Well!
Juliana, via Instagram:
new surprise release alert! before i made my last album, "lightning might strike", i made this set of 11 songs with my contractor, eric payne (who is also a talented carpenter and visual artist [he made the cover art for this project]). eric wrote the music* and played the instruments (except for a couple of guitar tracks by me) and i wrote (and sang) the lyrics and melodies*. a couple of these songs ended up being redone for "lightning..." this album--named "Bets" --can be found at bandcamp: look for julianahatfieldandericpayne.bandcamp.com
*except for
"Sugartown" which was all Lee Hazlewood
Juliana mentioned the existence of this recording back in October 2023 in an interview with Grant Walters for Columbus Underground:
I’m always on to the next thing. After I finished the ELO record, I took a little time to not work on anything. But then I started working with this new friend of mine who is a contractor and a carpenter – and he’s also a musician and a songwriter. He had all these songs recorded with no vocals on them, and I ended up writing and recording a whole album worth of songs with him. So, I don’t know if it’s ever going to be released, but there are, like, 12 songs that I wrote lyrics for and sang.
Track List
Your Social Security
Only Sister
Pass It On
Sweet
Temptation
Sugar Town
The Well
Angels Everywhere
New Flag
Thoughts To Send
Goodbye