Jake Etheridge - “Through the Fire” (feat. Margot Todd)

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 7; Popularity Index: 6

Pairs Well With…James Bay, Bon Iver, Lewis Capaldi

There’s always value in a sweet little love song, something Nashville artist Jake Etheridge explores and enhances on a couple of EPs and surrounding singles since his debut six years ago. Formed around quiet acoustic balladry, Etheridge doesn’t twist the model too much, but look out for the chamber folk orchestration of “Through the Fire” and “Just Let Go” or the alt-country grandeur in “Only Everything” to hear his space of solitude expanded in different ways. What really makes Etheridge stand out is his songwriting, tangled in classic pop and bedroom folk styles without losing an Americana core that grounds his sound to his Tennessee home. It looks like Jake Etheridge spent his January in the studio, so imaginably a 2020 release is in the works to preview at SXSW next month. (Kevin McStravick)