Margo Cilker returns with a new album, Little White Cross, released on October 9 via Fossil Records – a new label Cilker has recently launched with fellow musician ISMAY.
You can hear the title track below, originally written and recorded by Cilker’s friend Christy Hays.
The album was recorded in at The Bunker in Lockhart, Texas,withBruce Robison,the writer/producer behind work by Charley Crockett, Lee Ann Womack, George Strait and The Chicks.
“You could definitely call it a concept record. If that concept is that I got really sad and went to Texas,” she says.“I had some material so dark I didn’t think I’d show it to [Bruce]. Then I remembered this is the man who wrote ‘Travelin’ Soldier’…”
When Cilker revealed to Robison the saddest of her songs, the pair made a conscious choice to let despair lead, recording directly to tape in an all-analogsetup with a studio band comprising her“pedal steel secret weapon”Eric Heywood, Geoff Queen (Hayes Carll), Beth Chrisman (John C. Reilly), Lisa Pankratz (Dave Alvin), and Scott Davis (Band of Heathens), among others.They situatedCilker’s originals among a selection of covers that she had taken to playing as a way to process her own pain, some sourcedfrom within her immediate music community. Thechoiceembracesthe longtime tradition of Texas troubadours trading tunes and the art of transforming one work into something distinct, while honoring its soul.
“When I find a song that really speaks to me, it helps me make sense of things,” she says.“Writing can be a lonely affair. But that exchange, that open spirit, it feels essential to art for me.”
The process of writing her own songs, on the other hand, can be intense, almost supernatural. “I often feel haunted by stories, kept up at night by a kind of external pressure to tell them,” says Cilker. “I’ll write a song just to alleviate the grip it has on me.”
Album standout and upcoming single “Molly and Me” emerged from that unconscious urgency. Written about the teenage sister of an armed suspect in a mass shooting, from the perspective of her best friend, it’s an artful and affecting display of human complexity:And her mom did what she could to listen / And it’s true that we sincerely miss him / It’s just a shame they had to die when he did / None of this will ever be undone.Cilker withholds no nuance in conveying the unthinkable, allowing human suffering its due specificity. “Just because something horrible happens time and time again, that doesn’t make it any less horrible.”
Cilker’s third album, Little White Cross follows on from 2023’sValley of Heart’s Delight – which featured in Uncut’s 75 Best Albums of 2023 list.
You can read more about Margo Cilker and the road to Little White Cross in next month’s Uncut…
The tracklisting for Little White Cross is:
Little White Cross
Ladybug
Molly and Me
State Line
Walls
Pauline
Road to Las Cruces
The Money
Maryhill Peaches, Goodnoe Pears
Wolves
And Cilker tours later this year…
October 8 – Higher Ground – South Burlington, VT*
October 9 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA*
October 10 – One Longfellow Square – Portland, ME*
October 12 – Baby’s All Right – Brooklyn, NY*
October 13 – MilkBoy Philadelphia – Philadelphia, PA*
October 14 – DC9 – Washington, DC*
October 16 – The Hangar – Troy, NY*
October 17 – Cafe 939 – Boston, MA*
October 28 – Polaris Hall – Portland, OR
October 29 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA
November 7 – Globe Hall – Denver, CO^
November 8 – The Marigold Room – Santa Fe, NM^
November 10 – Hotel Congress – Tucson, AZ^
November 12 – Dune Room – Indio, CA^
November 13 – The Roxy Theatre – West Hollywood, CA^
November 14 – The Chapel – San Francisco, CA^
November 15 – Felton Music Hall – Felton, CA^
*co-bill with Lilly Hiatt
^supportingCactus Blossoms