Jason Hawk Harris Announces New LP 'Thin Places'

Jason Hawk Harris has announced his highly-anticipated new album Thin Places, due out October 6 via Bloodshot Records.

Thin Places finds the Austin-based singer-songwriter shining a light on grief and healing while drawing on his extensive classical music background to create a cathartic, genre-defying body of work.

Along with the announcement, Harris has shared his new hymn-like single “Jordan and the Nile,” which arrives with a visually stunning music video directed by Austin Leih.

“The chorus of ‘Jordan and the Nile’ came to me in a random burst of writing in about 10 seconds,” reveals Harris. “The rest of the song took four years, three recording sessions and 12 musicians to complete. During the process, we were interrupted by natural disasters, life-threatening medical emergencies and the first pandemic in 100 years. I don't know that I've ever been more proud of something I've written. I hope it's not too much. I'm just glad to finally have it out there, and I'm excited for the life it takes on.”

Produced by longtime collaborator Andy Freeman and written from start to finish as one continuous artistic statement, Thin Places sees Harris examining the emotional whirlwind surrounding his mother's death and the personal evolution that followed.

The album draws on his extensive background in classical music to create a stirring work of beauty, pain, and catharsis, one that masterfully blurs the lines between roots, country, rockabilly, gospel and chamber folk as it reckons with forces far beyond our control.

Following Harris’ critically acclaimed 2019 Bloodshot debut Love & The Dark which garnered praise from Rolling Stone, Billboard and more, what should have been a period of triumph was instead marked by a series of setbacks and heartbreak: he lost his mother, his father declared bankruptcy, his touring van was stolen and totaled, a tornado struck during the making of a follow-up LP and his label went under.

Adding a pandemic into the mix that prevented Harris from touring, this unexpected two-year hiatus allowed the Houston native to find a "thin place" to reflect on the monumental loss of a parent, and this stillness eventually called him back to music. When word got out that he was ready to get back into the studio, in a single day fans chipped in enough to fund the recordings. A few months later, a freshly re-launched Bloodshot Records came calling, ready to pay him what he was owed and re-sign him to the label with a new deal.

Chronicling this undoubtedly transformative time in Harris’ life, the songs on Thin Places are deeply personal, staring down loss, self-destruction and recovery with unflinching honesty, and the arrangements are similarly bold and cinematic. This album is a bittersweet testament to the complicated legacies we inevitably leave behind, and a profoundly moving exploration of the gray areas and liminal spaces that shape us all.

Photo Credit: Daley Hake

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