Joan Shelley Releases New Album Like the River Loves the Sea on No Quarter Records

Today, Joan Shelley releases her new album, Like the River Loves the Sea, following early, widespread praise from The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone and many others. Stream it HERE via No Quarter Records, and listen to Shelley discuss the project on NPR Weekend Edition.

In a new interview, Rolling Stone calls the record "one of the year's most beautiful," full of songs Stereogum says are "among the most softly devastating that Shelley has ever recorded." In the same September issue that features a six-page spread on Shelley and the tree nursery she now inhabits just outside Louisville, Kentucky, Uncut Magazinegives Like the River Loves the Sea a 9/10 review. See what they and others are saying about the LP below. 

In September, Joan Shelley begins a US tour with over 30 performances of the new songs, ending with a just-announced show at Louisville's Bomhard Theater on December 13th. Find full dates, album credits, and more below.

Praise for Like the River Loves the Sea

"A vow of compassionate devotion...linking a personal bond to deeper tradition" - The New York Times

"Gorgeous, timeless, borderless music." - Rolling Stone

"In Shelley's luminous sonic landscape, love is akin to the earth itself, perpetually shifting through a cycle of life and death." - NPR Music 

"There's a crystalline peace in the album...the musical complement to the dear friends and the wine, or as the thing that might make us feel a little better while everything comes apart." - Stereogum 

"Stunning...a record for close acquaintances as it immerses the listener in intimate landscapes and shifting seasons" - MOJO

"Spellbinding…[Shelley] examines the necessity of finding something of beauty in the most testing circumstances." - Uncut, 9/10

"Shelley's longest album may also be her best, where she sounds most at home with herself and her songs." - No Depression

"The drama is so precise, so delicately rendered...the imagery is elliptical and elegant" - Q

"Awash with elements that evoke a mythic, even mystic, US south rarely conveyed so eloquently since Bobbie Gentry's late 60s purple patch" - Record Collector

Like the River Loves the Sea Credits

All songs written by Joan Shelley

Produced by James Elkington and Joan Shelley

Joan Shelley: classical, resonator, and acoustic guitars

Nathan Salsburg: acoustic and electric guitars

James Elkington: drums, bass, percussion, guitars, piano, Wurlitzer, JX3F synth, and harmonium

Sigrún Kristbjörg Jónsdóttir: violin and viola

Þórdís Gerður Jónsdóttir: cello

Albert Finnbogason: Wurlitzer (3)

Harmony vocals: Bonnie "Prince" Billy (2, 6), Cheyenne Mize (7, 8, 11), and Julia Purcell (7, 8, 11)

Recorded at Greenhouse and Iðnó in Reykjavik, Iceland by Albert Finnbogason.

Mixed by Kevin Ratterman at La La Land. Mastered by Joe Lambert.

Additional recording by James Elkington, Daniel Martin Moore, and Kevin Ratterman.

Joan Shelley Tour Dates

8/30 - Naperville, IL - The Union ^

9/4 - Bloomington, IN - Landlocked Music ^

9/6-9/8 - Louisville, KY - Pete Fest

9/13 - Madisonville, KY - Glema Mahr Center For The Arts

9/27 - Denver, CO - The Walnut Room ^

9/28 - Fort Collins, CO - Elizabeth Hotel ^

9/29 - Colorado Springs, CO - Lulu's ^

10/3 - Los Angeles, CA - Moroccan Lounge

10/9 - Sisters, OR - Suttle Lodge

10/10 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios

10/11 - Seattle, WA - Auditorium

10/12 - Bainbridge Island, WA - Treehouse Café

10/24 - Knoxville, TN - Open Chord *

10/25 - Nashville, TN - City Winery Lounge

10/26 - Atlanta, GA - Eddie's Attic *

10/27 - Asheville, NC - Ambrose West

10/29 - Charlotte, NC - Stage Door Theater *

10/30 - Carrboro, NC - Back Room *

11/1 - Roanoke, VA - Spot On Kirk *

11/2 - Lexington, KY - The Burl *

11/6 - Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House *

11/7 - Nelsonville, OH - Stuarts Opera House *

11/8 - Thomas, WV - Purple Fiddle * 

11/9 - Vienna, VA - Jammin Java

11/10 - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern *

11/13 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle *

11/14 - Brooklyn, NY - Park Church Co-Op

11/15 - Boston, MA - Cafe 939

11/16 - Woodstock, NY - Colony *

11/17 - Rochester, NY - Bop Shop Records *

11/19 - Toronto, ON - Drake

11/20 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark *

12/4 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club #

12/6 - Sheboygan, WI - Paradigm Coffee #

12/6 - Stoughton, WI - Stoughton Opera House #

12/7 - Milwaukee, WI - Collectivo Coffee #

12/8 - Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk #

12/13 - Louisville, KY - Bomhard Theater *

^ w/ Nathan Salsburg

* w/ Jake Xerxes Fussell

# w/ Daughter of Swords

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