Much like the days when the “Alabama Gang” would dominate NASCAR racing, Alabama artists are making their presence well-known on music’s biggest stages. Talent in the state runs deep and another band is set to take the next step, releasing their next record Young & Unafraid on June 20. A backing tour will feature the four Alabama natives who formed the Vegabonds at Auburn in 2009. They began hitting the college towns of the Southeast before moving to Nashville in 2012, coinciding with a European tour which gave them the confidence and experience that keeps the band going today. Singer Daniel Allen says, “It all goes back to the music, if we didn’t believe in it, we wouldn’t keep doing it. Our goal is to make people catch the vibe that we feel the first time we play a new song in the practice room.” The rest of the band is still Richard Forehand on guitars and pedal steel, keyboardist Beau Cooper, Paul Bruens on bass, and drummer Bryan Harris.

While Young & Unafraid isn’t exactly a “concept” album, Allen says the songs complement each other. “I’ve always wanted to write a record with a good character arc. These songs were written over a 5-year period without a concept in mind, but when we put the tracklisting together a story of nostalgia, heartbreak, and redemption naturally formed.”

Allen has writing credit on nine of the 10 songs on the record and Beau Cooper gets a couple co-writes too, including the album’s lead-off song, “Where Do You Have to Be Tomorrow?” He says, “I wrote this song during covid when I was desperate for adventure. [It] is a subtle way of asking someone if they’re down to stay up all night and see where the night goes.” The song has already been released as a single along with “Til the Hurt Don’t Hurt” a track that starts quietly but quickly builds into a full-blown drum-pounder.

The hook-laden single “Leave the Light On” perfectly captures the vintage Vegabond style with Allen’s bright vocals backed by a driving band. “Not Today” is one of those breezy Gulf Coast-type songs that give the band a beach vibe. “Shortcut” is one of two tracks with writing credits for the entire band. It’s not your typical love song. This features a steady rhythm that moves under sincere lyrics: “God knows I love you, Lovin’ you is easy / My only regret is I didn’t find you any sooner / There ain’t a shortcut when it comes to love, when it comes to truth, when it comes to finding something good.”

Piano ballads can be a pleasant respite in the middle of a rock show and the Vegabonds present “Never Crossed My Mind” (with a nifty slide guitar solo from Forehand) and “Down to the Eagle” to calm things down.

The title track is a real fist-in-the-air song with some great singalong opportunities for live shows. “Bet the Farm” is a straight-ahead Southern rocker with a Beau Cooper writing credit and his organ skills on display with a powerful solo.

The record’s closing track is the other song with full band writing credit. “Lonely” brings the character arc to a positive resolution with lyrics that are a good motto for a band with so much time on the road: “I quit drinkin’ doubles every single night / Cause even at rock bottom I can’t drown you out / There’s more to life than living some heartbreak song / I’m reaching out, I’m coming back around, I’m letting go and I’m holding on.”

The band cut most of the tracks for Young & Unafraid with long-time producer Tom Tapley at his West End Sound studio in Atlanta, while Allen recorded vocal tracks in Franklin, Tennessee. He says the process felt very comfortable, “We’ve been playing together since college and this album really captures who we are as a band. It felt a little nostalgic making it, like we were sitting around a fire talking about the moments we’ve experienced together over the years; the good, the bad and the dumb. We hope that everyone can find themselves in these stories and it helps them remember what it felt like to be young and unafraid.”

Tour dates for June into December have already been confirmed for the East Coast, Southeast, Midwest, and Colorado as The Vegabonds continue to spread their unique version of goodtime heartland rock with a laid-back Gulf vibe and join their fellow artists from Alabama leading the way in Independent music.

Find out more about The Vegabonds at the links below:

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