Why Bonnie — the New York-based project helmed by Blair Howerton — has announced her sophomore album, led by new single "Fake Out."
Wish on the Bone is due August 30 on Fire Talk. It follows Why Bonnie's 2022 debut, 90 in November, which captured Howerton as a 20-something living in New York City and yearning for the Texas of her adolescence. "I've changed since that album, and I trust that I'll probably continue to change," she explained. "Maybe I won't be the same person entirely two years from now."
The new record was co-produced by Howerton and Jonathan Schenke. "We were trying on musical hats," Howerton reflected. "There's still some country on this record, but I wasn't thinking about sticking to one thing. Personal experience of learning to be bolder and more assertive and trusting myself has carried over into my music."
She added, "These songs were written out of hope for a better future. I'm not naïve, the world is fucked up, but I think you can radically accept that while still believing it's possible to change things."
Lead single "Fake Out" — the loudest song on the album — is about "trying to be authentic in a world that makes it impossible to be so." It was the first song from Wish on the Bone that Howerton showed bandmates Chance Williams and Josh Malett. Listen to its anthemic tangle build into a cathartic crescendo below, where you'll also find the album tracklist details.
Wish on the Bone:
1. Wish on the Bone
2. Dotted Line
3. Rhyme or Reason
4. Fake Out
5. Headlight Sun
6. Green Things
7. All the Money
8. Peppermint
9. Three Big Moons
10. Weather Song
11. I Took the Shot