Acclaimed singer-songwriter Natalie Jane Hill has announced her new album, ‘Hopeful Woman’, set for release on March 6, 2026, via Dear Life Records.
To coincide with the announcement, Hill has released the album’s lead single, “Never Left Me”, accompanied by a new music video that was directed and edited by Spencer Kelly.
Guitarist and composer Nathan Salsburg describes the album in Hill’s bio as a collection of “slender songs, life-sized,” exploring how humans “reconcile themselves to wildernesses and cities.” The narratives capture moments of quiet reflection and adaptation, metabolising life’s tumult through “gentle actions” and observation. Salsburg points to the song “Oranges” as a mission statement, where Hill sings, “Into the current of life I will fly / Changing and loving and growing and trying.”
‘Hopeful Woman’ was recorded live in two parts, reflecting Hill’s own journey: first in her native Texas (Lockhart) and then in Western North Carolina, where she now lives.
The lead single, “Never Left Me,” showcases the album’s “spacious but focused arrangements,” which Salsburg likens in delicacy to the work of “the great Edith Frost.” The track features the “aching pedal steel” of Hill’s partner, multi-instrumentalist Mat Davidson, who is a key collaborator across the record. Davidson also contributes flute on “Lucky to Be” and stacked fiddles on “Blue is the Color of My Sun.”
At the centre of the sound is Hill’s “magnificent voice,” which Salsburg notes is “redolent of Hope Sandoval or Karen Dalton but more humane, more sturdy, closer to the earth.”
It is this grounded nature that Salsburg identifies as the album’s core. The hopefulness of the title is not abstract, but one that “takes root” close to the earth, growing in “measured steps.” He concludes, “Hers is a wise and humane hopefulness, built exquisitely to human scale. The same can be said of this record.”
See below for her upcoming tour dates (more TBA) with Flock of Dimes and 2026 UK tour dates with Ray LaMontagne.
Pre-Order via Bandcamp: https://nataliejanehill.bandcamp.com/album/hopeful-woman
TOUR DATES (MORE TBA)
11.06.25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s*
11.07.25 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom*
11.08.25 – Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust*
11.09.25 – Sommerville, MA @ The Rockwell*
11.11.25 – Washington, DC @ The Atlantis*
11.12.25 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom*
- – Supporting Flock of Dimes
UK TOUR DATES:
05.20.26 – Dublin, Ireland @ 3Olympia*
05.21.26 – Dublin, Ireland @ 3Olympia*
05.22.26 – Belfast, Ireland @ Waterfront*
05.24.26 – Sheffield, UK @ City Hall*
05.25.26 – Nottingham, UK @ Royal Concert Hall*
05.27.26 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo*
05.28.26 – Newcastle, UK @ O2 City Hall*
05.30.26 – Glasgow, UK @ Armadillo*
05.31.26 – Edinburgh, UK @ Usher Hall*
06.02.26 – Birmingham, UK @ Symphony Hall*
06.03.26 – Bristol, UK @ Beacon*
06.05.26 – Brighton, UK @ Dome*
06.06.26 – Oxford, UK @ New Theatre*
06.08.26 – London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall*
06.09.26 – London, UK @ Eventim Apollo*
- – Supporting Ray LaMontagne