The Album Leaf is falling, Veronica May is questioning, Sara Petite is returning, Greg Douglass is moving, Zach Phillips is competing

Jimmy LaValle formed his meditative electro-organic musical project The Album Leaf in 1999, going on to several acclaimed releases and touring with acts such as Sigur Rós. May 5 will see the release of a new album, Future Falling, his first original full-length (other than film scores and reissues) since 2016’s Between Waves. The album, which includes guests Kimbra and Bat For Lashes, will be featured when The Album Leaf appears at the Casbah on May 13.

“[On] May 4, I’m finally releasing a very full-length album titled Between The Seems,” reports Veronica May. “Always questioning what’s real. Exploring every piece and style of who I am. The album features The San Diego Women’s Chorus, my old band The Forget Me Nots, and more. From rock to soul to ballads. 22 songs spanning my career.” Album guests include guitarist Jeff Berkley, bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer Josh Herms.

Sara Petite’s new full-length The Empress is due June 9 via Forty Below Records, preceded so far by a single for “Bringin’ Down the Neighborhood.” The 11-song album was produced by Grammy nominee Eric Corne (Sam Morrow, Jaime Wyatt) and marks a return to country twang and roots rock. A record release party happens at the Belly Up on June 6.

“Been keeping busy with a recording project at bassist John Avila’s studio,” reports guitarist Greg Douglass of his recent sessions with the former Oingo Boingo member. In addition, “The amazing Mark Langford set a number of Irish poems to music and hired myself, drummer Larry Grano, and my old pal Johnny V as co-guitarist, and we cut 16 tracks in two-and-a-half days.” Douglass will soon be leaving San Diego. "We're moving to Oregon, either to Coos Bay or the more artsy-fartsy environs of Ashland. Plans are to buy a house for cash and actually have money left over at the end of the month; our property tax alone breaks my balls every month." Douglas and his band the Sidewinders will play a Farewell to Lake Hodges Concert at Del Dios Old Firehouse Community Center on May 14. He'll be doing huge chunks of the Steve Miller catalog he played on, some Greg Kihn, and tributes to the guitarists who inspired Douglass: Jeff Beck, Peter Green, Dick Dale, Eric Clapton, and the new king of slide, Sonny Landreth.

Carlsbad songwriter Zach Phillips was nominated for a 2023 San Diego Music Award as Best Country/Americana Album for his 2022 Goddaughters full-length. His wife Gloria Taylor was also nominated for an SDMA, in the category of Best Folk/Acoustic Album for her 2022 EP Sun. Phillips says his album was written to sound like “a final album, a relic of the pandemic to be discovered later as a time-capsule item.” Taylor’s EP was inspired by her experience as a sound and energy healer working on Zoom during the pandemic.