Today, Jake La Botz shares “Let It Fall,” final single off his upcoming album Hair On Fire the new album, titled “Let It Fall”, will release on September 9, 2022. As the album opener, the driving “Let It Fall” sets the stage, with La Botz questioning what would happen if the whole world were able to let go of the disguises we wear on a daily basis and instead face each other with total honesty and vulnerability. “Will you let it fall?” he asks over a muted guitar and chiming piano. “Will you let it all wash away?”
La Botz has also announced his exciting Tattoo Across America Tour, where he’ll be playing in mostly local tattoo shops across the country, with a few traditional venues and some other unusual places along the way, including a homeless shelter in Boise, a “Blues, Tattoos & Recovery” seminar in Indianapolis, and the Outsiders House Museum in Tulsa, which the executive director for, and rapper, Danny Boy O’Connor (House of Pain/La Coka Nostra) personally booked La Botz for. Check out the full tour schedule below.
Stream/purchase “Let It Fall” HERE
“I don’t know if this relates to being a performer,” La Botz tells Ditty TV about the track, “but there seems to me to be something ‘performative’ in the way people (all of us) present ourselves – our opinions, how we want to be seen in the world. We all wear different masks, no matter if we are professionals performers. My question here is what’s under there, and what happens if we let the covers fall away? Or are we forced to give them up in the midst of a world that is coming apart at the seams?”
“Let It Fall” follows previous singles “Hope The Sunshine” and title track, “Hair On Fire,” which Holler said, “Imagine the gospel fervour of Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth For Christ Choir mixed up with the energetic neo-folk of Arcade Fire and the contemporary rootsiness of The Lumineers and you might be getting somewhere close to the sound that La Botz has pulled together on ‘Hair On Fire’… It’s both heavily indebted and oddly anachronistic. This loose mix of country music, gospel folk songs, and delta blues is as familiar as it gets. It lifts and shakes the soul.
“There’s a saying in Buddhism,” La Botz, who is also a meditation teacher, explains of the title track, “that one should practice as if their hair is on fire, which means there should be an urgency towards using the tools of meditation to open up and see what is. The message is: life is short and, if you want to wake up and discover what it’s about, now is the time.”
La Botz is a spiritually driven songwriter like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Prior to Covid, he taught meditation in prisons, Buddhist centers, living rooms, and elsewhere, ever looking to meet people where they’re at and to share what meditation has to offer. La Botz considers meditation and music important ways to connect with people. Sometimes, his music lovers even practice meditation alongside him. Through the crisis, he continued to devote his time to two of his main passions: teaching meditation through Zoom and writing songs that can be shared with others.
Over the years, Jake’s work has been praised by Rolling Stone, World Cafe, No Depression, Folk Alley, Atwood Magazine, American Songwriter, PopMatters, Glide, Bluegrass Situation, and many more.
Mongrel Music recently signed La Botz for North American bookings. They also announced a few tour dates, including the Tattoo Across America Tour. You can see the complete list below and get ticket information HERE.
Hair On Fire tracklist:
1. It’s okay to let it fall
2. The art of killing for a living
3. On Fire with Hair
4. Hope for the Sunshine
5. This Looked Like A Gun
6. Broken Birds
7. I Don’t Want It
8. Who will you love?
9. First McDonnell’s on the Moon
10. Get ready to roll
11. Mirror in Me
12. Last mission on earth
The Tour Dates:
08/29: Saint Paul, MN @ Minnesota State Fair
08/30: Saint Paul, MN @ Minnesota State Fair
Tattoo Across America Tour Dates:
09/07: Kansas City, MO @ Electric Influence Tattoo
09/09/09 Springville (UT) @ Buffalo Nickel Tattoo
09/10: Salt Lake City UT at Piper Down Pub (sponsored Utah Rockabilly).
09/11/07: Boise (ID) @ Interfaith Shelter Emergency Shelter (private showing sponsored by Betsy’s Cookie Co.
09/14 Portland, OR at Freaks and Geeks Tattoo
09/15: Kirkland WA, Under the Needle Tattoo
Friday Harbor, WA @ Under The Needle Tattoo
09/17 Salem (OR) @ All American Tattoo
09/21: Los Angeles, CA @ Redwood Bar
09/22: Fallbrook, CA @ Little C’s Tattoo Parlor
09/23: San Diego, CA @ Absolute Tattoo
09/24: Phoenix (AZ) @ Old West Tattoo
09/27: Tulsa OK @ The Outsiders House Museum (sponsored Danny Boy O’Connor).
09/28: Dallas, TX @ Elm St Tattoo
09/29 Austin, TX at The Austin Tattoo Co.
09/30: Port Neches, TX @ The Avenue Coffee & Cafe
10/06/06 South Shore, KY @ Snake Oil Tanning
10/07: Cincinnati, OH @ One Shot Tattoo
10/08: Indianapolis, IN @ Yellow Rose Inn Blues, Tattoos, and Recovery Sponsored by Mental Health America of Indiana
10/09: Milwaukee, WI @ “The Loft” (public house party)
10/13: Anoka, MN @ Wingnut Tattoo
