[Cover image of Marco Giovino]

The new project from songwriter Thomas Siering (The 81s) and producer/ drummer Marco Giovino (Robert Plant), titled The Burning North, will release a debut self-titled debut album featuring the vocals of Wendy Drown on November 21st, 2025.

Ahead of the release date, The Burning North have released a new video for the track “Facing the Hill”.

Songwriter, Tom Siering says of this track:

I have written a lot of songs but this is the only one that is wholly autobiographical. I was sitting in a restaurant one morning after a wedding in Banff, Alberta (where the Bow meets the Spray) and the great Leonard Cohen was being softly played over the sound system.

Songwriter Thomas Siering and drummer/prodcuer, Marco Giovino have worked together on multiple projects in the past, but this is the first one featuring Giovino’s Production and Siering’s lyrics. The record “explores a wide swath of styles and subject matter.”

Siering says of the band and the album:

“I met Marco (Giovino) a dozen years ago through the great Nashville singer Elizabeth Cook. Marco was playing the drums for her, but then again, Marco has played the drums for just about everyone; Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Kris Kristofferson, and Sir Tom Jones to name a few. We worked together on four records with Rebecca De La Torre, a couple for The 81s with Tim Carroll and the After the News album with my friend Addi McDaniel.

In 2018, we also released an Elmore James tribute collection, Strange Angels ~ In Flight with Elmore James, with tracks by Jamey Johnson, Sir Tom, Warren Haynes, Billy Gibbons, Bettye LaVette, Rodney Crowell, Keb’ Mo’ and others. It garnered significant praise for its artistry, authenticity and assemble of players. Also, Marco’s mono production received particularly glowing notice.

The material for The Burning North was originally conceived as a bit of a concept album. When we brought Wendy (Drown) on board, you could hear her instant emotional attachment to the material. She really owned it. You felt like she had lived it. The record shines because of that. This album has diverse musical styles and it explores the expanse of human emotion but hopefully it ultimately feels like a coherent story, held together with gripping urgency and Marco’s impeccable production.”