Stream Scott Barkan’s Flightless Bird

Take a listen to Hudson Valley-based guitarist and songwriter Scott Barkan’s Flightless Bird, out January 14. It’s an appealing blend of Americana, folk and blues, with a hint of jazz and an undercurrent of melancholy, just how we like it.

“This record came together somewhat unexpectedly,” Barkan, a former in-demand sideman, tells American Songwriter. “I had been amassing a collection of tunes written over all my touring through the last year or so. Looking back at them, I realized there was a bit of an unintentional theme running through them all — self doubt, self examination, and a loose story of a relationship on its last legs — and decided I wanted to get them documented and released while they still had some fresh meaning for me. I called up my band and had the initial tracking completed within a month, and the whole package done within three.”