Margo Cilker details new album, Little White Cross

Cilker will release Little White Cross on Fossil Records, a label she recently launched with fellow musician ISMAY. The album follows 2023's Valley of Heart's Delight, with the title track — originally written and recorded by Cilker's friend Christy Hays — arriving today to offer the first glimpse into the collection of songs. "When I find a song that really speaks to me, it helps me make sense of things," Cilker says. "Writing can be a lonely affair. But that exchange, that open spirit, it feels essential to art for me." For the album, Cilker travelled to Lockhart, Texas, to record at The Bunker with Bruce Robison, the writer and producer behind work by Charley Crockett, Lee Ann Womack and George Strait. "You could definitely call it a concept record. If that concept is that I got really sad and went to Texas," she says. "I had some material so dark I didn't think I'd show it to [Bruce]. Then I remembered this is the man who wrote 'Travelin' Soldier'." The pair recorded directly to tape in an all-analog setup with a studio band including Eric Heywood, Geoff Queen, Beth Chrisman, Lisa Pankratz and Scott Davis. The album combines Cilker's original songs with covers that she started ...