Alaska-based singer/songwriter Josh Fortenbery is working on some new music which he calls “neurotic folk and existential country.” The song “Is it Me?” is out now, “weighing how inherent traits and identities impact our experiences, ultimately deciding that self-acceptance and love are better principles to spend time cultivating.”

It’s the second release from Tidy Memorial, Fortenbery’s second album, which is out October 10th, 2025. With it, he continues to “dissect society’s flaws,” as did 2024’s No Such Thing as Forever, but this collection features 10 songs that actually make up a series of eulogies. 

Fortenbery says about the new song:

For me, the first identity I had to grapple with was being Jewish—even though my family was non-practicing and I’m Jewish only on my mother’s side, it apparently meant more to some others than it did to me. Looking to others to find acceptance or self-confidence is a fool’s errand.

Tidy Memorial departs from the more traditional Folk and Bluegrass sounds of Fortenbery’s first record, and adds electric keys, pedal steel guitar, and drums.

He says about the album:

I think the last album was really introspective from top to bottom. I’m always going to be a somewhat introspective lyricist, mostly because I know my life experiences are all subjective and I struggle to write from any other perspective. But this album is a bit more outward-looking at times and each track mourns something. I’m grappling not only with personal loss but also the way in which the world is moving on and breaking down.