Duane Betts/ ‘Wild & Precious Life’/ Royal Potato Family

Duane Betts’ debut solo album, Wild & Precious Life, brings a fresh perspective to southern rock with sharply-crafted songs and exquisite guitar work that capture the emotional release of overcoming struggle, appreciating the fleeting nature of life and the joys of being present. Recorded at Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks’ Swamp Raga Studio, it features guests including Trucks, Marcus King, and Nicki Bluhm. The album will be released July 14 on Royal Potato Family.  

Sally Potter/ ‘Pink Bikini’

Kool & The Gang

Kool & The Gang/ ‘People Just Wanna Have Fun’/ Astana Music Inc

n anticipation of R&B, funk and soul icons Kool & The Gang celebrating their 60th anniversary next year, they’ve announced a new album today – People Just Wanna Have Fun is out July 14, 2023 on Astana Music Inc, distributed by BFD/The Orchard. With six decades of hits, the internationally celebrated group continues to tour the world and recently performed on Good Morning America. “Let’s Party” (feat. Sha Sha Jones) is the red carpet first single from the upcoming album, which Billboard’s Gail Mitchell spoke about with the group here. The band is led by founding members Robert “Kool” Bell (bassist) and George “Funky” Brown(keyboardist, drummer & producer of this album), whose book Too Hot: Kool & the Gang & Me will be released on July 11, 2023.

Palace/ ‘Part I - When Everything Was Lost’ EP/ Fiction

Dante Bowe/ ‘Self-Titled’/ TRUE Music

Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum-selling, and chart-topping musician Dante Bowe announces his new self-titled album, out July 21 via his label he co-founded TRUE Music. The project finds Bowe in a new light as he experiments with sounds, blending hip-hop, gospel, r&b, and more. On the young artists’ third studio album, he truly showcases his eclectic style, collaborating with Vic Mensa, Jekalyn Carr, Flavour, Anthony B, and Ada Ehi.

ODESZA

ODESZA & Yellow House/ ‘Flaws In Our Design’ EP/ Foreign Family Collective/Ninja Tune

Too Sad For The Public/ ‘Vol. 2 - Yet and Still’/ StorySound Records

Too Sad For The Public — the project helmed by StorySound Records founder Dick Connette, whose independent outfit has put out a GRAMMY-winning record by Loudon Wainwright III as well as acclaimed releases by Gabriel Kahane, Margaret Glasby, Dan Tepfer, yMusic, and so many more — announce Vol. 2 - Yet and Still, out July 28 on StorySound Records. 

Featuring a wide range of collaborators — including yMusic’s Rob Moose (Paul Simon, Phoebe Bridgers), Chaim Tannenbaum (Loudon Wainwright III, Kate & Anna McGarrigle), Steve Elson (Gov’t Mule, David Bowie), Steven Bernstein (Levon Helm, Rufus Wainwright), Billy Martin (Medeski Martin & Wood) and heralded StorySound folk artist Ana Egge — Yet and Still finds Too Sad For The Public boldly recontextualizing an array of traditional American musics, drawing out unexpected elements and radically uprooting songs to isolate unique portions of their DNA. Moments of sublime serendipity abound.