SUSTO STRINGBAND NEW RELEASE & TOUR
March 12 - July 18
SUSTO STRINGBAND TO RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM SUSTO STRINGBAND: VOLUME 1 MARCH 28, 2025 VIA NEW WEST RECORDS
MAGNET MAGAZINE PREMIERES “NEVER LOSING ME” VIDEO TODAY
TO APPEAR AT THE SXSW MUSIC FESTIVAL – ADDITIONAL TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED
Susto Stringband will release their debut album, Susto Stringband: Volume 1, on March 28, 2025 via New West Records. The 9-track set was produced by Ryan Stigmon and recorded at Mitch Easter’s Fidelitorium Recordings in Kernersville, NC. The debut album is a collaborative work between Justin Osborne, frontman of the acclaimed rock outfit Susto, and the Asheville-based Americana band Holler Choir.
It features nine of Osborne’s ballads, refrains, and heart wrenching confessions, now drenched in the singular Appalachian sound of Holler Choir’s verdant harmonies and stringed arrangements. Seven Susto staples have been reworked with bluegrass arrangements in Holler Choir’s company alongside 2 new compositions. Osborne’s introspective musings on love, devastating loss, mortality, and transcendence are steeped in the emotive punch of traditional string band sound. Susto Stringband presents an Arcadia like vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature, but with Osborne’s lyrics, there are landmines to dodge and mountains to climb.
Today, Magnet Magazine premiered the video for the album highlight “Never Losing Me.” Susto’s Justin Osborne says, “This is the first song that I’ve ever written with the specific intent of recording it as a stringband. In the last several years I’ve navigated a lot of major changes in my life, and the most profound of those has been becoming a parent. As a touring musician, I am always coming and going, and it can be tough to balance work and family life. I wrote this song for my daughter (who was 3 at the time) as a message she could reflect on later in life. Now, as a father of 2, I really think of both of my kids when I sing this song, and it serves as a way for me to feel close to them every time I sing it. It’s a promise from me to them, that although I may be gone often, I’m always there for them and they will never lose my deep love for them.” Holler Choir’s Clint Roberts says, “We captured something truly tender here, both in the music and the lyrical message Justin offers to his children in it. This song fits perfectly into the bouncing whimsy that can be heard in Old Time music across the country. The instrumental melody Justin came up with seems tailor made for it. It reminds me of records I grew up hearing on local Bluegrass/Old Time radio on idyllic Sunday mornings in Appalachia, driving on narrow and winding countryside roads. The tempo, both in those places and in this song, need not hurry.”
American Songwriter previously premiered the video for the album’s first single, “Friends, Lovers, Ex-Lovers: Whatever” as well.
Justin Osborne has been performing as Susto since 2013 when he formed a collective of fellow musicians and artists in coastal Charleston, South Carolina. Loosely translated from Spanish, “Susto” means “an intense fear understood as a condition of the soul.” In 2022, after some major life shifts, he found himself in Asheville, North Carolina, where at an open mic night, this newcomer to the mountain town was met with the warm embrace of the singular, powerhouse Holler Choir. 2023 saw the release of Susto’s latest album, My Entire Life, which was met with critical acclaim. The following year, Holler Choir released their debut album Songs Before They Write Themselves.
Susto Stringband will appear at the SXSW Music Festival this month where they will host their first Susto x Susto. The event is sponsored by Susto Mezcal and hosted by Purple Bee with special guest performances from Judy Blank, She Returns from War, Johnny Delaware, Holler Choir, and more Susto family collaborations. Susto Stringband will celebrate the release of their debut album at The Palm Room on March 28 in Wrightsville Beach, NC and have also confirmed appearances at the Charleston Bluegrass Festival, Red Wing Roots Music Festival, and Party on the Mountain this Summer. Please see tour dates below.
Susto Stringband: Volume 1 will be released on March 28, 2025 and can be pre-saved NOW via NEW WEST RECORDS.
Susto Stringband: Volume 1 Track Listing:
1. Mt. Caroline
2. Friends, Lovers, Ex-Lovers: Whatever
3. Rooster
4. Acid Boys
5. Homeboy
6. Never Losing Me
7. Double Crown
8. God of Death
9. Life is Suffering
Susto Stringband Live:
March 12 – 16 – Austin, TX – SXSW Music Festival
March 27 – Brevard, NC – 185 King Street
March 28 – Wrightsville Beach, NC – The Palm Room (Album Release Show)
March 29 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Bluegrass Festival
June 6 – Jackson, MS – Cathead Jam
June 21 – Mount Solon, VA – Red Wing Roots Music Festival
July 18 – Beech Mountain, NC – Party on the Mountain
Susto Live:
June 7 – Atlanta, GA – Virginia-Highland Summerfest