Alabama based visual artist and musician Lonnie Holley has a new album on the way. “Oh Me Oh My” due foor release in March on Jagjaguwar Records the album includes collaborations with including Sharon Van Etten, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Moor Mother and Rokia Koné. But it’s R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe who lends his voice to the advanced single “Oh Me Oh My.” The song showcases Holley’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics, which constantly strive for goodness and understanding, over gorgeously layered droning instrumentation. “Humans please listen,”
‘Oh Me Oh My’ is also an achievement in the refinement of Holley’s impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. During each session, Holley and Lee would discuss the essence of the songs and distill Holley’s words to their most immediate center. On the title track, which deals with mutual human understanding, Holley is as profound as ever in far fewer phrases: “The deeper we go, the more chances there are, for us to understand the oh-me’s and understand the oh-my’s.”
Acclaimed collaborators like Michael Stipe (“Oh Me, Oh My”), Sharon Van Etten (“None of Us Will Have But a Little While”), Moor Mother (“I Am Part of the Wonder,” “Earth Will Be There”), Justin Vernon of Bon Iver (“Kindness Will Follow Your Tears”) and Rokia Koné (“If We Get Lost They Will Find Us”) serve as choirs of angels and co-pilots, giving Lonnie’s message flight, and reaffirming him as a galvanizing, iconoclastic force across the music community.
Holley reflects, “My art and my music are always closely tied to what is happening around me, and the last few years have given me a lot to thoughtsmith about. When I listen back to these songs I can feel the times we were living through. I’m deeply appreciative of the collaborators, especially Jacknife, who helped the songs take shape and really inspired me to dig deeper within myself.”
The Fat Angel Sings 