Our May 2021 issue came with a special free CD – the then-latest instalment in ourSounds Of The New Westseries.Titled Ambient Americana – A Road Trip Across Psychic State Lines, it brought together a group of artists who were mixing the traditions of country and folk with the mind-expanding sounds of ambient and kosmische music.
Needless to say, many of you have regularly requested a follow-up – and a mere five years on, we’re delighted to bring you Volume 2, which comes free with Uncut’s August 2026 issue.
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1
Jake Xerxes Fussell & James Elkington
“Prelude”
This sequel to our 2021 Ambient Americana compilation is perhaps even dreamier and dustier than the first. We begin with this hushed vignette from guitarists Fussell and Elkington, taken from their soundtrack to Max Walker-Silverman’s film about a Colorado cowboy.
2
Joe Harvey-Whyte & Geir Sundstøl
“Ribbles”
Joe Harvey-Whyte has played pedal steel with everyone from Liam Gallagher and John Squire to Mozart Estate, but on the recent Langeleik he’s teamed up with Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Sundstøl for an album foregrounding their double pedal steel work. The improvised results are sublime.
3
Lauren Helene Green
“Cactus Bloom”
New Mexico-based musician and artist Green has made music under several different monikers: her work under her own name, though, explores instrumental desert ambient, her distant acoustic strums and reverbed leads painting pictures of the US’ wildest lands on this track from her album Outer Highway Realms.
4
Prairiewolf
“The Cold Curve”
This dynamic trio – consisting of Jeremy Erwin (the man behind the stunning Miles Davis blog The Heat Warps), Stefan Beck and Uncut contributor Tyler Wilcox – make cosmic music influenced by their rugged home state of Colorado, ambient music, jazz and psychedelic funk, as heard on this fine track.
5
Seawind Of Battery
“Some Kind of Symmetry”
Queens musician Mike Horn helms this ambient country project, his experimental synths and loops mixing with spacious lead guitar and pedal steel. This immersive track’s taken from his 2022 tape Clockwatching, issued on LP the following year.
6
North Americans
“The Last Rockabilly”
Patrick McDermott and Barry Walker are making a welcome return here after featuring on our first Ambient Americana comp. This piece is taken from their 2023 LP Long Cool World, and finds the acoustic guitarist and pedal steel maestro generating an organic, circular piece of exquisite atmosphere.
7
BCMC
“Kaleidosmoke”
Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay’s second collaborative album, Stash, out on June 26, finds the duo drawing all kinds of moods from electric guitar and organ. Amid the eerie prog and kosmische cuts, though, the Morricone-meets-Cooder vibes of this epic stand out.
8
Dylan Golden Aycock
“Light Peeking Through”
Aycock started out as a turntablist before concentrating on experimental and folk guitar playing, later setting up the fantastic Scissor Tail label that’s put out records by the likes of Tobacco City and Souled American. Here’s a meditative piece from last year’s No New Summers.
9
Daniel Lanois
“At The Foot Of The Skyway Bridge”
If there’s a king of ambient Americana, then Lanois has a strong claim to the throne. His new album Belladonna Nocturne is a glitching, jazzy take on his pedal steel reveries, at times recalling the pioneering Jon Hassell albums Lanois co-produced with Brian Eno.
10
William Tyler
“Anima Motel”
On last year’s Time Indefinite, Tyler (another returnee from our first compilation) pared down his impressive skilling and mixed his guitar with loops, synths and all kinds of distressed textures, some courtesy of producer and collaborator Jake Davis. “Anima Motel” is a drifting delight, Tyler’s acoustic swelling against a backdrop of shifting drones.
11
Aux Meadows
“Asleep In The Air”
This Oakland, California trio, consisting of Chris Royalty, Steven Dawson and Joe Imwalle, mix lapsteel, synth and guitar to create their own relaxed, post-rock take on cosmic American folk. This beatific track is taken from their fine 2025 album Draw Near.
12
Andrew Tuttle, Michael Chapman
“A Third Revision (Or Evolution)”
Two more artists returning from our first compilation, Tuttle and Chapman appear here together. 2024’s Another Tide, Another Fish found the Australian multi-instrumentalist reworking and adding to a set of unfinished recordings from Chapman, the last he made before his passing in 2021.
13
Hayden Pedigo
“Letting Go”
Amarillo picker Pedigo has made quite the splash with his cosmic instrumental guitar music over the last few years, and even collaborated on an album with Oklahoma noise-rockers Chat Pile. Here’s the title track from Letting Go, the first in his now-completed ‘Motor Trilogy’ of albums.
14
David Murphy
“An Draigheann”
Cuimhne Ghlinn: Explorations In Irish Music For Pedal Steel Guitar was a striking debut by this Cork instrumentalist. Released in 2024, it found Murphy transforming traditional material into sweeping, ambient-tinged epics, laced with orchestrations for strings, harp, whistle, piano and even modular synths.
15
Tacoma Park
“Dawn”
Based in Carrboro, North Carolina, John Harrison and Ben Felton make ruminative kosmische folk. Here, in this highlight from their new record Baltimore, they build from droning beginnings with a flurry of overdubs, including pounding drums, to reach an ecstatic climax.
