The Paranoid Style Shares “Passionate Kisses (Lucinda Williams cover)”
- The Night Temple
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
This Friday, February 13th, The Paranoid Style will see the release of the band’s fifth LP titled Known Associates, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Bar/None Records. Today the band makes available a new cover of “Passionate Kisses” originally by Lucinda Williams, an outtake from the band’s recording sessions for the album. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Bandleader Elizabeth Nelson shares:
“What does one say about Lucinda Williams? She towers over us like a great Red Oak or the highest wall of the deepest canyon or the brilliant light of a mesmerizing sunset, just after a blazing storm has passed through. I know you shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you, but maybe she's the exception? Maybe my kicks are her kicks. I know that I just don't think I ever would have known who I was at all without her. So, we had some studio downtime, and then just started rambling through ‘Passionate Kisses’ like a second martini of three at lunch (which might not have been so far from the truth) and Jason Richmond hit record just in case it got good, which it did. We were listening to the playback in the control room, and my dear buddy and Paranoid Style guitarist William Matheny - a great songwriter of his own accord- put it this way, with just the right, wry touch of awe: ‘You know,’ he said, ‘one day this song didn't exist, and then it did. How incredible is that?’ How incredible indeed.”
The Paranoid Style’s bandleader Elizabeth Nelson is also a decorated journalist, who can now add podcast host to her resume with the recently launched Known Associates podcast, presented by New Pony in affiliation with Southwest Review. On the Known Associates pod, Nelson talks to other singers and writers about their lives and art. The first four episodes are available now and feature guests Craig Finn from the Hold Steady, Patterson Hood from Drive-By Truckers, and “music writer, director and producer, author and feminist badass” Jessica Hopper, and “feminist, writer, editor, and beloved NPR correspondent” Ann Powers.
Elizabeth Nelson's usual Paranoid Style lineup of Peter Holsapple, William Matheny, Michael Venutolo-Mantovani, Jon Langmead and Timothy Bracy all play on Known Associates, the exhilarating follow up to 2024’s ten-alarm panic attack The Interrogator which saw acclaim from NPR/WHYY’s Fresh Air, Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, Relix, FLOOD, and The Vinyl District among others upon its release. Along with the aforementioned Matt Douglas, Known Associates also includes notable appearances from Eugene Edwards, a Danny Gatton disciple who is Dwight Yoakam's lead guitarist, and Lisa Walker from Wussy.
A fever dream of Van Morrison-horns and Leonard Cohen sentiments, Known Associates is the LP which ratifies the steadily rising reputation of Elizabeth Nelson as one of our insurgently crucial songwriters. Like her longtime hero Lucinda Williams, Nelson’s slow burn has run side by side with an ever-growing literary reputation, which has seen her work as an acclaimed contributor to the New York Times, the Atlantic, the New Yorker and Oxford
American, as well as writing liner notes for reissues by Bob Dylan and the Replacements.
Regal, ragtag and filled with the sort of hard luck stories, busted-up epiphanies and thriftstore miracles that will be familiar to any fan of Richard Thompson, David Berman or Tom Waits, the mystics and statistics are already saying it: Known Associates is one of the greatest records of 2026, and Elizabeth Nelson is one of the best singer-songwriters in the world.
Pre-Order Known Associates by The Paranoid Style out Feb 13, 2026 on Bar/None HERE
The Paranoid Style
Shares “Passionate Kisses (Lucinda Williams cover)”
Ahead Of New Album
Known Associates
Out This Friday, February 13th, 2026
On Bar/None
Bandcamp Listening Party on February 12th at 7PM ET
RECORD RELEASE SHOW in Washington, D.C. on February 27th at Comet Ping Pong
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