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In this episode of New Slang, I’m joined by singer-songwriter Brennen Leigh. At the end of this week (Friday, September 18), Leigh released Prairie Love Letter, a worthy ode to her roots and childhood home, the rural open plains of Western Minnesota and Eastern North Dakota. Part Will Cather and part Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, Prairie Love Letter has an earnest pioneering spirit--a balanced blend of tough and tender. Songs like "I Love the Lonesome Prairie," "The John Deere H," and "There's a Yellow Cedar Waxwing on the Juneberry Bush" are soaked with family tradition and lore. They're for dinner tables in your grandmother's kitchen or while huddling around wood-burning stoves. You get a sense of time and place in songs like these. Other songs like "Prairie Funeral" and "Billy and Beau," while most certainly given the same warm touch from Leigh and most certainly are a valuable piece of Prairie Love Letter, they transcend time and place. They're beautiful, and somewhat bittersweet, love stories that feel no boundaries. Still, Leigh doesn't just capture the nostalgic glow of home on Prairie Love Letter. "You Ain't Laying No Pipeline" and "You've Never Been To North Dakota" are necessary examinations and filled with hard truths. There's struggle and strife--and again, that enduring pioneer spirit.

During this interview, Leigh and I talk about the specific traditions, roots, and inspirations nestled within Prairie Love Letter, anecdotes from home, the stories behind some of the album's most poignant songs, her songwriting routines, and stories about Guy Clark.

This episode's presenting partner is Desert Door Texas Sotol and The Blue Light Live.

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Desert Door
Desert Door is a craft distiller of a premium and unique Texas spirit known as Texas sotol.

The Blue Light Live
The Blue Light Live is the premier live music venue of Lubbock, Texas.

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