For those unaware, New Mexico-based Americana singer-songwriter Michael Rudd has just released his new single, Going to the Mountain, today, February 28th, 2025.

Furthermore, it is from the forthcoming album of the same name, Going to the Mountain (out March 28th, 2025) and is highly recommended if your musical tastes swing somewhere within the Gillian Welch, Townes Van Zandt, John Hiatt, Bruce Springsteen, John Prine, Mark Knopfler, and Robbie Robertson side of things.

Says Michael of the song, “Going to the Mountain is about an endless quest for a different kind of life that may always remain just out of reach. Despite the wisdom of his partner, the person continues his quest, which is both earthbound and spiritual.”

Going to the Mountain was recorded in October 2024 at Frogville Studios in Santa Fe, NM. It features Michael Rudd on vocals and acoustic guitar, Pat Malone on electric guitar, Asher Barreras on upright bass, Mark Clark on drums, and Brant Leeper on Hammond organ.

1. Before the Demon Came
2. My Love is True
3. Going to the Mountain
4. They All Flew Away
5. Going Away
6. I’ll Always Love You
7. The Far Side
8. End of Days
9. It’s A Hard Road
10. Walk My Way

This emotively impassioned new recording opens on the long hard trail-vibe of Before the Demon Came and then brings us the veritably shimmering My Love is True, a heartfelt rendering of the title track Going to the Mountain, the languishing beauty of They All Flew Away and then we are brought forth the low slung Going Away.

The sophomore album continues onward with the harmonically pleasing I’ll Always Love You and the gently rambunctious, Dylan-ese The Far Side and they are in turn backed by the quietly melodious End of Days, the foot tapper It’s A Hard Road, the album coming to an all-too-soon close on the rhythmical Walk My Way.

Going to the Mountain, Rudd’s second solo studio album, follows his debut album, Long Way from Paradise (2024). Both were recorded at Frogville Studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico and released under his label, Invisible Road Records.

“The title of the album comes from one of the singles,” Rudd says. “It’s the only title I ever considered. The song ‘Going to the Mountain’ takes the perspective of a person who’s always seeking something else, something that he can’t name and that he knows he can never find, but something that he still feels compelled to search for, which he will for the rest of his life. The other songs on the album are about people like him, always moving toward a point just past the horizon.”

While many of the songs carry on the same vibe and approach to songwriting as those on his first album, Going to the Mountain offers a wider musical experience, with Rudd returning to his musical roots with a more electric and edgier sound. But the people he wrote about in Long Way from Paradise are still there, still looking for answers and sometimes finding them.

Michael Rudd - Going to the Mountain (Official Music Video)