Letter to Myself Pairs Aurora Ardent's Lyrics with Tommy Faragher's Music and His Brother Davey's Bass
A Maryland-Born Singer in Los Angeles Makes Her Country Debut with Seasoned Studio Players
Letter to Myself, the debut album from Aurora Ardent, takes its name from a country song carried by fiddle and two guitars. The words are hers. The music, the production and the mix are the work of producer Tommy Faragher. His brother Davey Faragher, a bass player in Elvis Costello’s Imposters since 2001, holds down the low end and sings harmony beside him.
Aurora Ardent’s music sits in the playlist below, and the album’s reviews are collected on the Aurora Ardent profile. Letter to Myself reached this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news sites. Listen to the album first, then keep reading.
Who Wrote What on Letter to Myself, Aurora Ardent’s Lyrics and Tommy Faragher’s Music
Aurora Ardent grew up in Bel Air, Maryland, and now works out of Los Angeles. Letter to Myself, released on 25 January 2026 through North Star Record Label, is her debut album. It holds 13 original songs, and the division of labour is the same on every one of them. She writes the lyrics, and Faragher, for his part, writes the music.
That split matters, because Faragher brings a long history to the table. Before this record, he wrote or produced for Al Green, Lucinda Williams, Dusty Springfield, The O’Jays, Kelly Clarkson and BB King. He has two Grammy nominations and an ASCAP Pop Award to his name. Aurora, in turn, brings the material. She describes her songs as personal stories turned into music, and she calls the album a tribute to staying true to yourself.
The Influences Aurora Ardent Names, From Dolly Parton to Chris Stapleton
Her own list of influences, in fact, explains where those stories point. She names Dolly Parton, who wrote and recorded Jolene herself in 1974, and whose best songs come straight out of her own life. That is the model Aurora follows across the album: her own stories, set to someone else’s melodies. She also names Chris Stapleton, whose debut Traveller arrived in 2015 after years of writing songs for other singers. Faragher has taken a similar road, and on this album his years of writing for other voices go into one debut.
The song also did well as a single. According to her site, it reached No. 4 on Hypeddit’s Top 100 Country chart, one of a run of singles that included Time for Tennessee, Gypsy Soul and Doll on Your Shelf. In October 2026 she added an official video for the album track Mississippi (Back Home to Me), a song about missing home and finding your way back to yourself.
MusicRoots.News Curator Team: “A debut usually arrives with a band still finding its feet. Letter to Myself arrives with players who have backed Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and Lucinda Williams, and the best thing they do is leave room for Aurora Ardent’s words.”
The Players Behind Letter to Myself, From a Faragher Rhythm Section to Fiddle and Two Guitarists
The credits on the song read like a family history. Tommy and Davey Faragher came up in the Faragher Brothers, a soul family band from Redlands, California. Davey later became a founding member of Cracker and played in John Hiatt’s band before joining Costello. On Letter to Myself, he plays bass and sings background vocals with Tommy, while Charlie Faragher plays drums. Aurora’s site lists Charlie as a USC graduate who now tours with the country blues guitarist Albert Lee.
Two guitarists fill out the arrangement. Robby Van Oss plays acoustic and electric guitar and also worked as an engineer on the session. He joined 4th Street Recording in 2022. Marty Rifkin adds more guitar, and his own credits include Bruce Springsteen’s Sessions Band, Tom Petty and Dwight Yoakam. Kennedy Warne plays fiddle, which keeps the song anchored in country. Howie Weinberg, an engineer with 21 Grammy Awards across more than 2,000 mastering credits, mastered it.
Aurora describes her sound as country roots mixed with blues, pop and rock. The line-up, for example, shows how that happens on record. The fiddle and the acoustic guitar keep one foot in Nashville tradition. Meanwhile, a rhythm section with a background in soul and rock sits underneath.
For listeners who love Dolly Parton’s storytelling and Chris Stapleton’s band sound, Letter to Myself is an easy record to recommend. Start with the title song, then watch the new video for Mississippi (Back Home to Me).
Hear the album on Apple Music or through her Hypeddit page. Follow Aurora Ardent across platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Linktree, and her official site.
About The Author
Howard Gripp Built I’m Not My Yesterday on One Line, Then Gave It a Heartland Rock Band 
Where Main St Came From: Voiseau and a Film Scene That Turned Personal 
Why the “If I Were” Song Survived: Rich Anthony’s If I Were a Ghost Trades Chores for the Northern Lights 
Ned D. Opens Take it Easy with a Children’s Song About Mass Surveillance 
Chris Stapleton Goes for a Ninth CMA Male Vocalist Award 
Why the Glockenspiel Survived: Bed by Stacy Henle and the Craft of a Quiet Folk Single 
Letter to Myself Pairs Aurora Ardent’s Lyrics with Tommy Faragher’s Music and His Brother Davey’s Bass