When you think of Country Music you often think of a place, a sound, a voice. Clancy Jones was born into a family of songwriters and music-makers on the coast of Texas. Written by a wanderer, Found My Way is an album that speaks to those who see home as a moving target. An album that feels like the call to adventure in the grand tale of myths and tells the tale of a man on a journey, not in search of a destination, but just enjoying the ride.
The debut full length album from Cody Tyler & Gypsy Convoy is titled with a lyric from the opening banger ‘One to the Heart’:
…if you find yourself on the wrong end of love,
Wrong end of a pistol, no guidance above
Just take a deep breath, there’ll be no time to cry
Stare your demons down and kiss your ass goodbye… .
‘One to the Heart’ is a rip-roaring ode to stepping up and making things happen, consequences be damned. Featuring the backing of a horn section that sneaks up during the chorus and brings it home, this song is the ear-opener that gets your attention and demands to be heard.
Music transcends life.
It travels beyond the hollers and dark foothills of the countryside, weaving and diving its needle into the fabric of every breath that we take in and exhale. The words tumble through the mind and fuel lost hearts with vigor. One cannot help but smile, cry, laugh and welcome the highwall of emotion that is conjured with each note and within each verse.
Imagine a place where all of this mystique and complex power babbles and flows. And there you will find Cody Howard, sharing his magic from his debut album, Appalachian Dream.
Howard is, perhaps, as damn humble as a successful musician and songwriter may come. In a room full of people, the most creative and genuine personality in the entire scene would probably be Howard, quietly sharing a soft crooked smile from the side of the room. He's a young mind with an old cherub’s warmth and an “awe shucks” Eastern Kentucky drawl.
Witty, folky, yet not over-seasoned, GRAMMY Award-winning songwriter Aaron Raitiere’s debut album, Single Wide Dreamer, is something you didn’t know you’ve been missing. Raitiere’s distillation of the everyday ups and downs of a regular person who’s “been through it” shines like the crooked grin of a long-lost best friend.
Out May 6 on Dinner Time Records/Thirty Tigers, Single Wide Dreamer is the fruit of decades of paid dues. Already a well-known songwriter with cuts by Maren Morris, Brent Cobb, Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Anderson East, The Oak Ridge Boys, Midland, Shooter Jennings, Hayes Carll, Raitiere won a GRAMMY for Best Song Written for Visual Media for A Star Is Born’s “I’ll Never Love Again,” co-written with Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsay and Natalie Hemby.
Traversing the country and appreciating nature’s offerings are the forefront themes woven into the newest album from Joe’s Truck Stop, Yonderings. But not only that, it’s carving a path of self-discovery on the figurative and literal road to life. It’s appreciating those who have joined you along the way – guiding you up the steep slopes, riding the wave back down and greeting you around the bend. It’s leaning into each other to hold yourselves upright.
When the Red Clay Strays posted a question on social media a few months ago asking fans what they would call the type of music the band plays they got a lot of different responses. One that caught my attention was “Southern Soul.” I deplore putting labels on music but I also understand the need to point listeners in a direction so they don’t get lost, and this was an excellent description of what the Strays do best. Centered around the vocals of Brandon Coleman, the band often is laying down a groove or pumping out a cushion for his soulful vocals to ride. Their first full-length record, Moment of Truth (released 23 April), mines that soulful vein deeply. Anticipation for this release has been building for a good while.
As a lifelong Georgian, hailing from the Flint River city of Albany – the birthplace of Ray Charles, Evan Barber frames his debut solo release, Until the Thunder, around anecdotes culminated from growing up in an area that has seen its fair share of triumphs and failures. The landscape is beautiful and there is an undeniable Southern pride, but its history harbors a shame that hangs heavy like the sultry summer air. Into this album, Barber weaves those themes along with the inspiration he draws from Drive-By Trucker’s frontman Patterson Hood’s “duality of the Southern Thing.”
Under the Thunder is a departure from the albums Barber is used to making. His previous work has been with a full touring band, the Dead Gamblers. Bronze (2014) and Evan Barber and the Dead Gamblers (2010) are albums that were played live on the road long before recording in the studio.
Jayce Turley is a young, quickly evolving musician who is starting his music career by making appearances this summer at some fairly prestigious festivals, and opening for some fast up and coming names. His EP, Opening Act, feels aptly titled. It’s clear from the record that Jayce is just beginning. Jayce represents the upcoming generations’ eyes forward by examining the road back;drawing inspiration from both modern musicians inspired by vintage sounds, and the vintage sounds that paved the road for those influences.
oday we’re premiering a new single from Oklahoma based band, Ragland. Ragland was formed in 2015 by husband and wife, Autumn Ragland and Sam Cox. Although the band has gone through a few different versions of lineups and even taken a brief hiatus, they’re back and better than ever, playing shows all over the region and appearing on the Texas Radio charts. They’ve opened for everyone from The Damn Quails to Sunny Sweeney and you can catch them on the festival circuit this summer, including the local festival out of Tahlequah, Diamond Stone.
Not all folk records are full protest, not all indie records are downtempo sad songs, and not all pop country is bad. A record like Dillon Vanders’ Wildfires reminds us why it’s important to avoid prejudgment, and remember that sometimes we have to keep our ears open, and our mouths closed here and there. A record that feels like it fits in the “country” genre loosely, it also tells the tale of Vanders’ experience in the SoCal indie scene, splashing in folk with its lyrical focus and gritty vocals. The ambience of steel and the poke of compressed lead guitar throughout the record pays homage to the relationship between folk and country, while still sounding fresh.
The first studio album in a decade from Texas singer-songwriter Bobby Duncan turns out to be worth the wait. Maybe This Time takes us on a journey through thoughtful, meaningful songs that have mirrored Duncan’s own journey in the last decade. Since Forever from Here was released in 2012, Duncan has gotten married, become a father to twins followed closely by another child, moved across the country and back. I asked Duncan why he waited so long and he said he’s really been working on the album this whole time. Duncan said it’s his most personal album to date; “it definitely pulls back the curtain more than in previous albums.”
When you think of Red Dirt music, usually your thoughts drift towards some of the classics: Tom Skinner, Bob Childers, The Red Dirt Rangers, Jason Boland and The Stragglers, and the recently reprised Turnpike Troubadours. Usually, the sound that comes to mind with that is more of a laid-back country/folk with some rock mixed in for emphasis. But as we all well know, bands like The Great Divide and Cross Canadian Ragweed shattered that mold. Now, in that same vein, another rock unit has been coming up through the Red Dirt ranks, The Charlie Hickman Band.
Just in time for the bluebonnets in Texas to pop, so does The Wilder Blue’s self-titled sophomore album. This sonically crisp ear candy makes the listener wonder if Badfinger and Alabama didn’t have a pandemic love child. The Wilder Blue is refreshingly classic while maintaining the group’s hard-fought originality.
The five-piece band, comprised of solo artist and songwriter Zane Williams, songwriter and talented guitarist Paul Eason, Lyndon Hughes (former drummer and vocalist for Roger Creager), Austin bassist Sean Rodriguez, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Rogers, self-produced the album with engineer Matt Pence (The Lord Baltimores, Shakey Graves) at Echo Lab Studios in Denton, TX.
Like the creeks that run and tributaries that trickle throughout singer-songwriter Ian Noe’s homelands in Eastern Kentucky, water flows throughout his new LP. Thoughtfully and intentionally named, River Fools and Mountain Saints highlights Noe’s storytelling prowess through 12 country rockers and Appalachian ballads, depicting contemporary and historical life in the region.
Water’s in the name, of course — River Fools and Mountain Saints, which is due out March 25 via Thirty Tigers — but water also informs the tales Noe tells and the metaphors of perseverance, sustenance, and strength within them. The major floods that decimated the southeastern part of the state in February 2020 remained close at heart during his writing process, as well.
The album title came to Noe before any of the songs, serving as a concept and a guiding principle. “That landscape and that geography of growing up in Lee County, Kentucky,” he begins, “I've got so much material of things that I can write about, of stories of all these people and just life in general of growing up there.
“You think about the river? It's down here. It’s low. And then you got the mountains up high. You've got everything in this way! You can go all over the place with that type of landscape, and that's how [the writing] starts.”
The Lake Cumberland Region in Somerset, Kentucky comes alive every summer - for nearly three decades - to host the area’s premiere music festival. The Master Musicians Festival reins in 3,000 – 6,000 attendees each. Their 28th year blew those numbers out of the water with a record breaking 7,500 attendees in 2021. The Master Musicians Festival features some of the most sought-after national acts to headline each year, not to mention its importance on highlighting the talents of regional and local acts.
15 years into his music career, William Clark Green found himself turning 35 and suddenly forced off the road by the pandemic. Like so many other artists he took that time to take a hard look at what he was doing and re-evaluate everything. “It’s like, ‘Where am I at in life? Where do I want to be? Where did I think I would be?’ Not being able to work [during the lockdown], I had a lot of time to sit and think about myself, and what’s really locking me down,” Green says. The result of that self-scouting is Baker Hotel, his sixth studio album (out on March 28 and released on his own Bill Grease Records label).
We’ve got a fun video for you today. It's the single “Two Shots In” from Austin’s own Roxi Copland. A classically trained musician, Roxi’s previous life included being a singing pianist in a jazz club, but she’s dropped the complex cords for the storytelling that country and Americana music do so well. Recorded during the height of the pandemic, her EP, I Come From Crazy, is out April 8th.
When it comes to music being made by Kentuckians, most think of bluegrass or country. But even though Sean Whiting was raised along the Country Music Highway (Route 23), he is turning that narrative on its head. With bold vocals backed by a bluesy and hard-driving rock sound, Sean Whiting and the Big Badness are making a name for themselves all over the Appalachian region and beyond. Immense guitar tones and powerful drums compliment Whiting’s strong and smooth vocals. Their sound draws influence from mid-late 20th century classic rock combined with a little swampy soul and blues. The combination makes for an electric stage presence and captivating live show.
The state of Alabama has a rich history of producing musical talent. Hank Williams is a good place to start since he set the standard for every country star since and his son made quite an impression as well. “Bocephus” had quite a run from the late 70s through 80s with a string of hit albums mixing his version of outlaw country with Southern rock and a bit of the blues. The group “Alabama” was the first to make the concept of a self-contained band in country music popular with the mainstream and rose to unprecedented heights in the 80s.
