New Single, New Substack

“It’s a long walk

From the valley

Twisting through strange countryside

Always something lost

Something found

On your way up to higher ground"*

I've probably written here before about traveling "between worlds". It has been a recurring theme in my life. Currently it feels more relevant than ever, as for the last few months my partner Eric and I have been driving back and forth from our home in the country (my family's farm in Jefferson County, TN), to our tiny casita in the Nations neighborhood of Nashville. Back and forth across the Cumberland Plateau. Watching spring and now summer make itself known, as the regional flora's wild remains bloom and sprawl along the stony borders of I-40..

Once upon a time I wrote a song called "What Wild is Left", about how resilient and powerful our native and invasive "weeds" alike can be in Tennessee summer. And how beautiful they are. Especially if you zoom out and look at them with new eyes.

Sometimes a person can feel like an overlooked weed along the highway. Like no one sees your native bloom, no one seems to know the inherent medicine you offer.

At my lowest I have felt like that myself; it's a place we have to pull ourselves out of, with every bit of inner strength we have, before a lifetime has passed and there is nothing there to show and no one to know you were blooming...

This Monday, June 9th, the band and I are playing from 7-10pm in the enchanting Parlor Wine Bar of Urban Cowboy Nashville; it closes a little string of Nashville shows this spring that have been so reorienting to my sense of purpose. Traveling between various worlds (past/present/future, on-stage/off-stage, city/country, etc) has come to be a part of the blessing,

I'm excited to share with you that we have a new single coming out at the end of this month as well, on Friday, June 27. (The date happens to be meaningful, and I think auspicious, as it's both my sister Rachel's birthday as well as my dear friend and bandmate Jason Goforth's!). "Out There" will be on the upcoming album, which is in the works, and we hope to release it before the end of the year. More about that later! And I’ll be sharing new live dates as they are confirmed.

For now, I also want to announce that my next newsletter will arrive in your inbox from my Substack account. I am still in the process of figuring it all out, but I do know that if you do nothing, you will keep receiving the same free monthly newsletter in the same format, for the most part, as the one I've been sending out from my website. (Of course, as now, you can unsubscribe at any time.)

With the Substack platform I will have the option to send out videos, exclusive recordings, etc., and at some point, I will be offering a paid subscription in addition to the free one for anyone interested in supporting the work in that way.

Look for that first "new" newsletter in a few weeks, around the release of the new single.

As always, thank you all for reading and listening.

Happy Solstice and Happy trails!

JJN

* "Turn to You" from the EP Depending on the Light

*Photo of me bareback on my mare Pearl, from a recent shoot with Ashley Shelton.