Seattle-born and now Hoover, Alabama-based musician Michael Lawson remembers going to concerts when the only lights found in the audience came from cigarette lighters. The dichotomy between that memory and today's cell phone-oriented concertgoers was a seed of inspiration for his latest single "Tears And Whiskey" from his album Tennessee River Shakedown. For Lawson it's a song that speaks to his own grown children finding their way in a world where seas of social media can swallow one's sense of self-worth.

"Ive been watching my adult kids struggle with issues of identity," Lawson says. "And I was amazed, especially post-pandemic, that whenever I went to concerts folks seemed to be spending more time taking videos of themselves at the concert than actually watching the band. All of that gave me a real appreciation for how today's focus on individual 'brands' can actually make it hard for folks to discover and assert who they are. And that struggle for identity and individuality can be even harder in small towns that have been hit hard by changing economics."

It's a roughly 36-hour drive from Michael Lawson's original hometown of Seattle to the legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio - FAME Studios - in Alabama. But the roots musician was inspired by a body of water about a three-mile drive further east: the Tennessee River. The result is an infectious new single entitled "Not Alone" from his new studio album Tennessee River Shakedown was released on June 14.

"The goal was to write a collection of songs that captured the history and spirit of the music of the Tennessee River," Lawson says of the album, produced by Jimbo Hart (Jason Isbell). Lawson worked with what he called "the Dream Makers," a group of Muscle Shoals session musicians and Hart that Lawson used to perfectly capture a sound that's simultaneously current and timeless.

"Playing with session guys of that caliber gave me a new way to think about songwriting," Lawson says. "Since those guys could play everything, it meant that I could write anything. And because we all mesh so well as a band in the studio, the songs always seem to work."