Photo by Amandla Baraka
FEATURING BILLY WOODS, ELLIOTT SKINNER, MALAYA, MOMO BOYD OF INFINITY SONG, MATTHEW JAMAL, AND MORE
Today, New York-based multi-disciplinary artist Cleo Reed releases their anticipated new album CUNTRY, a timely, sprawling folk-electronic masterpiece that channels rage and examines the crushing realities of labor. A bold and visionary double LP, CUNTRY delves into the emotional and physical toll of work in America—on the body and in the workplace—oscillating between southern folk traditions and dystopian electronic rap landscapes. The project spans 14 tracks and includes standout collaborations with billy woods, Elliott Skinner, Momo Boyd of Infinity Song, Isa Reyes, Matthew Jamal, Kyle Kidd, Malaya, Harlem Farr, and Iwewe. Side A of CUNTRY draws from the rich tradition of American work songs—blues, soul, folk, and country—while Side B pushes into darker, beat-driven territory with a more rap-focused edge. Together, the two sides mirror the tension between Reed’s southern family heritage and their New York City upbringing. Listen to CUNTRY HERE. Tonight at 7PM, Reed will celebrate the release of CUNTRY with a live performance at Stone Circle Theater in Queens, NY, with support from Kyle Kidd—tickets HERE.
About CUNTRY, Reed says, “This album is a “state of the cuntry”, if you will. An address where I respond to the chaos and hell-making that happens here. This album is very current, and I don’t think there’s any other time that I could’ve written it. It is a folk rap album, that tells stories of American labor, empirical agenda, and intends to hold space for the working class to understand the ways in which we have been exploited or have participated in the exploitation of others. It also deals with the body, particularly the Black Femme Body.”
Earlier this year, Reed released the acoustic-driven single “Women At War”—a protest song for a generation as the US faces the harshest restrictions on women’s bodies in decades. “Always The Horse, Never The Jockey” followed in its embrace of folk styling and presentation of the symbol of the mule. Recent double single “Americana” and “Da Da Da,” released on Juneteenth, finds Reed continuing to draw from Black Southern folk traditions, weaving in banjo elements and soaring, reverberant vocals.
Raised in Uptown NYC and DC, Cleo Reed’s relationship with music is deeply rooted in community and experimentation — from classical percussion training at Harlem School of the Arts to punk guitar with Pretty Sick and studies in sound engineering at Berklee College of Music. Since releasing their debut Root Cause in 2023 (with a limited Vinyl Me, Please pressing and acclaim from NPR, Pitchfork, Bandcamp, Okayplayer, and more), Reed has steadily carved a lane of their own: one grounded in ancestral and cultural lineage.
In recent years, Reed has collaborated with Jon Batiste, developing software instruments for “American Symphony” at Carnegie Hall, an award-winning performance that earned the GRAMMY for Best Music Film at the 2025 ceremony. Reed’s performance practice has taken the form of the “Black American Circus,” an ode to Black queer artists of the late 19th and early 20th century, premiering at AFROPUNK Festival in 2023, and performed at Banlieues Bleues in Paris and the Brooklyn Museum. In addition to their musical practice, Reed has received the prestigious 2024 Map Fund, awarded to performing artists who offer extraordinary ideas while participating in their communities’ vitality.
As the 2025 Session Resident at Brooklyn’s prestigious Recess Art, Reed developed CUNTRY: Always the Horse, Never The Jockey, a set of musical works, sculptures, and performances presented with Assembly fellows, working to protest against the demand of labor and productivity in the US. In May, as an Abrons Arts Center AIRspace resident, Reed performed at OPEN STUDIOS, a work in process presentation of experimental theatrical works rooted in their participatory art practice. CUNTRY is Reed’s statement of purpose — introducing a visionary artist with a singular voice and an unwavering commitment to honoring those that came before while subverting the status quo.
