegrass picking, including standout banjo and fiddle, ultimately showing us that this Texas-based unit is one to watch with the full package of vocal, lyrical, and instrumental talent.

Rose Flower describes the inspiration and process behind the song:

Critter Junction is a song I wrote about the universal yearning I think we all have to simply return to and be in harmony with nature. Something that really depresses me is our tendency to ignore the lessons the natural world is teaching us all the time. In fact, much of the way we live our lives is at odds with nature. The wisdom and the teachings that exist among the trees, rivers and critters is the most precious guidance we have. I think deep down we all know this, and yet subscribe to systems or structures that are simply unnatural. In doing so, we distance ourselves from true peace and joy. Critter Junction is an ode to this conflict. Some days you just want to abandon everything you’re doing and head into the backwoods for a jubilee among the critters. Or at least I do. My family grew up in a house that faced the woods and we were taught all the creatures in our yard were an extension of our family circle. The trees were our elders, the cardinals and the hawks were all relatives that had passed and come back to be with us. The snakes and foxes and deer were our family. As I grow older, I know the more I can practice this mindset, the more joy, peace and authenticity I find.

We produced this song to feel like a backwoods jubilee. Its somewhere between bluegrass, cosmic country, a train song and something of its own. The whole band sings harmonies in the chorus to create a sense of community and belonging. We have Monica Valli as a feature on this song playing resonator guitar – you can hear it in the chorus sounding almost like petals blooming.

LISTEN:

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