TIM O'BRIEN WELCOMES SPRING WITH HIS UPBEAT NEW SINGLE
"LITTLE LAMB LITTLE LAMB"
Out this Friday, April 7th on all streaming services. Links via www.timobrien.net
New album of all original songs, Cup of Sugar, will be released
June 16, 2023 on Howdy Skies Records
Just in time for Easter, Grammy-winner Tim O’Brien releases a new bluegrass original, “Little Lamb Little Lamb,” premiering today at The Bluegrass Situation. The song is a taste of what to expect on O’Brien’s upcoming full release, Cup of Sugar, which drops June 16th on Howdy Skies Records. Along with his longtime band, the album features bluegrass legend Del McCourey on a track. "Little Lamb Little Lamb" was written last spring and recorded in December and features O’Brien on guitar and lead vocal, and features longtime band members Mike Bub (bass), Shad Cobb (fiddle), Jan Fabricius (mandolin and vocal), and Cory Walker (banjo). The uptempo track's lyrics contrast the joyful rebirth of spring with the narrator’s advancing age as it celebrates rebirth and renewal.
O'Brien shared the thoughts behind the song with The Bluegrass Situation. Nothing says spring like newborn lambs jumping up and down. It’s just encouraging, reassuring like the song says. In May of 2017, Jan [Tim’s wife and bandmate, Jan Fabricius] and I rambled up a country road southwest of Bonane in County Kerry and these lambs were everywhere, testing their legs. The video includes clips from that trip as well as clips from a recent Mountain Stage taping. We’d played at the Fiddle Fair in Baltimore, West County Cork, and that’s a chill little spot, but we wanted even more chill so we booked three or four nights by a lake below a mountain pass there near Bonane. There was really nothing going on except grass growing and sheep grazing. We asked the older woman who ran a cafe by the B&B if she was local. She said, ‘Oh no.’ I asked her where she was from, and she said, ‘I’m from three miles away. My husband’s from here, but people will never accept me as a local.’ Needless to say, we had some good quiet time.
" As George Jones sang, “the seasons come, the seasons go”. Spring has always suggested new beginnings, but having just marked my 69th birthday, it has a different impact on me. I’m still plowing new ground as a musician, planting seeds and all, but maybe my steps are a little slower, and I’m aiming for a better yield from a smaller garden. This song fell out quickly one morning about a year ago. It’s a very simple, repeating melody and chord progression, and the lyric sneaks up on the profundity of the circle of life in an easy going way. Sometimes I’m wary when a song comes this easily. I ask myself if it’s any good. But I kept wanting to sing it and I’ve learned to trust that, like I trust that the sun will rise, spring will come, and there are always new possibilities." Tim
Sounding more and more like himself, O’Brien will debut the new material from Cup of Sugar at the 50th annual Telluride Bluegrass festival on June 17.
TOUR DATES: (for udated gigs www.timobrien.net)
Thursday, April 20, 2023 Columbus, Ohio
Friday, April 21, 2023 Peninsula, Ohio
Saturday, April 22, 2023 Wheeling, West Virginia
Sunday, April 23, 2023 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Saturday, May 6, 2023 Hot Springs, Virginia
Friday, May 26, 2023 Cleveland, West Virginia
Saturday, May 27, 2023 Cumberland, Maryland
Saturday, June 17, 2023 Telluride, Colorado
Saturday, July 8, 2023 Frankfort, Illinois
Sunday, July 9, 2023 Frankfort, Illinois
Wednesday, July 26, 2023 Berwyn, Illinois
Friday, July 28, 2023 Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
Saturday, July 29, 2023 Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
Friday, August 18, 2023 Manchester Center, Vermont
Saturday, August 19, 2023 Manchester Center, Vermont
Saturday, September 30, 2023 Mamaroneck, New York
Saturday, October 14, 2023 Big Stone Gap, Virginia
Friday, November 3, 2023 Moab, Utah
Saturday, November 4, 2023 Moab, Utah