Sheila Vee, the New Jersey–based singer-songwriter and guitarist, will release her debut solo album, Ride, on 6th November 2026 via Ampersand Records. The record was produced by longtime collaborator Bob Harris of the bluegrass band Borderline, and is described as “Vee’s grittiest, wildest and most personal work yet, fusing traditional bluegrass with pedal steel, Telecaster twang and the loose, freewheeling spirit of a Grateful Dead jam”.
Vee first made her mark as a founding member of the Magnolia Street String Band, and as a woman of colour in a genre where few have traditionally been visible, Vee has carved out a place in bluegrass that is fully her own.
On Ride, Vee makes room for the psychedelic, comic and deeply feminine sides of her musical personality; the parts that “didn’t always have a place in the band,” she admits. The album title works as a mantra: “Just keep truckin’ no matter how chaotic, painful and frightening everything seems,” Vee says. “It’s vulnerable in places, playful in others, and definitely not afraid of the strange.”
Ride features contributions from Michael Cleveland, Rob Ickes, Scott Vestal and Andy Leftwich, plus award-winning Swedish Telecaster “chicken-picker” Erik Holmbom, alongside musicians from Vee’s own community, including Bob Harris, Dan Whitener (Gangstagrass), Dave McDonald (The Last Whippoorwill), pedal steel player Liam Bornovski, drummers Joe McGuth and Brandon Revilla, bassist Lawrence Haber and her sister Rita Shukla on harmony vocals. “No two songs have the same players, instruments or sound,” Vee says.
Vee has put out the album’s lead single, Throw Me a Line, with fiddle legend Cleveland. The track is accompanied by an animated visualiser, offering a visual introduction to the album.
Anchored by Cleveland’s fiddle, Throw Me a Line shows the album’s heart. The song came out of pure household chaos: Vee was trying to learn new recording software while “the kids were hungry, the laundry was piling up, and I was staring at a computer wondering why nothing worked,” Vee reflects. She calls the result: “Bluegrass at its core, but with some strange little detours.”
You can pre-save/ pre-order Ride right here.
