Continuing a creative serge of late, Bard Edrington v releases his newest album, Burn You Up. As his name indicates, Bard is first and foremost, a storyteller, with a tie to a timeless tradition of storytelling - winter nights, dying embers, fortuitous gathering, type storytelling. A stone mason by day and a songwriter by night, both crafts depend on firm foundations. In the album, Burn You Up, that foundation of authentic and emotionally real narratives is built onto by his tight and talented backing band, The Blackbirds. Bill and Jim Palmer have played music together since childhood. Brothers raised in East Texas, they have a connection between bass and drum that runs deep and effortless, like the roots of the red oak. Karina Wilson’s mesmerizing violin and vocals drip with empathetic emotion for the tale being expressed. She brings the depths of classical understanding of how deeply notes communicate into the salted songs of honky tonk.