This three-song EP contains contains three songs of heartache and woe.  I saw the phrase "blackberry winter" in a book and started asking if anyone in our family used this Appalachian expression for a cold spell after it's gotten warm.  One cousin said, "No, but I sing a song by that name."  Its haunting melody and unusual shifts from minor to major caught my ear right away, and I was thrilled when Kelsey Rae Copeland agreed to sing on the track - she has one of the most unique and arresting voices on the music scene today.  

https://lucaspasley.bandcamp.com/album/sad-call-tricanta

The idea of a tricanta was given to me by my daughter. I'd been struggling with the shift in focus from albums to singles in the modern world and mourning the loss of the space that you get on an album for songs you love but aren't right for a single - not everything beautiful belongs in the spotlight. I believe a three-song album is perfect for the world today. The EP contains an original, "Forever Entwined," with a video, my take on the traditional song "Man of Constant Sorrow," and "Sad Call of the Mountain," an original written by my dear friend Martha Spencer that I got to record with one of a my favorite singers, Danny Paisley. I hope you enjoy. 

https://lucaspasley.bandcamp.com/album/sad-call-tricanta

When Wesley and I sat down to put the songs in order and could see the album as a whole, he said, “There’s a story in there.” If there is, then I think it’s a story of love, loss, and healing. Maybe the last three songs are a synopsis: a song about appreciating the love in your life, a song of intense loneliness, and then an invitation to join life again. All the other songs seem to tie in there somewhere. When you’ve suffered a heavy loss, the world never feels quite the same; there’s a keen awareness of ephemerality of everything in your life: every person, every relationship, every situation - there’s just no guarantee you’ll be able to hold on to anything. When you face that, you’re left with a choice: either to close yourself off so that nothing can hurt you again or to love and live again, but with a wiser, sadder sense that each moment is to be cherished and that tomorrow’s sorrows may very well again leave your heart desolate. If you can find the strength, I hope you’ll choose the latter. I could have started the album with the last song and invited you into it. But it’s better like this, starting with unbearable loss and ending with an invitation - not to the album, but to the tumult of truly living. 

https://lucaspasley.bandcamp.com/album/ponies-back-home

For a long time, I had a folder of my grandmother’s lyrics and a voice in the back of my head that I needed to do something with the beautiful songs she had written. Both my dad and daughter were writing songs as well, and I started having thoughts of an album of family songwriting - four generations. I’m thankful to have finished this album while my grandmother was still living and healthy enough to enjoy it and hear her words brought into published music.

There are six of my grandmother’s songs, two of my dad’s, six of mine, and one of my daughter’s. Except for my grandmother’s gospel song and my daughter’s song, I wrote the music. My dad has his own versions of his songs, but I’m thankful to him for letting me put his words to my kind of music. The album is a bit of a mix of country, folk, honky tonk, gospel, and some stuff I don’t really know where it came from. There’s a heavy emphasis on harmony singing and instrumental solos - two things I love. The alblum is available on all streaming services or click below to purchase: 

https://lucaspasley.bandcamp.com/album/souls-living-on

This album is a solo traditional Appalachian album of fiddle & banjo duets.  Sometimes I like to sit around and think about all the musical scenarios that could have been. Maybe it’s people I wish had played together or maybe it’s a solo piece that I’d love to have heard a fiddle or banjo on. This record is about lots of what-if’s. What if Wade Ward had played with Taylor Kimble and somebody was there with a recorder? What if there was a fiddle part to a tune like Half-Shaved? While I certainly hope this record is good listening for lots of people, I’ve tried my best to make something fun for people that love the old field recordings and the old timers that made them like I do - especially those that love the sound of the mountainous border country between North Carolina and Virginia.  The alblum is available on all streaming services or click below to purchase: 

https://lucaspasley.bandcamp.com/album/stratford-at-bow