Within the past two years, H.C. McEntire has released her fourth album as frontwoman for the Mount Moriah, toured with Angel Olsen, and most recently shared “A Lamb, A Dove,” ahead of her debut solo record, LIONHEART. Along the way she found a friend and mentor in punk rock legend and fellow woman warrior Kathleen Hanna, who provided the spark for McEntire’s latest track, “Quartz In The Valley.” About the collaboration, McEntire says:

Back then — fall/winter of 2016 — “Quartz in the Valley” was just a voice memo on my phone arbitrarily titled “#47” because that’s where it fell in order. It was barely anything, with nonsensical mumblings of melody and out-of-tune guitar, but Kathleen saw the bones. She said, “Ok, here we go. Work on this. Listen to Wanda Jackson. Get inspired.”

So that’s where I started. And she was right. Since then, I feel like that song has always anchored LIONHEART — chronologically, but also symbolically and spiritually. When Kathleen and I began collaborating, I was personally in a dark place, a lost place, and this song was how I started digging out. I don’t want to give too much away, to define the narrative exclusively; but I will say it began in a very raw, scrupulous way: with a shovel, and a barrow, and an inkling to excavate.

Listen to “Quartz In The Valley” below.

Tour dates:

01/25 Atlanta, GA @ City Winery*
01/26 Nashville, TN @ City Winery*
01/28 Annapolis, MD @ Ram’s Head Onstage*
01/29 New York, NY @ City Winery*
01/30 New York, NY @ City Winery*
01/31 Boston, MA @ City Winery*
02/02 Chicago, IL @ City Winery*
02/03 Chicago, IL @ City Winery*
02/08 Ashville, NC @ The Mothlight
02/09 Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
02/10 Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
* w/ Justin Townes Earle

LIONHEART is out 1/26 via Merge Records. Pre-order it here.