(Self-released, digital)
The life of a Vermont band can be rugged. You spend a good portion of the year driving to shows through wintry conditions, hauling gear up snowy roads, loading into clubs while the sidewalks are covered in ice — let’s just say the outdoor gig season is short.
Spare a thought for Burlington Americana and bluegrass act the Wormdogs, if you will. The five-piece started something of a tradition with its 2024 self-titled record when it traveled south to record in New Orleans. Several members of the band are farmers, so snowbirding out of the frozen Green Mountains for a few weeks of Louisiana sun and po’boys seemed like a wonderful respite.
While it worked a treat for that record, Mother Nature had other ideas when the band headed back to New Orleans to record the follow-up, It’s for You. An incredibly rare blizzard struck the Big Easy in January, just as the Wormdogs and producer Eric George arrived to start work on the new album. The winter-grizzled Vermonters kept the faucets running as the city was frozen and proceeded to record what they describe on their Bandcamp page as their “best work to date with the least amount of thought put into ‘the release.’”
It’s hard to disagree. After opening with the recorded message from the band’s very real hotline, 802-WORMDOG, the album kicks into gear with “Clam Chowder.” The Wormdogs lean heavier into their country roots on the new record, evidenced by some proper honky-tonk on this track. It’s a laid-back tune with subtle fiddle and easygoing harmonies as the band sings, “I’m longing for my baby’s clam chowder.”
“Nobody Makes It,” a doom-laden, downtrodden ditty full of quirky fatalism, perfectly captures the vibe of being snowed in somewhere strange. Failed attempts at stardom and misadventures in Los Angeles underpin a song that could almost be about planned obsolescence. “Nobody makes it anymore, so I guess we’re gonna have to fake it,” the band sings.
Though bassist Braden Lalancette, drummer Will Pearl, fiddle player Danica Cunningham, and guitarists Eric Soszynski and Nick Ledak all take turns on lead vocals, they often sing as a unit. Under the guidance of George, who knows a thing or two about making authentic folk music, the band recorded the album’s vocals standing in a circle around a single microphone. That old-school vibe permeates a collection of songs dipped in roots and folk traditions, from country to bluegrass to Americana — though there are traces of electric blues and Southern rock, too.
It’s for You is right on the edge of being an EP; two of the seven tracks are more skit than song, so there are really only five proper tunes. But they crackle with sincerity and warmth, the sound of a northern band shrugging off a southern snowstorm.
The album is available at thewormdogs.bandcamp.com and on major streaming services.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4 2025.
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