Music
Folk Rockers Little Wretches Release Spiritually-Fueled Full Length “Red Beets & Horseradish”
The international iTunes chart-topping band led by Robert Andrew Wagner issues their first album of new material since 2020’s “Undesirables And Anarchists.”

“The heart of the songs lies not in the suffering of the characters but in the indomitable faith and humor that sustains them”— Robert A. Wagner, Little Wretches
With the release of 2020’s “Undesirables And Anarchists,” PA-based indie folk troupe Little Wretches re-emerged as one of the area’s premiere exports. The album was heard on over 115 AM/FM stations in the country, and it included the #1 international iTunes hit, “The Ballad of Johnny Blowtorch.” In 2021, a live acoustic album, “Live at the Mattress Factory: Songs from the Land of Pit Bulls & Poker Machines” was released, yielding another #1, “All Of My Friends.” Now, 150K Spotify streams and 61K Youtube views later, the band, led by Frontman and Songwriter, Robert Andrew Wagner, is releasing their first album of new material in 2 years.
According to Robert Wagner, “RED BEETS AND HORSERADISH’ (out on March 18th, 2022) is inspired by a relish or side-dish usually served around the holidays of Easter or Passover by various ethnicities of Eastern Europe. For the Serbs, for example, the red of the beets is symbolic of the blood of their people, and the horseradish the bitterness of their suffering. For others, the symbolism involves the blood of their savior and the bitterness of His suffering. People in the Jewish tradition also enjoy the dish, but there is no blood involved—the beets are merely for flavor—but the horseradish does represent the memory of bitter suffering in bondage. The songs on the album involve vignettes and portraits of people who’ve suffered—old people, sick people, crazy people, people who are alone—but the heart of the songs lies not in the suffering of the characters but in the indomitable faith and humor that sustains them.”
Watch the video for the first single, “Palms And Crosses” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53PzZDhT3Ho
TRACK LIST:
1. Rise
2. Lovingkindness
3. Palms and Crosses
4. Nothing Was Given to Me
5. Winter’s Grace
6. Tiger Pajamas
7. Heaven Was Open
8. It’s Raining
9. Old Hundredth
10. Old Lillian’s Story
11. Walked Along
12. Duquesne
13. It’s All between Me & God
Drums–Mike Madden
Bass–John Carson
Piano–H.K. Hilner, Hollis Greathouse
Guitars–Robert Andrew Wagner
Lead Vocals—Robert Andrew Wagner and Rosa Colucci
Background Vocals—Emma Golebie, Jack Erdie, Rosa Colucci, Robert Wagner
Produced by The Little Wretches
Recorded by Hollis Greathouse
Mastered by Tom Dimuzio
All songs by Robert Andrew Wagner except RISE by Jack Erdie (with additional traditional lyrics), WINTER’S GRACE by Annette Dietz and Robert Andrew Wagner, and OLD HUNDREDTH by Traditional, arranged by Robert Andrew Wagner.
Artwork by Melinda Pietrusza
https://littlewretches.com
https://www.facebook.com/thelittlewretches
Artist Spotlight
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” finds a new direction through Ghost of Panama
Rearranging a song that carries six decades of cultural weight is a creative challenge, but Ghost of Panama approaches “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with clear purpose. The rock band radically reworks Bob Dylan’s counter-culture hit, reshaping its identity while keeping its rebellious spirit. It’s a tribute to musical heritage and a statement of artistic independence all in one.
This new interpretation is very much shaped by the production, made at Ghost of Panama’s home studio in West London. The setting allows an intimate approach to reinterpreting a familiar song and lets the group engage directly with the material, taking it in a new artistic direction.
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” centers on the tension between conservation and transformation. Ghost of Panama is true to the song’s rebellious spirit without adding to its legacy, and this approach gives the release an adventurous feel, grounded in countercultural energy but driven by a desire to see what the composition can become in a different musical context.
Their version of this 60-year-old classic shows that respecting a song’s history can also mean breaking the rules and finding new ways to express its spirit. Fundamentally, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” presents Ghost of Panama as artists who want to engage with the past without being tied to it. The release’s strongest identity is a familiar heritage reimagined through a singularly forward-looking creative vision.
Artist Spotlight
“NO MORE” by Amanda Holley connects healing, awakening, and survival
“NO MORE“ carries that kind of emotional weight, and some songs feel like they come from lived experience but reach for something bigger. Amanda Holley blends R&B and soul, turning a lifetime of survival into a vision of healing, awakening, and the determination to move beyond what caused the pain.
“NO MORE“ is a healing anthem for people who have gone through bad experiences and reached a place of higher awareness, but it’s also an emotionally charged protest. The duality is introspective and outward-looking at the same time, turning personal survival into a broader declaration that some experiences, conditions, or cycles should end.
Holley had a premonition of the song six months before the world went into global shutdown. In the vocal booth, working out melodies with her collaborators, she pictured people in the streets. Those images were hard to imagine at the time, but subsequent events would make them painfully familiar.
“NO MORE“ is given a particularly contemplative underpinning by the context. The identity of R&B and soul leaves room for emotion. The song’s themes link survival, awakening, resistance, and the need for change. Amanda Holley is an artist using music to process personal endurance and a broader sense of social awakening. It’s got a complicated significance, and its release feels like a glimpse of a moment when personal intuition and public reality collided in an unexpected way.
Photo Credit: Yulia Shusharina
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