North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Natalie Jane Hill has announced her new album “Hopeful Woman” will be released on 6th March 2026 via Dear Life Records. Hill’s previous record “Solely” was awarded a big 9/10 by AUK’s Jonathan Aird, who wrote: “Natalie Jane Hill moves into a rarefied folk echelon, and more than justifies her place there”.
“Hopeful Woman” was recorded live in two parts: first in Lockhart, Texas—she’s a native of the state—and then in Western North Carolina, where she now makes her home. She enlisted a small ensemble of collaborators who contributed spacious but focused arrangements. Hill’s multi-instrumentalist partner Mat Davidson in particular appears throughout with an aching pedal steel on ‘Never Left Me’, the pastoral-psychedelic flute that weaves through ‘Lucky to Be’, and the stacked fiddles on ‘Blue is the Color of My Sun’. All in service to Hill’s voice, which has been compared with Hope Sandoval and Karen Dalton.
“It’s only close to the earth where hope takes root and, we can only hope, grows—not in reckless, wild fecundity but in measured steps, one at a time, while the storm gathers, rips through, passes. And I know through time we’ll give and we’ll let go,” Hill sings. “And I know this time I’ll give and I’ll let go.” She’s characterised by a wise and humane hopefulness, built to human scale, and the record is said to reflect that.
Lead single ‘Never Left Me’ has been released along with an accompanying video, which you can see below.
In addition, a series of UK and Ireland tour dates in May and June of 2026 supporting Ray LaMontagne has been announced, which you will find listed along with ticket links here.
