Abigail Washburn drops new CD in January

Produced by Tucker Martine and featuring members of My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, the disc drops Jan. 11, 2011. Washburn previously released music on Nettwerk. She was a member of Uncle Earle and has several different music groups with whom she plays including Abigail Washburn's Sparrow Quartet.

The singer, songwriter and clawhammer banjo player apent 2009 and 2010 creating the CD, a roots sound filtered through indie pop. Martine has worked with The Decemberists, Spoon and Sufjan Stevens.

Originally intended as a self-released record for late summer 2010, Rounder stepped in. "Rounder has been wanting to work with Abigail again," said Rounder president John Virant, whose label released Washburn's former band, Uncle Earl. "When we heard this beautiful new solo project, we know this was the one."

Songwriting collaborator Kai Welch, guitarist Bill Frisell, fiddler Rayna Gellert, guzheng (the ancient Chinese zither) master Wu Fei all play on the disc with string arrangements by Jeremy Kittel of the Turtle Island String Quartet. Chris Funk from The Decemberists and Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket also appear.

This past summer, Washburn opened a West Coast run for Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers before heading to China where she represented the U.S. at the World Expo in Shanghai as well as performing in Beijing and other cities in China. Washburn and her band did a short tour of the U.S. this fall previewing the material from the new record. They will tour extensively in early 2011.