The hermetic boxes that tend to get erected around traditional music can become suffocating for the people inside, and at least since Bob Dylan’s “Judas!” moment, that friction has yielded a lot of gold. Angela Autumn, the singer/songwriter nicknamed “the Rose of Appalachia,” broke into music with a bluegrass outfit called the Shelf Life String Band, and her first solo album, 2021’s Frontiers Woman, was deeply rooted in local trad styles. In 2023, Autumn started prodding at the boundaries of her folk milieu with the Willi Carlisle-featuring EP Cowboy Jack Clementine. Then came the surprise viral success of “Electric Lizard,” a vibey bit of indie psychedelia with a subtle dark streak. That song obliterated that stifling box once and for all. Autumn was free.

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