Bendigo Fletcher & Daniel Nunnelee

The sophomore album from Bendigo Fletcher, Two Things at Once unfolds like a storybook where the surreal and the ordinary become beautifully entangled. Over the course of 11 free-flowing and soul-easing tracks, the Kentucky-based band piece together a wildly colorful mosaic of scenes and characters and indelible images: glitter-drenched beds, Keith Haring paintings come to life, boxed wine and babushka dolls, flowers and moons and a bounty of baked goods. With a disarming balance of raw sincerity and dreamy eccentricity, lead vocalist/guitarist/banjo player Ryan Anderson embeds that storytelling with his wide-eyed perspective on the human experience, musing on such timely matters as existential uncertainty, the corrosive effects of late capitalism, and the need for collective care. In its lovely convergence of memory and fantasy and poetic observation, Two Things at Once endlessly offers what Anderson refers to as “glimpses of wonderment within the darkness,” gently providing guidance for living joyfully in an often-discouraging world.

With the arrival of his self-released breakout single “Pick and Choose” in 2022, Memphis-born singer/songwriterDaniel Nunnelee introduced the world to his sweetly offbeat and soul-baring form of folk/indie-rock. An instant viral sensation that amassed over a million streams in just ten days, “Pick and Choose” soon led to the making of June, Baby: a strangely enchanting debut album revealing both his old-soul sensibilities and wide-eyed perspective on finding your way in the world. With its title nodding to his birthday month and to the duality he embodies as a quintessential Gemini,June, Baby explores such emotionally heavy matters as anxiety and anticipatory grief, endlessly showcasing the graceful musicality he first developed by playing guitar in church as a kid. A lifelong nature lover who wrote much of June, Baby at his favorite park and at remote cabins in Mississippi and Colorado, the Nashville-based artist also sets his self-reflection to a one-of-a-kind sound matching its homespun charm with the unbridled energy heʼs brought to the stage opening for artists like Madi Diaz and Shakey Graves (in addition to headlining his own tours). A truly gifted vocalist who brings an undeniably playful spirit to his existential questioning, Nunnelee ultimately hopes that listeners might take whatever they need from his songs—whether itʼs a deeper communion with the natural world that incessantly inspires his music, or a monumental shift in their own outlook on life.