“The best straight ahead country album I’ve heard in quite some time”
—Amos Perrine, No Depression
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Or download an mp3 or wav version of the record here.
Bio
Country band Karen & the Sorrows have been featured in Billboard, WNYC’s The Takeaway, and Rolling Stone, who described them as “Dolly Parton fronting Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers.” Noisey called the band “exactly what country music needs right now.”
With the Sorrows’ third album, Guaranteed Broken Heart, singer-songwriter Karen Pittelman has struck off in new directions. The songs still feature her high, lilting vocals, dark country-rock twang, and powerful lyrics. But she also dove more deeply into the ‘90s country she loves, tapping into that era’s studio shimmer and polish. And in addition to electric arrangements featuring pedal steel, Wurlitzer, and brooding guitars, she called on some of her favorite local bluegrass musicians to add dobro, mandolin, banjo, and fiddle to many of the songs. The result is an album that draws on country’s varied roots to tell a high-lonesome, heartbreak story about grief and desire, and that No Depression called, “the best straight-ahead country album I’ve heard in quite some time.”
For the last nine years, The Sorrows have also been at the heart of a growing queer country community, running the Gay Ole Opry Festival and the Queer Country Quarterly, and creating space for people who love country music even if country music doesn’t always love them back.
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Press
“Like Gram Parsons, Pittelman peels away the superficiality that much of country music has embraced and looks deep into its soul, its history, and its stories and makes it all her own….You do not want to miss this album.”—No Depression
“Buoyed by Pittelman’s dramatic, expressive voice, Guaranteed Broken Heart is rich with the textures of classic twang and writing that will resonate with anyone who needs a little glue to put the pieces of their own ticker back together. “—AV Club
“Each year, there’s at least one album that stuns me into silence, then moves me to immediately text everyone I know to tell them about it. Karen Pittelman’s latest release did that for me in October.”—Americana Highways
“Truly beautiful songs that take both lyrical and sonic influence from country music’s most shimmering compositions”—The Boot
“Many songs have solemn fiddle intros from the big Nineties ballads, along with the requisite polish, but there’s still plenty of grit from stinging electric guitar and the messiness of heartbreak. In another way, Pittelman captures peak Nineties country with clever lyricism, as on the shame-on-me saga ‘Third Time’s the Charm.'”—Rolling Stone
“Karen & the Sorrows tug on the heartstrings in emotional Guaranteed Broken Heart.”—Billboard
“With the Americana scene exploding with new bands and voices, Karen & the Sorrows’ certainly are aimed for their own Alabama Shakes breakthrough.”—Glide Magazine
“With all the accouterments of country music, the New York outfit breaks our hearts bar-by-bar, line by line in this song.”—PopMatters
“Exactly what country music needs right now”—Noisey
“Seventies-era folk rock, accented by generous amounts of pedal steel and a steady social conscience. For fans of the idea of Dolly Parton fronting Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers.”—10 New Country Artists You Need to Know, Rolling Stone Country
Hi-Res Photos
Credit: Leah James 
Credit: Leah James 
Credit: Leah James 
Credit: Jeff Fasano 
Credit: Jeff Fasano 
Credit: Jeff Fasano 
Credit: Carole Litwin 
On Tour
Upcoming ShowsContact
Publicity
Rachel Hurley / Sweetheart PR
rachel@sweetheartpr.com
Radio
Swank Promotions
joeswank@thejoeswank.com
Booking and other inquiries
karenandthesorrows@gmail.com