For Immediate Release

May 15, 2026

TODAY, ISMAY TELLS THE “HALF TRUTH”

TITLE TRACK FROM UPCOMING ALBUM, HALF TRUTH OUT NOW ALONG WITH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO, PERFORMED LIVE FROM THE BIG SUR GRANGE

HALF TRUTH ARRIVES ON FRIDAY, JUNE 12 VIA FOSSIL RECORDS

PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE NOW

UPCOMING LIVE SOLO AND FESTIVAL DATES

MORE INFO AND TICKETS HERE

[Photo Credit: Aubrey Trinnaman  / Download Hi-Res Image]

“ISMAY has an incredible future.”

–Orville Peck

“...ISMAY points to a folk music that can last hundreds more years. A tradition that is essential because it helps us understand us.”

–No Depression

Today, singer/songwriter Avery Hellman shares the title track from their upcoming album, Half Truth, the latest release from their alt-country project, ISMAY. Exploring the space between inner and external thoughts, “Half Truth” seeks to shine light on why we choose to hide certain parts of ourselves.

“‘Half Truth’ began when I took a poetry class to improve my songwriting and presented this poem-song to my teacher,” says Hellman. “I started with the image of a person standing in a circle, a line around them, almost like chalk on pavement. The line indicates the boundary between what a person thinks, and what they say. There were only certain words and ideas that this person allows to cross, and those words are painstakingly edited before becoming speech. There are parts of ourselves we show and share with others, and parts we obscure. This, to me, is the meaning of a "Half Truth" in the context of this song. 

Additionally, writing about this whole inner world we often conceal also sparked a memory of a time when I was traveling up to the Klamath River and stayed at a riverside motel. The front desk person asked me why I was there, and afraid to be honest and admit I was scoping out a risky horseback trip, I lied and said "just coming up here to hang out." There are so many times in my life where I communicate partial truths to avoid conflict, intimacy, or pain.”

LISTEN TO “HALF TRUTH”

Today’s release also comes with a special live performance video of “Half Truth,” shot at The Big Sur Grange with director of photography Rose Bush, who is known for her work on the Oscar-winning film Colette, and sound engineer Robert Cheek (Band of Horses, Granddaddy).

WATCH “HALF TRUTH” LIVE FROM THE BIG SUR GRANGE

Half Truth came from a time when Hellman was tracing the roots of Lucinda Williams for a documentary film and podcast they created called Finding Lucinda. During that journey, they uncovered self-doubt about being an artist, but also discovered the craft of poetry which motivated them to become a better songwriter. For the first time in their album creation process, many of the songs started as poems and then became songs. Subsequently, Hellman was invited to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada where they presented a few early poems displaying the raw and unsmooth poetry process of what you will hear on the album. 

Half Truth is produced by Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Rhett Miller, Curtis Harding, Norah Jones, and Joseph Arthur) who Hellman felt was “someone who could make the music feel organic, imperfect, simple, and folky, while still reaching out of the box to places that were uncontrollable.” Cohen’s ability to produce specific sounds Hellman had in mind for the drums, bass, and vocals just proved that he was precisely what this album needed. 

ISMAY

HALF TRUTH

Release Date: June 12, 2026

PRE-ORDER

[Download Hi-Res Album Artwork]

This spring, ISMAY hits the road with a mix of intimate solo performances and selected festival appearances. Each show offers a chance to experience the evocative storytelling and genre-blurring sound in unique settings, from community showcases to curated songwriter rounds. More information and tickets can be found here.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

May 16 - Finding Lucinda Film Screening and Songwriter Round - Point Reyes Station, CA

May 22 - WMOT Finally Fridays - Nashville, TN

June 12 - Woollystar 2026 - Markleeville, CA

July 27 - Woodsongs Old-time Radio Hour - Lexington, KY

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ABOUT ISMAY:

ISMAY is an alternative folk music project driven by California-based singer/songwriter Avery Hellman. Their debut album Songs of Sonoma Mountain was released in 2020 and named one of the 10 best Albums in the Bay Area by KQED. In 2024, ISMAY released their sophomore LP Desert Pavement, garnering enthusiastic reviews from No Depression, The Associated Press and Americana Highways. They teamed up with prolific Folk/Americana multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse. This record was named one of WMOT’s 2024 Thirty Essential And Outstanding Americana Albums.

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Growing up backstage at their grandfather’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Hellman was inspired early on by artists such as Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Hazel Dickens. For a decade, Hellman worked on the family ranch in Petaluma while developing their songwriting craft and storytelling repertoire. 

ISMAY has appeared across the country and overseas at music festivals such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, and Americanafest UK. ISMAY has opened for acclaimed artists including Steve Earle, Watchhouse, Robert Earl Keen, John Doe, Chuck Prophet and Sunny War. In March of 2023, ISMAY was featured as one of a select group of artists from around the world participating in the Apple TV+ Show My Kind of Country, produced by Kacey Musgraves and Reese Witherspoon.

Currently, Hellman is based in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and is working on several projects, including a documentary film project tracing the roots of Lucinda Williams. ISMAY also curates a music festival called Woollystar and is continuing to work on a new record.

ABOUT FOSSIL RECORDS:

Fossil Records is a cooperative project of musicians, writers and artists from the American West. Brought together by Margo Cilker and Avery Hellman, our aim is to capture the expression drawn from seasons of work on ranches and in rural outposts. The folk culture that develops in the analog world and the Artist building a scene out of nothing are what inspire us. We’ve been cultivating our passion for underground folk music for over a decade, and we’ve dug down deep to find carefully penned words and music. We know that those who care about depth in songwriting are out there, and we’re here to foster a community that appreciates songs that stir the soul.

Whether you’re making folk-rock, cowboy poetry, or daisy-chaining analog synths at a saloon; it’s your Western story to tell. 

We are underground rock, we are Fossil Records.

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CONNECT WITH ISMAY:

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For press inquiries, please contact:

Big Hassle Media 

Jim Merlis & Nichole Good

jim@bighassle.com & nichole@bighassle.com