Yola
photo by Joseph Ross Smith

Yola announces new LP 'Stand for Myself' (watch "Diamond Studded Shoes" video)

Soulful country artist Yola has announced the follow-up to Walk Through Fire, her 2019 debut album. Stand For Myself is due out July 30 via Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label. Dan also produced the album, which was recorded in fall of 2020, and includes tracks co-written with Ruby Amanfu, John Bettis, Pat McLaughlin, Natalie Hemby, Joy Oladokun, Paul Overstreet, Liz Rose, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Hannah Vasanth and Bobby Wood. “It’s a collection of stories of allyship, black feminine strength through vulnerability, and loving connection from the sexual to the social,” Yola says. “All celebrating a change in thinking and paradigm shift at their core. It is an album not blindly positive and it does not simply plead for everyone to come together. It instead explores ways that we need to stand for ourselves throughout our lives, what limits our connection as humans and declares that real change will come when we challenge our thinking and acknowledge our true complexity.” See the cover art and tracklisting below.

The first single is the upbeat “Diamond Studded Shoes,” where Yola’s powerhouse vocals take a starring role. “This song explores the false divides created to distract us from those few who are in charge of the majority of the world’s wealth and use the ‘divide and conquer’ tactic to keep it,” she says. “This song calls on us to unite and turn our focus to those with a stranglehold on humanity.”

Kwaku Otchere directed the accompanying video, which you can watch below, and about it, Yola says, “The video is in part inspired by The Truman Show and is about being trapped in a false construct. It is supposedly perfect, but you’re trapped in a life that wasn’t meant for you. I wanted to convey the feeling that everything you know to be true is not quite working the way it’s supposed to. The island at the end is a paradigm of mental conditioning, we are all trapped on an island of our own thinking, until we change it.”

Yola will support Chris Stapleton on some of his rescheduled tour dates, and she’s also on the lineup for both Newport Folk Festival and Newport Jazz Festival, who are holding “unique three-day events” this year. See all her upcoming tour dates below.

Stand For Myself Tracklisting:
1. Barely Alive
2. Dancing Away In Tears
3. Diamond Studded Shoes
4. Be My Friend
5. Great Divide
6. Starlight
7. If I Had To Do It All Again
8. Now You’re Here
9. Whatever You Want
10. Break The Bough
11. Like A Photograph
12. Stand For Myself

Yola - Stand For Myself

YOLA: 2021-2022 TOUR

July 23-July 25 – Newport Folk
July 30-Aug 1 – Newport Jazz
Aug 6 – Hinterland Music Festival
Aug 7 – DTE Energy Music Theatre. Clarkston, MI – w/ Chris Stapleton
Aug 21 – Globe Life Park. Arlington, TX – w/ Chris Stapleton
Sep 10 – Bristol Rhythm & Roots Festival
Sep 16 – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre. Maryland Height, MO – w/ Chris Stapleton
Sep 17 – Oak Mountain Amphitheatre. Birmingham, AL – w/ Chris Stapleton
Sep 18 – The Wharf Amphitheatre. Orange Beach, AL – w/ Chris Stapleton
Sep 25 – Ruoff Music Center. Noblesville, IN – w/ Chris Stapleton
Sep 26 – Ohana Music Festival
Oct 8 – Madison Square Garden. NYC, NY – w/ Chris Stapleton
Oct 14 – Mizzou Arena. Columbia, MO – w/ Chris Stapleton
Oct 15 – Pinnacle Bank Arena. Lincoln, NE – w/ Chris Stapleton
Oct 16 – Denny Sanford Premier Center. Sioux Falls, SD – w/ Chris Stapleton
Oct 21 – Riverbend Music Center. Cincinnati, OH – w/ Chris Stapleton
Oct 22 & 23 – Bridgestone Arena. Nashville, TN – w/ Chris Stapleton
Oct 28 – United Supermarket Arena. Lubbock, TX – w/ Chris Stapleton
Oct 29 – Isleta Amphitheater. Albuquerque, NM – w/ Chris Stapleton
Oct 30 – AK-Chin Pavilion. Phoenix, AZ – w/ Chris Stapleton
Nov 4 – Frank Erwin Center. Austin, TX – w/ Chris Stapleton
Nov 5 – BOK Center. Tulsa, OK – w/ Chris Stapleton
Nov 6 – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The Woodlands, TX – w/ Chris Stapleton
Dec 3 – FedEx Forum. Memphis, TN – w/ Chris Stapleton
Dec 4 – Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Biloxi, MS – w/ Chris Stapleton
Dec 5 – Thompson-Boling Arena. Knoxville, TN – w/ Chris Stapleton
Mar 3 – Ryman Auditorium. Nashville, TN
April 20 – Huntington Center. Toledo, OH – w/ Chris Stapleton
April 21 – Schottenstein Center. Columbus, OH – w/ Chris Stapleton
April 23 – A Concert for Kentucky – Kroger Field. Lexington, KY – w/ Chris Stapleton