Artist spotlight · Album release
Rollin’ the Dice captures Jim Pipkin’s wide-open definition of Americana: fully produced country songs, acoustic ballads, folk storytelling, and two decades of experience gathered across the West and Southwest.
Listen: “Rollin’ the Dice” live in studio
A live-studio performance of the album’s title song.
An Americana record built from the road
Pipkin has long answered the difficult “what kind of music do you play?” question with one useful word: Americana. On Rollin’ the Dice, that description leaves room for country, folk, rockabilly, and the direct voice-and-guitar presentation he carried into rooms including Nashville’s Bluebird Café and the World Folk Showcase in Washington, D.C.
The songs grew from roughly two decades of travel through the West and Southwest, with detours through Montreal, Los Angeles, Saltillo, Mexico, and Lizard Lick, North Carolina. That range gives the album the character of a road map: desert images, lived-in stories, humor, consequence, and songs that can stand with either a full arrangement or a single guitar.
A strong radio and concert debut
Rollin’ the Dice debuted at No. 3 on the AirPlay Direct Americana/AAA Global Radio Indicator and remained in the top five for three weeks. Its release concert drew the largest audience recorded for an Acoustic Music Series concert at the Higley Center for the Performing Arts.
Arizona radio has continued to feature material from the album, including “Feels Like Home” and “Tinted Windows,” extending the record’s connection to the state’s roots-music community.
Rollin’ the Dice track list
- Feels Like Home — 4:20
- Silver in the Leaves — 3:53
- Tinted Windows — 4:02
- Rollin the Dice — 3:33
- Brushy Bill — 6:51
- No More — 5:01
- Green Tornado Sky — 2:48
- Forever With You — 2:43
- Cool of the Evening — 3:54
- It’ll Never Play in Kerville — 2:10
The 10-song album runs approximately 39 minutes and was released February 8, 2013.
Listen to Rollin’ the Dice on Apple Music, explore the Jim Pipkin Artist Spotlight, or learn about recording and music production at Hit Warehouse.