The Shootouts & their Honky Tonk Posse Take Another Swing with Stampede
Ohio based band The Shootouts have released their third album, Stampede, hot on the heels of their 2021 critically acclaimed sophomore album, Bullseye.
Photo by Jamie Escola
In the summer of 2022, the band's focus was on touring and riding the high of recognition earned by the hard work put into Bullseye (produced by BR549 founder Chuck Mead) when the musical high road made an unexpected turn directly into the realm of longtime frontman and 10-time Grammy-winning founder of Asleep at the Wheel, Ray Benson.
According to the band's press release, Benson offered to produce the band's next record after a mutual friend made introductions following Bullseye's release. While the band didn't have immediate plans to run back to the studio, nothing ignites creative motivation like a legend throwing his hat into the ring with you. Just months after the April 2021 release of Bullseye, The Shootouts found themselves hard at work with Benson and co-producer Sam Seifert on the album that would become Stampede. The bulk of the album was recorded on the band's home turf in Northeast Ohio at Son of Moondog Studios over a five-day period.
The Shootouts, made up of lead singer and guitarist Ryan Humbert, vocalist Emily Bates, lead guitarist Brian Poston, and bassist Kevin McManus, have cultivated a unique sound reflective of their Northeast Ohio “Rustbelt” roots which dances over radio waves as an energetic fusion of Americana, Honky Tonk and Western Swing. They are routinely joined by “Shootouts extended family members” Dylan Gomez on drums, Ryan McDermott on bass, and longtime mentor and collaborator Al Moss on guitar.
The cosmic soup that is the Akron, Ohio music scene has birthed other creative standouts such as The Pretenders, the Black Keys, and Devo, and these influences are deftly woven into the sound tapestry of The Shootouts alongside notes of comforting Western Swing, challenging Americana, and the creature comfort embrace of good ol' Classic Country music. Much like the Japanese art of Kintsugi, wherein an artist repairs broken pottery with veins of gold, the band has taken the melodies and concepts of yesteryear and transformed them into a wholly new offering that feels all at once familiar and endearingly peculiar.
Stampede is an apt title for an album absolutely riddled with Americana juggernaut Easter eggs, resulting in an onslaught of familiarly impressive technical execution and influence. There’s Marty Stuart’s distinctly rebellious bluegrass-tinged mandolin in the rollicking kiss-off “Better Things to Do," while Benson and members of Asleep at the Wheel lend authenticity and decades of western swing prowess in “One Step Forward.” “I’ll Never Need Anyone More,” a song written by Cleveland music legend Michael Stanley, who passed away in 2021, is graced with the winged high harmonies of Raul Malo of The Mavericks. Jim Lauderdale joins the Shootouts in giving a nod to the Bakersfield sound with “Tomorrow’s Knockin," while acclaimed guitarist, singer-songwriter, and producer Buddy Miller donates vocal accompaniment to the West Coast rocker, “Anywhere But Here.”
Other standout tracks include the infectious Dave Edmunds-inspired “Run for Cover,” and the barn-burning instrumental title track, which showcases the band’s gifted lead guitarist Brian Poston and Asleep at the Wheel’s Dennis Ludiker (per the band's biography).
Accolades and high praise for The Shootouts' prior two albums have poured in from astute sources such as Rolling Stone Country, American Songwriter, Wide Open Country, Saving Country Music, The Boot, and The Bluegrass Situation, with the sophomore album Bullseye spending over 18 weeks on the Americana Music Association Top 30 album chart – including three weeks in the Top 10 (No. 6). The band climbed the charts at home as well as abroad, and was named by the Country Mile UK as one of its Top Five Albums of 2021. They've received a lengthy list of distinctions on both sides of the pond, including most recently being nominated for “Best Honky Tonk Group” at the 2023 Ameripolitan Music Awards, a nod they received in 2020 as well.
Touted by fans as "country music for people who don't like country music," The Shootouts are set to continue their upward trajectory with an ever growing listening base and a recipe for authentic swinging sound. Stampede is available today on all streaming platforms. Visit the band's website for tour dates, merch, and more.
Find out more about The Shootouts at the links below: