Shawn Mullins with Callaghan

Shawn Mullins’ vibrant new album, honeydew (released March 11th on Vanguard Records) is teeming with humanity — hobos, railroad workers, traveling salesmen, homeless troubadours, fearful old people, youngsters yearning to escape from a dead-end existence, and several generations of family members, living and dead. There’s a ton of heartache in this record, and a ton of hope as well, as Mullins explores the dark corners of contemporary existence while also delving back into the past, capturing vivid pictures of his native Atlanta and the surrounding South in a voice of plainspoken eloquence and uncommon genuineness. This richly interwoven, character-driven work is at once the most panoramic album of Mullins’ distinguished career and the most intensely personal.

“These new songs are character sketches of people I’ve come across and places I’ve traveled through,” says Mullins. “Some of my earlier records were set in specific parts of the country; like the West Coast on Soul’s Core [his 1998 platinum album featuring the indelible hit “Lullaby”]. This one is about the South, what has changed and what hasn’t changed. It has to do with what I’m seeing around me, and telling stories that haven’t really been told.”