Today, Warner Music Nashville songstress Avery Anna announced her sophomore album, let go letters, out May 16. Watch the let go letters trailer HERE and pre-order the album HERE.
Every song on the record is inspired by real-life situations that Avery’s fans shared with her in a letter series, which has long been a safe place for her listener community to ‘let go’ of experiences that may be troubling them by writing them down and sending them off. Avery read these letters and took the general themes—anything from body dysmorphia, depression, alcoholism in the family, self-esteem, etc.—and turned them into songs, making her fans’ experiences the center of the project to let them know they’re heard, seen, and not alone.
To accompany the announcement, Avery has released a new song from the project, ‘danny don’t‘. Written solely by Avery, ‘danny don’t’ is the singer’s response to a fan-written letter she received at a show from a man struggling with the weight of life and contemplating giving it up entirely. The stripped-down track serves as Avery’s letter back to him, where she pleads with soaring vocals that he keep going. The song delves into the typically unsung topic of men’s mental health. Avery expands on the experience, the ‘let go letters’ concept, and provides a trigger warning in a video she posted—watch here.
“I’ve learned that everyone wants to escape the hard things that are going on in their lives. I see it every time I play a show—people carrying so many burdens,” the Arizona-born singer-songwriter says. “It was really hard for me to know that the people at my shows are going through similar things that I’m going through because they are singing the songs with me, and they relate to them. But I have a way to deal with that by singing about my experiences on stage, and they may not have that outlet. So, I encouraged everyone to write these things called Let Go Letters, and many people did it. They trusted me with these letters and the things they’re going through, and because of that, my entire life and perspective on people has changed.”
“Reading these letters was super heavy,” she adds. “There were so many topics that I don’t know if they could say them out loud, but they could write them down. It inspired me so much that I started writing songs about their experiences myself, and then this album came to life. My biggest hope is that people will hear it and they’ll feel understood. I think the highest form of love is to be understood. People are going through a lot, and they think they’re going through it alone, but they’re not.”
(Photo credit: Ben Humphries)
let go letters features 15 tracks all penned or co-penned by Avery and follows the singer-songwriter’s celebrated 2024 debut album, Breakup Over Breakfast. The new project includes her recently released ‘Wish You Well’, which MusicRow praised as an “audio delight,” noting that the “twinkling, upbeat track disguises the abuse she suffered as she sings of forgiveness and moving on.” ‘Mr. Predictable’, another previously released track on the highly anticipated project, has quickly become a fan favourite. Holler lauded that the song “doubles down on the powerful, deeply vulnerable and conversational ambiance the country prodigy has always laced into her music…that feels like she’s drawing straight from her journal.”
A member of the Opry NextStage class of 2025, Avery is currently climbing the radio charts with Sam Barber on their viral duet, ‘Indigo’. The pair shared a performance of the track on The Kelly Clarkson Show earlier this year (WATCH HERE).
With more than 530 million global streams to date, the Arizona native has quickly become an in-demand touring artist. Avery brought her electric live show to the main stage at C2C festival across London, Belfast, and Glasgow last month. Entertainment Focus praised her performance as “the biggest surprise of the weekend,” claiming “she took the opportunity to announce herself to an international crowd and absolutely grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, slapped it in the face a couple of times and walked away with a strut as we were left breathless, dazed and desperate for more.”
She’s set to take the stage at Nashville’s The Pinnacle on April 17, where she’ll open for Ian Munsick, followed by an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on April 18. Avery will return to Stagecoach this spring before joining Luke Bryan’s Country Song Came On Tour and Brad Paisley’s Truck Still Works World Tour for select dates this summer.