Photo by Mathew Parri Thomas
“Carousel sees Carson McHone swinging out of her corner of the Texas honky-tonks with the most exciting country record since Margo Price’s Midwest Farmer’s Daughter.” – THE LINE OF BEST FIT
“An LP that ignores the rules of traditional country music… this is the sound of an artist making peace with her own unrest” – ROLLING STONE
“Boundaries blur, brilliance follows” – 8/10 UNCUT
“Austin’s latest best new singer-songwriter” – MOJO
“Fabulous songs” ★★★★★ – COUNTRY MUSIC PEOPLE
CARSON McHONE has announced that she will be returning to the UK in May for a handful of shows, bringing her full band with her all the way from Austin, Texas. The tour will include Carson’s first ever London headline show, with previous visits including showcase sets hosted by NME, Americanafest UK and Rough Trade East.
26 May – NOTTINGHAM The Maze
28 May – BRISTOL Hen & Chicken
29 May – WITNEY Fat Lil’s
30 May – LONDON Borderline
The tour follows the European release in January of Carson’s critically acclaimed new album Carousel, which was named by Rolling Stone as one of the “Best Country and Americana Albums of 2018” following its US release at the end of the year. This month back in the UK Uncut Magazine wrote, in their 4 star review, “boundaries blur and brilliance follows”.
Years before Rolling Stone was praising Carson McHone’s rule-breaking roots music, the Austin,
Texas native played weeknights in local bars like The White Horse, keeping dancers dancing and drinkers drinking. With her 21st birthday still in the distance, Carson entertained late- night crowds bearing witness to the good times and bad decisions that fill a busy bar. It was a rare, raw education. She pumped her music full of details from an early adulthood spent in the company of the heartbroken and high-toleranced.
“I was a kid when I landed those residencies,” she says of her days at The Hole in The Wall, where she began playing Friday happy hour as a 16-year-old, and The White Horse, where she eventually took over the coveted Thursday night residency. “I wasn’t even old enough to be in those bars and they became a home to me. It’s a dark thing when a bar becomes your home.”
Watch Carson McHone Play “Drugs” Live at The White Horse Austin, TX
With Consequence Of Sound highlighting Carson as having been one of the “Top 10 Sets at Austin City Limits”, describing her as “a purveyor of no-cheese, no-bullshit honky tonk” and Thank Folk For That saying that Carson’s recent visit to Manchester felt like “it could be one of those moments recalled many years later when discussing artists seen before they became huge”, these are shows not to be missed.
Carson McHone’s new album Carousel is out now via Loose, available on LP, CD & digitally.
