Witching Hour (February 5), is redolent of American roots music soundscapes, rich with fiddle and mandolin and powerful, coursing tunes that are both philosophical and playful as they reflect on new parenthood and the swaying beauty of day-to-day life. 

Witching Hour found Marlin and his band returning to The Butcher Shoppe studio — originally founded by the late legend John Prine — which had a long history and reputation as a proving ground for great Nashville sessions. It was where Andrew had recorded his first instrumental album Buried in a Cape. “The Shoppe’s recording engineer Sean Sullivan called me up saying the studio was closing and being turned into a condo,” Marlin says. “He asked if I wanted to make a record before they closed. We went in there and kind of went for it. It definitely felt like a last hoorah kind of vibe.” The studio’s history echoes throughout Witching Hour, which buzzes with an electric energy, whether it’s on the raucous and jubilant “Hawk Is A Mule” or the atmospheric, meditative passages of “Fireflies and Fairydust.”