Schaefer Llana has signed to Strolling Bones Records and will release her label debut, Full Circle, on 13th November 2026. The 10-song set was produced by Llana and Starlin Browning and recorded at Matt Patton of the Drive-By Truckers’ Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi. The single Wednesday is Green is out now, a song that Llana says “started when I was sitting by a river out in the Mississippi country. Everything was green; the water, the weed, and the turtles. Years later, I added to the song in Texas and Florida, and it ultimately became about embracing solitude and being your own home.”
Born in Missouri, Llana moved to Mississippi as a child, where she spent her formative years singing in church. After high school, she headed deeper into the cradle of American music to study at Delta State University. It’s there where she fell in with a like-minded crew of artists and writers and landed a job working at the recording studio Dial Back Sound. She says, “Matt Patton gave me real opportunities early on. I worked at the studio for several years as an engineer and would record background vocals for anyone who came to record there.” That’s how she met Jimbo Mathus, best known as a founding member of Squirrel Nut Zippers (and more recently for his work with the Black Keys). Mathus was a fellow Mississippi native who first asked her to sing on records he was producing and then later invited her to join his band on the road for several years. The album features two songs written by Mathus, and he also appears on its lead-off track.
After hitting the road in her Toyota Corolla for her first solo tour, Llana moved to Austin, Texas, and made enough money to finance the Full Circle recording sessions back at Dial Back Sound. In pursuit of a sound as raw as her writing, Llana and her band recorded directly to tape, capturing the core of the album live in just three or four days. She comments, “Starting this album, I knew I wanted to go back and record there again with the same group of friends after learning and growing so much. That’s where the album title, Full Circle, came from. Some of these songs are first takes, and I did minimal overdubbing. I wanted it to sound like us right then and there. All of the lead vocals are live and on the spot, imperfections and all, but as Matt Patton says, ‘a recording is a photograph.’ This album is a collection of captured moments made in Mississippi by the very people I love there.”
The album will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. It is available for pre-order here.
“Full Circle” Album Track Listing:
1. In A Scare
2. Big Plans
3. Mindless Feeling
4. Court Street
5. KK’s Blues
6. Wednesday Is Green
7. Skateland Baby
8. I Let It Go
9. Carolina
10. We Couldn’t Figure It Out
