Salt Lines, the new album, out October 23.
Rowan Hale writes songs about harbor towns, night shifts and the people who stay behind when the boats go out. The new record was cut live to tape in a former sail loft with a four-piece band, and the autumn tour carries it through twenty-two rooms from Boston to Chicago.
Pre-order the vinyl before October 16 and receive a signed print.
Listen to Salt Lines
Six of the eleven songs, in album order. Press play and the rest are waiting on the vinyl.
- Track 1 · 4 min · Written for Eben MarshLow Tide at the Fish PierThe opener. A single acoustic guitar and a story about a deckhand who never learned to swim.
- Track 2 · 3 min · Featuring Tess Alder on fiddleNobody Writes Back from RocklandUpbeat on the surface, devastating in the verses. The first single and the one the crowd sings loudest.
- Track 3 · 5 minSalt LinesThe title track, recorded in one take at four in the morning with the sail loft doors open to the harbor.
- Track 4 · 4 minFerry LightA slow waltz for anyone who has ever watched a lit window from the wrong side of the water.
- Track 5 · 4 minWinter RentDrums arrive on the second chorus and do not leave. The song the band closes every show with.
- Track 6 · 7 minEverything the Tide Brought InA seven-minute finale with a brass quartet, a church organ and a final verse sung without a microphone.
Autumn dates
Rowan plays with the full band on every date except the two living-room shows. Mark the nights you want to attend and send the list to a friend.
dates on the tour
Hometown release show with the full band, a brass quartet for the finale and a signing table afterwards. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 8.
Opening set from Tess Alder. Tickets are $28 in advance and $32 on the night.
A seated show in a century-old hall with excellent acoustics. Rowan plays the quiet songs first and the loud ones after the interval.
Sold out in nine days. A second night has been added in the new year; join the email list for first access.
Come in costume and sing the encore. Best costume wins a signed copy of the first record.
A Thursday night with a local support act announced two weeks out. Standing room, a full bar and merchandise from 6:30 p.m.
A 200-capacity room where the band plays inches from the front row. Advance tickets only; there is rarely a box office on the night.
Rowan's first Ohio show in three years, with the full band and a stripped-down second set in the tavern afterwards.
The last band show of the tour. Doors at 7:30 and a late-night record signing in the bar.
One of two house concerts. Rowan plays solo for sixty minutes and tells the stories behind the songs. Tickets include a light supper.
Shop and pre-order
Everything is made in small runs and posted from Portland within three working days. Tour-night merchandise is cheaper, because there is no postage.
From the road
Photographs from last year's tour, sent in by the people who were standing in the room.
What people say after the encore
“Rowan sings about a ferry timetable and somehow it is the most moving thing you hear all year. I drove four hours to see the second show.”
“We booked Rowan for a hundred-seat room and had a line down the street. The band packed up in forty minutes and the staff are still talking about the finale.”
“Salt Lines is the sound of a songwriter who stopped trying to be clever and started telling the truth.”
Book Rowan or ask for a ticket
Promoters, festival bookers and journalists can write directly. Fans who cannot get a ticket to a sold-out night are welcome to join the waiting list here too.
Hear about new dates first
Rowan writes four or five emails a year: a new date, a demo nobody has heard and a presale code that works for forty-eight hours.