JANUARY 21, 2026 — Cincinnati-based folk duo The Montvales (lifelong friends Sally Buice and Molly Rochelson) have announced their third full-length, Path of Totality, set to release on March 20 via Free Dirt Records (Jake Blount, Willi Carlisle, Liv Greene). The 12-track set sees The Montvales collaborating once again with producer Mike Eli LoPinto (guitarist for Chris Stapleton and Wyatt Flores, producer of Emily Nenni's On The Ranch), who helmed their well-received 2024 sophomore album Born Strangers. They previously shared an early look at the forthcoming collection, album track "Loud and Clear," and they're returning today with "World of Trouble."
When The Montvales embarked on their tour from Pittsburgh to Texas in the spring of 2024, their route inadvertently matched the path of totality for a total solar eclipse across North America. The effect was both extraordinary and troubling: they met people from all over the world in each rural gas station, everyone buzzing in anticipation. Traffic was intense. Suddenly every hotel room cost twice as much as usual. But the omen echoed even greater. Rochelson, who applies astrological symbolism in her daily life, explains that an eclipse is said to bring dark, shadowy material to the surface-often confronting us with difficult truths. In the spring of 2024, student demonstrations across the country protested the genocide in Gaza. Many Americans suddenly grappled with a deeper understanding of the suffering their tax dollars were funding, amidst a skyrocketing cost of living. Neither of the front runners in the impending presidential election seemed to have much to say about it. American democracy felt more tenuous than ever, and the threat of a second Trump term hung heavily in the air. Under this weight, Rochelson wrote the album's opener and today's single, "World of Trouble."
Of the track, she offers, "It was an extremely surreal experience...Across the country, student uprisings called attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, demanding that their universities divest from Israel and weapons manufacturing. The same universities where students in the 60’s had protested the Vietnam war, under the same series of Aries and Libra eclipses we were currently experiencing. We were about to play the Old Quarter in Galveston, and I thought about Townes and Guy Clark and what it meant to be in this role of traveling stranger and cultural witness during such catastrophic times. I wondered what would become of us, both personally and collectively. I wrote this one on an early morning outside of Galveston, staring across the bay and trying to capture how punchdrunk I felt."
Place and fate resonate throughout Path of Totality. Raised in the staunchly conservative state of Tennessee, Buice and Rochelson were outliers, destined to meet before they were even born. Their parents were family friends and former co-workers who nurtured their creative children and taught them the importance of empathy and community. Home to the Highlander Center, a historic social justice organizing space, and a diverse and busy Market Square in Knoxville, their East Tennessee community was a hotbed for political movements and for the arts. The community embraced the pair’s musical pursuits throughout their youth. They jumped around from genre to genre, playing roots music with punk and old-time influences to craft their sound and message. “We are on the feral outskirts of country music,” Rochelson says.
Their politically-driven songwriting is heavily informed by their upbringing in the South, witnessing the tenacity of people organizing for liberation under violent and tumultuous conditions. The Highlander Center was set on fire and faced several bomb threats, there was a politically-motivated shooting at their Unitarian Universalist Church, and the Planned Parenthood where Rochelson worked was burned down. Reminiscing on the lyrics to John Prine’s “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You into Heaven Anymore,” Buice explains that politically driven folk music gave her a sense of agency in dark times, and she’s always wanted to be part of that musical lineage.
“I’ve always thought that would be the best possible way to do music,” Buice says. “I don’t always set out to convey a particular message. I think it works better to see how politics obviously informs everything about our lives, and braid that into the songs.”
Path of Totality does not shy away from the weight of political strife and catastrophe, opting instead to boldly confront it. The Montvales ask us not only how we will endure despite our differences, but how we will find each other again. Their songs are descriptive and textured. The characters are vivid. Their stories are crucial.
Path of Totality Tracklist:
1. World of Trouble
2. Hellbent on Colorado
3. Loud and Clear
4. Carolina
5. The Wicked
6. Plains of Ohio
7. Cincinnati
8. Runaway Horse
9. Overtime
10. Funeral Singer
11. Our Lady
12. Eastern Bluebird
