River Shook

River Shook carries the country-rock torch of Sarah Shook & the Disarmers into an exciting new era. Shook debuts as a solo artist this year and continues to deliver everything we’ve come to expect: killer songwriting, a smoking hot band, and high-energy, heart-winning live shows.

River Shook's galvanizing, self-titled, debut solo album (Independent, June 26, 2026) is a mythic body of work. Arrow-to-the-heart honest lyrics, unforgettable characters, rock-god electric guitar solos, shimmering pedal steel, and Shook’s unmistakable voice "cut like a ray of light through a great darkness," coaxing listeners toward a deeper level of awareness and empowerment.

In rebellious country rocker "Country Angel," a narrator immerses herself in the feelings of young love and freedom while an old-soul sensibility tugs gently with a reminder that this night, this feeling, this person, they’re all already slipping through her fingers. "You can’t tie a feeling down," Shook’s haunting voice soars in the chorus, delivering twin doses of joy and sorrow.

In "If We Got A Chance," Shook takes an honest stock of their situation as a touring artist: they miss their partner back home, they’ve been gone too long, and they’re struggling to patch up a fight while navigating a grueling schedule on the road. The song touches on relatable themes like work obligations delaying the resolution of an argument, burnout from a thankless job, or choosing not to give up on a struggling relationship.

Shook’s songwriting has never been more inspiring. Throughout the album, Shook intentionally explores themes we tend to avoid, reminding us that we’re braver than we think and that we can handle hard truths about ourselves. Touring 150 days per year with the Disarmers gave Shook a significant advantage: they spent a decade developing stage presence, honing storytelling, and learning how to give audiences an unforgettable, potentially life-changing experience. Their egalitarian songwriting and reputation as a wildly exciting front person have led them to be called "punk" and "rock n’ roll" as frequently as "country." "My songwriting, my music, they’re country to the bone, but it’s that rock n’ roll element that makes the whole thing lift off," says Shook. "If you want to give fans an unforgettable show every night, you need that reckless energy and purity of spirit."

Avery Hellman has been a rancher, an alt-country musician, and always a dreamer. While researching Lucinda Williams in 2023, Hellman discovered how much poetry informed Williams’ work and began learning to write poetry themself. That led to an outpouring of creativity and, with co-writer/producer Sam Cohen, the new ISMAY record Half Truth, out June 12, 2026 on Fossil Records. "My intention with the record, especially given the fact that a lot of the songs started as poems, wasn’t to be perfect," Hellman says. "I wanted the words to be in the forefront — not smooth, but raw."

Hellman grew up in the Bay Area on Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, and Hazel Dickens, spending time backstage at their grandfather’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival since age eight. They initially planned to study environmental work inspired by the family ranch, but after their grandfather died they focused on preserving his legacy and developing their own music. As ISMAY they released Songs of Sonoma Mountain in 2020 (one of KQED’s 10 Best Albums in the Bay Area) and Desert Pavement with Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse in 2024. They have performed at music festivals, opened for artists such as Steve Earle, John Doe, and Chuck Prophet, and appeared on the TV+ show My Kind of Country, produced by Kacey Musgraves and Reese Witherspoon.

Half Truth is an 11-song suite of wry yet lonesome tracks about rodeo horses, salvation, and finding yourself again and again. In 2026 Avery helped launch Fossil Records with Margo Cilker, an indie label aiming to capture the expression drawn from seasons of work on ranches and in rural outposts. Currently based in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, ISMAY also curates a music festival called Woollystar.