Love Tractor Co-Founder Mike Richmond Shares ‘You Are Not Alone’ From New Album ‘Without An Audience’
Mike Richmond, co-founder of the Athens, Georgia art-rock band Love Tractor, has shared ‘You Are Not Alone,’ the second single from his first solo album, ‘Without An Audience.’ The record is out June 12, 2026, via Strolling Bones Records, a subsidiary of New West.
Richmond was part of the Athens scene that helped shape American indie rock in the 1980s, alongside R.E.M., The B-52s, Pylon, and others. With Love Tractor, he helped build a sound that moved between jangle pop, art rock, electronic tones, and ambient passages. ‘Themes From Venus,’ one of the band’s key records, was revisited with a remastered reissue in 2022.
On ‘Without An Audience,’ Richmond comes across as more direct and honest. The album blends folk, country, blues, early rock and roll, and a touch of dry humor. The songs focus on memory, doubt, and the small details people remember. ‘You Are Not Alone’ continues this theme in a relaxed, familiar style. The harmonica, guitar, and vocals are inspired by classic American songwriting, but the song still feels fresh.
“‘You Are Not Alone’ is like an abstract poem about going on a quest. There is a lot of imagery about crossing bridges, etc. and the idea of suffering which is part of what all humans go through. Even though the lyrical content is abstract, the meaning is very straightforward and summed up in the title ‘You Are Not Alone.’ Musically, it reminds me of Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s album Zuma and Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding, especially with the perfectly wounded sound of Neil Rosenbaum’s harmonica,” Richmond says.
The album began at Matt Tamisin’s Japanski Studios in Athens, where Richmond recorded his vocals and guitar. He then brought in a group of longtime Athens players to expand the songs, including drummer Joe Rowe of the Glands, bassist David Barbe of Mercyland and Sugar, pedal steel player John Neff of Japancakes and Drive-By Truckers, fiddler Adam Poulin of Grassland String Band, Ben Hackett of New Madrid, Jason NeSmith of Pylon Reenactment Society, and Neil Rosenbaum.
Richmond builds the album around a personal question: what motivates someone to keep creating when there is no guarantee anyone will listen.
“I was asking myself, why am I writing these songs? Is anyone going to care?,” Richmond says. “I’m an old guy who played in a pretty obscure band back in the ‘80s, does anyone want to hear my new stuff? But I’m fascinated by people like William Blake, Van Gogh, Nick Drake and others who did what they did and never got a lot of applause for it. So I kept writing and recording, and I started to grow more confident in my mission.”
‘Without An Audience’ is out June 12, 2026, on Strolling Bones Records. Listen now!
Headline photo: Karen Allison
Mike Richmond Linktr / Facebook / Instagram
Strolling Bones Records Website / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube
