MILLBROOK, June 4 — The Hollow Road, the indie-folk band that spent the last three years playing every bar, festival, and backyard in Millbrook, has officially taken their shot at a bigger stage. The four-piece group announced this week that they've signed with Tumbledown Records, a well-regarded independent label based in Nashville, and simultaneously released their debut full-length album, Soft Machinery. The 11-track record, recorded over two winters at a studio in Crestfield, is already drawing comparisons to early Bon Iver and The National — though the band is quick to bristle at easy reference points.
About the Record
"We just tried to make something honest," said frontwoman and primary songwriter Clara Espinoza in a phone call Wednesday. "If people hear other bands in it, that's fine — we grew up on those records too. But this one is about Millbrook, about this specific place and what it feels like to stay somewhere when everyone tells you to leave." The album's lead single, "River Town", has already racked up over 40,000 streams on Spotify and landed on the platform's "New Americana" editorial playlist — a meaningful win for a band that was self-releasing EPs less than a year ago.
- The album is available on all major streaming platforms and on vinyl via Tumbledown's website
- The band will headline the Halverson Riverfront Park concert on July 19 as part of the Summer Series
- A record release show is set for June 20 at The Taproom on Mill Street — doors at 7 p.m., tickets $12
- An acoustic in-store performance at Weathered Pages Records on June 14 is free and open to all ages
The rest of the band — guitarist Tomás Reyes, bassist Jade Whitmore, and drummer Fin Calloway — have been Millbrook regulars for years, and the local music community is treating this moment like a collective win. "They're ours," said one regular at last week's preview listening party at The Taproom. "We're not letting them forget that."
