The Dip is a Seattle-based Rhythm and Blues band that is known for its poignant songwriting, detailed arrangements, and vintage sound. Featuring a three-piece horn section, the group’s music harkens back to earlier soul and funk influences while hinting at the jazz foundations that brought the band’s members together. Along with singer and guitarist Tom Eddy, bassist Mark Hunter and drummer Jarred Katz are equally at home in a tight-pocketed groove as they are spacious free-improvisation. Trumpet player Brennan Carter joined by saxophonists Evan Smith and Levi Gillis serve as the band’s melodic counterpoint, playing off Eddy’s vocals to create a distinct sonic character that has drawn in millions of listeners to date.

'Love Direction', the follow-up to 2022’s 'Sticking With It' (which landed at #1 on the Billboard Current R&B Albums Chart) is the band’s fourth full-length studio album and second for Dualtone Records, due out 7/12/24. This new record is the sound of the band taking their next step forward. The interplay of old and new is on full display throughout the album; and, the group augments their classic sound with an expanded instrumentation throughout. Eddy says of the album’s inspiration: “As you get further along in a relationship, sometimes you lose your way. The things that came easily in the beginning get hard. The love is still there, it’s just that people and life are complicated. Sometimes you don’t have the tools in the toolbox to figure out what you need to do to support the other person, so you have to get help and ask for directions.”

Still, despite the title, this latest record isn’t a collection of straightforward love songs, but an investigation into the different angles and challenges that relationships can bring. Expanding on the album’s theme, Eddy further notes “These aren’t ‘Love Songs’ in the most obvious sense. They deal with the middle stages, the hinterlands of love and life together - figuring someone out and what they need, learning how to communicate, and examining your own faults. We set out to write music that felt more grown, a little wiser. The songs that emerged all pointed in the Love Direction.”

Their last album cycle saw the band headline and sell-out shows at iconic venues across the country. They have also had the opportunity to support new friends like Lake Street Dive and The Black Pumas, while also appearing at major festivals including Bonnaroo and Outside Lands. No strangers to the road, this new album represents a reflection on the band’s touring gravitas as well as the promise of a new destination appearing on the horizon. Directions now in hand, The Dip is looking forward to furthering this exploration into all matters of the heart by bringing this expansive and detailed new recording to life in their next travels together.

Hailing from Mobile, Alabama, The Red Clay Strays – Brandon Coleman (lead vocals, guitar), Drew Nix (guitar and vocals), Zach Rishel (guitar), Andrew Bishop (bass), John Hall (drums), bonded as young, working-class men raised on Lynyrd Skynyrd riffs. Anchored by Coleman, whose voice channels country gold and old-school rock ‘n’ roll soul, the Strays cut their teeth with gigs on sticky barroom floors. After meeting while touring with Elle King in 2023, Sevans Henderson, an Oklahoma native, joined the band on the road to play keys in February 2024.

With a sound straddling fiery Southern rock riffs, tender-hearted soul music, and tried-and-true country crooning, the Strays rose from backroad Gulf Coast gigs to become one of the most sought-after acts in country and rock circles. The band self-released their debut album, Moment of Truth, in 2022, featuring the breakout single, “Wondering Why,” which propelled the band into the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Chart and inside the top 20 of the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart. The album also helped earn the band the win for ‘Emerging Artist of the Year’ at the 2024 Americana Honors & Awards.

The success of Moment of Truth led to the Strays inking a deal with RCA Records and enlisting Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb to produce their latest studio album, Made by These Moments. Cut at Cobb’s home studio in Savannah, Georgia, the album received universal acclaim upon release, marking the band’s first entry in the Billboard 200 and bowing in the top 10 of the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart and helping earn them their first CMA nomination for ‘Vocal Group Of The Year’ and a Billboard Music Award for ‘Top Country Group.’ The band celebrated the release of Made by These Moments with performances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CBS Saturday Morning, and NPR’s Tiny Desk, in addition to taking the album on the road with their sold-out ‘These Moments Tour,’ bringing their magnetic live show across the globe, including a three-night headline debut at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, during which they recorded their first live album, Live At The Ryman.