Like the troubadour he’s always been, Jesse Colin Young always find a new highway to travel, even when the rest of the world is standing still. His new album is aptly named Highway Troubadour, for it contains a lifetime of music that reflects Young’s journey’s into the shadows and into the brilliant sunlight. The new album features newly-recorded solo performances—just Young and his guitar—of songs from his entire catalog, from “Sugar Babe” to “Cast a Stone,” from his most recent album Dreamers to the theme song he wrote for his series of podcasts this year, Tripping on My Roots. The COVID lockdown certainly has not kept this troubadour from flying down the highway, making the music he loves and raising his voice in support of justice, compassion, and unity. “This has been a grand adventure,” he says.

Many of us stand outside certain communities looking in, sometimes yearning to be a part, often simply marveling that the community shares so freely a love missing in our own community. With a momentary tinge of regret, we might walk away, or we may tentatively approach members of the community, seeking welcome and acceptance; very often the circle widens, embracing us. In some ways, we’re all outsiders during the pandemic, with community circles closing tighter and tighter and disallowing others in.

The rattling roll of a snare drum kicks off this funked-up nod and a wink take on the human predicament. With its tingling xylophone on the bridge and loping rhythms, Jake La Botz's “Hey Bigfoot” echoes the theme songs of Friday night frights films while at the same time evoking the striding cadences of the song’s central character.

Moira Smiley’s airy and delicate “Days of War” opens with the chanting of a crowd and slides into Smiley’s gently plucked circling banjo that weaves under and around Seamus Egan’s circling guitar lines. “Days of War” cleverly records the conversation between a human, who asks why we can’t all get along and if there is any hope we ever will, and a bird that can see for miles and miles from its vantage point that indeed love can conquer fear: “I sing to know that love is near because anger holds the hand of fear/I sing to know that love is near, oh courage take the hand of fear.” Sam Amidon’s and Smiley’s spiraling vocals and ethereal music fly high over a landscape littered with fear and hate, leading us to a land where love and courage, beauty and reconciliation are possible.

Tice’s quiet sparse video of “Walkin’,” which appears on his new album Motivational Speakeasy, out September 25, captures the spirit of a man with rambling on his mind.

“Oh Amelia” celebrates Amelia Earhart’s and Tori Murden McClure’s accomplishments, revealing a vision of the yearning to reach beyond ourselves to be more truly ourselves.

The deeply moving “Olivia” could easily be an anthem for these days when our lives rush down the river of time, lost in its churning waters that erase momentary delights—the first glimpse of the sun’s rays, the playful laughter of children, the slow blooming of flowers.

With “Horses in the Sky,” a song off her upcoming album, Long Day in the Milky Way (out August 14), singer/songwriter Kris Delmhorst explores the beauty and wonder that is always present, sometimes lurking in the darkest, most-consuming of shadows, wherein you have to look that much harder and hold that much tighter to every sliver of hope that flickers into view.

“’Never Forever’ is a meditation on impermanence, and a musical exploration of how cultures can converse. Like the entire album Critical Distance, I tried to find the songs, and articulate them as faithfully as possible. There was no specific stylistic agenda, but more so an open-hearted approach to letting the music lead the way. "

Joined here by Tatiana Hargreaves, Blount works through "Beyond This Wall" from his upcoming debut album Spider Tales (out 5/29 on Free Dirt Records). Written by Judy Hyman well before anyone in particular was talking about building any walls, the tune was actually named by Hyman's husband, Jeff Claus, after he saw an old photo of the entrance to a lesser-known concentration camp. Blount welcomed the tune into the Black string band canon because the experiences of and expressions by one group of marginalized people very often mirror those of another.