$30
Rube & Rake's new album begins with an ode to family and friends— togetherness—as Josh Sandu declares, against a hopeful bluegrass backdrop, 'somewhere there's a place to lay my head.' Nine songs later, over a gently plucked guitar, he sings, 'I won't go picking it up, the weight of the page is just too much.' Following the award-winning 2017 debut Back and Forth, the St. John's- based Sandu and Andrew Laite wanted to keep the core of that album's artistic successes—musical and collaborative harmony, folk storytelling—while recognizing audience expectations have intensified. 'The first album ends up being the greatest hits of what you've done so far,' says Laite. 'With record number two, you want it to be in the ring with the first one, only bigger and stronger.'