S.G. Goodman

One Liner: Americana leaning into lite rock and roll with great lyrics

Wikipedia Genre: Americana, folk, country, rock
Home: Hickman, KY

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 18
Day: Friday at 2pm
Weekend Two Only.

BeatBox Stage

Thoughts: When I saw this on the poster, I figured it was S.L. Houser, who was at ACL last year and offers music lessons for Austinites.  Nope, another lady using initials to confuse and entertain.  (also, not L.P. Giobbi or M.J. Lenderman, who were both at ACL last year.  Initial Artists for all!).

Also, she is coming to Bourbon and Beyond in September, so I might get to see her there.

She is pretty good!  She was raised in Hickman, Kentucky, which is a tiny town on the Mississippi River, in that little key-tip of Kentucky.  I have never been to Kentucky.  I am realizing, looking at the map, that it is just north of Tennessee (where I have been), and just south of Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri (where I have never been).  Recently, someone hit me up for a free ticket to an ACL taping for her.  Wish I could have gone.

She was raised in the Southern Baptist church and says she went three times a week.  That seems like too much church, but I think I did the same with Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.  Good times.  She has also been driving since she was seven, which is apparently legal in Kentucky.

The tunes are kind of a mix of Sierra Ferrell's quasi-country Americana and Lucinda Williams' soulful, rockin' Americana.  I have been enjoying it quite a bit.  She got started in 2017 with an album with something called The Savage Radley, and then 2020 was her solo debut called Old Time Feeling.  Produced by Jim James of My Morning Jacket, I think it has a cool combined sound.  That one includes her most popular song, "Space and Time," with 10.7 million streams.

Tyler Childers covered this later, likely being the reason it launched into popularity.  Here and there, that little vibrato she does for a second in the second line can get to be too much in some of these songs, but overall, I think she is a really good songwriter with some good chill vibes.  Like "Snapping Turtle," from 2025's Planting by the Signs, where you believe she is about to join some kids in torturing a turtle before she turns the stick on those little shits and makes them cry - I can see it all in my mind's eye and I really like it.  She also does a dope cover of the Butthole Surfers' "Pepper" that includes some great guitar.  

I'd go watch her.

Macy Todd

One Liner:  Country-tinged folky pop for the heat of the day

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but pop, country pop, folky pop, Americana

Home: Georgia (now in Nashville)

Poster Position: Late Addition
Weekend Two Only.
Saturday at 12:45

BMI Stage

Thoughts:   Another new artist popping up with a terrible slot - hottest part of the day when everyone is still having lunch and watching college football.  And she only gets 30 minutes, during the second weekend, so she is not getting many favors from the Fest here.  I am pegging her tunes somewhere in between Sheryl Crow and Miley Cyrus.  Oh, sorry, just MILEY.  Wait, unless that was a different artist.  Macy only has about 10-11 songs, so her stuff keeps ending and Spotify plays someone else who sounds just like her.  So it is a little confusing.

Originally from Georgia, she lives in Nashville now.  Her music angles into the country world, and once I read that a Brandi Carlile song got her into music in the first place, I think that sort of comp makes sense.  Not fully country, but not fully folky pop either.  She also said that she spent a few years in Austin, saying that there was something about being here that brought out her Americana roots.  She also said something interesting - she gets bored coming up with chords, so she'll go listen to classic rock deep cuts and look up the chords to figure out what they were doing that worked.  I think that is sort of cool.  So, instead of the Vampire Weekend feel of them copying classical progressions, she's figuring out what Deep Purple did on a B-Side from the Carter administration.

Her first album apparently went nowhere because of the dumb pandemic.  She couldn't tour on it and it just sort of withered.  You can't hear it on Spotify now either (unless these songs are from that disc.  I dunno.) but what she has available right now is pretty enjoyable.  I've just been bopping along to these for the day and I enjoy it.

Top track is "someone to you" with 453k streams.  Can we please go back to the days of using capitalization?  I know this is a boomer take, but it really bugs me.

It's that raspy voice and the vibrato right there at the start that gets me thinking Miley immediately.  Also, the closed captioning on that video is psychotic, inserting [singing] and [music] into random spots.  Like, the lyric doesn't end so that music is inserted?  What is going on.  I bet it is because someone didn't use capitalization.  Second biggest streamer is a stripped down beaut - "love of my life" that is apparently about her family, who now live in Colorado, and she is sad about not seeing them enough.  175k streams.

She claimed that she tried multiple takes for that one, while she was living here in Austin, and her label decided that the super basic version was the winner.  I think I agree.  I mean, I will not be in the park at noon, so I will not see this, but I think it sounds really nice.

Solya

One Liner:  Dreamy, torchy, Americana and indie tunes from Abilene, of all places

Wikipedia Genre:  Alternative rock, dream pop, indie rock, Americana

Home: Abilene, Texas

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 16

Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 1:15 pm.

T-Mobile Stage.

Thoughts:  That is a weird list of Wikipedia genres.  I would generally say that I do not want for my alternative rock bands to also play dream pop.  Also strange, the second artist from Abilene this week.  NEW LIVE MUSIC CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!!!

Solya Ava Lowe is all of 20 years old - born in 2006! - who began playing piano at age six and later figured out the guitar and synths.  She started by releasing her own music as a teenager, but then signed with a label and got started on her album by recording in Lockhart, Texas.  She's really trying to keep it real with the small-ish Texas towns.  As I listen to the tunes, I guess I understand the weird genre mixture up there.  Because some of this sounds sort of like Lana Del Rey doing Lucinda Williams, while other bits feel more straight indie rock.  It's odd, but I like it better than a lot of the pop stuff that has been on this area of the poster.

A 2023 EP, a 2024 EP, and then the 2026 album Queen of Texas.  None of the songs on the new album have really blown it up just yet, only one cracks three million streams.  "Movie Star."

Torchy little tune.  Nice background music, not entirely sure it would be a tune that I would go out of my way to go and see played live in a field at 1 in the afternoon though.  Her biggest streamer is a 2023 single called "Tear Me Apart" with 12.2 million streams.

You could almost see this being a mid-90's tune from some female-led rock band who will be playing the Lilith Fair.  Or maybe a Mitski song.  It is overall a kind of fun change of pace from a lot of the straight pop on this poster, where you can hear real instruments being played and arrangements of them that are sort of cheeky and fun.  But also, not so sure I see myself getting there early for this one.

Coleman Jennings

One Liner:  Old school classic country by a young UT student

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, this is country, folk, Americana

Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 22.
Weekend One Only. 
Saturday at 3:30

BMI Stage

Thoughts:  My guy is a pretty good whistler.  Also, I am guessing he is not the American philanthropist who died in 1978.  I did not know, until reading that Wiki entry, that there really was a "Community Chest" - I thought that was just a Monopoly phrase.

Anyway, this fella sounds very much like a throwback to the old school.  Songs full of vibrato and whistles and classic country flourishes.  It sounds honestly great.

A few EPs and then finally a 2026 album called Lead You Home.  His first single is still his most popular track, "Wildflowers & Tears" has 632k streams.

Good, basic country sound right there.  Like Chris LeDoux telling me a hard-scrabble story of country pain.  He's got Dave Cobb producing him (who also produced folks like Stapleton).  He was born in New York, lived in CT until he was seven, but has called Austin home ever since.  As he was first releasing this music, he was still a full-time UT student studying English.  At first, he had a little band called Coleman Jennings and the Roaddogs, and they would play frat parties and tailgates - anything to get a show together.  But now he has signed with Big Loud (massive artists like Morgan Wallen or Miranda Lambert, small local-ish guys like Dylan Gossett and The Droptines).

His top track from the new album is called "Head Spinning" and has 359k streams.

Again, pretty solid.  I didn't use any of his songs with the whistling, but I promise that he is a pretty legit whistler.  I like a good whistle in a country tune.

Emma Ogier

One Liner: Really nice Americana-ish tunes
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is Americana, folk, indie rock
Home: Houston raised, Nashville based.

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 21
Day: Saturday at 1:45
Weekend One Only.

BMI Stage

Thoughts:  Only 6 songs, so you aren't getting an especially complete idea of her, but I would liken this to the reliably great Katie Pruitt who was here recently.  The short bio I read says that she is originally from Houston, but now is based in Nashville.  To me, that sounds like someone who went to Belmont University.  The music is a little folky, a little Americana-ey.  Definitely something that I am going to play for my wife later today.

No album yet, obviously.  Just those six singles.  The top streamer is "Baby Don't Hurt Me" with 425k streams.

That one gives me a little Lucy Dacus vibe, if her voice was higher-pitched.  I like "Believing" even more than that one though.  Actually, "Lying Lately" is really good too.  The second-biggest streamer is apparently about her freshman year roommate deciding to bail and leaving her all alone in the room for the second semester.  "Consider Me a Winner" has 236k streams.

I know that it is dumb to be surprised by a slight person having a strong voice when Ariana Grande exists, but it still sort of surprises me.  I like that line about the people in the posters of her wall are growing up.  Looks like a fun ass dorm room too with those colorful appliances and the keyboard/guitar.  My dorm was a depressing dump.

Yeah, I would check her out.  I have really enjoyed these songs.

Houndmouth (2026)

One Liner: Shaggy southern rock goodness.

Wikipedia Genre: Alternative country, indie rock, folk rock, Americana
Home: Indiana

Poster Position: 9
Day: Sunday at 5:30
Weekend Two Only.

SnapChat Stage.

Thoughts:  Here in 2015 and 2018.  I love these guys.  Saw them when they came through in 2015, and it was a great show.  High energy, real deal rock and roll.  Can't recall if I saw it in 2018 too, but expect I did?

They formed in 2011, playing gigs around Kentucky and Indiana before showing up at SXSW to promote their first EP.  The head of Rough Trade was in the audience and offered them a contract soon thereafter.  Spin and Esquire named Houndmouth a "must-see" band at Lollapalooza, and Garden & Gun said, "You'd be hard pressed to find a more effortless, well-crafted mix of roots and rock this year than the debut album from this Louisville quartet.  Pretty high praise!

But it was their second album - Little Neon Limelight - that blew up - mainly because their top single is on there   Excellent jammy, country-tinged rock.  One of those groups (like Of Monsters & Men or Lumineers) where it seems like ten people are singing on half of the tracks.  But these tunes hop into a groove and rock it with short-ish (almost everything under 4 minutes) jams.  Also reminds me of Bright Light Social Hour, which I dig.  Fun music.  "Sedona" is a great track, I still hear it from time to time in playlists and on the radio.  321.7 million streams.

I like the lines about your neon glowing brighter, a "Saturday night kind of pink."  They have a lot of party tunes that should be great live, and a few slower burners that are also good.  But that song there has gone platinum in the US and reached #1 on the AAA Chart

2018's Golden Age starts with about 40 seconds of silence, and then eases you into a slightly cleaner sound.  Still good rock and roll, but a little less shaggy, more produced.  Less roots, more pop.  Also, did the female vocalist leave?  Didn't they have a female on the old songs?  Yes, Wikipedia says that Katie Toupin left the band in 2016, so now its just three dudes.  That is too bad, I liked her harmonies, made the band a little different than the usual sausage party.

These tunes are pretty good - you can run through the album repeatedly in quick fashion because its only 10 songs and 36 minutes.  The top track is "This Party," with a sentiment of wishing you could escape.  3.6 million streams (sooooo far below the big hit).

Hear that?  Not a roots rock song, but still a pretty solid rock and roll tune.  Danceable, catchy, good groove.  Makes me think of Spoon.

"Waiting for the Night" sounds kinda like a Strokes vibe.  "Modern Love" hews a little closer to the classic sound, acoustic guitars and harmonies.  Well, then they have a weird ending to the song with robot vocals and spooky synths.  Otherwise, nice tune.  "Coast to Coast" uses a beat piece that I associate with the Beastie Boys, which is attractive to me, but now I need to dig into where that actually came from.  Oh, no, wait, that is an Eagles song!  "Those Shoes."  Aw yeah!  That is kinda tight.  1.4 million streams.

"'cause I'mma high, plains, drifta."  Such a tight beat.  Makes a cool groove on that tune.  But I think the easiest comparison on this album is to Spoon.  Most of the album sounds like their recent tunes.

Their most recent disc is 2021's Good for You.  That one sort of has Wilco vibes to me.  The top track on there is "McKenzie" with 34.8 million streams.

Nice tune, and the back scenes footage of the guys makes them seem like fun dudes.  I also note that they continue to like songs with place names as the title, as this album has an "Ohio" and a "Las Vegas" to go with "Sedona" and "Houston Train" and "Come on, Illinois" and "Halfway to Hardinsburg" on prior albums.

I have to admit that I prefer the old tunes to the new album, but I'd still go see these guys do their thing again.  They are definitely the best band I have heard on this poster in a few days.

Calder Allen (2026)

One Liner:  Poor man's Ryan Bingham with a good pedigree

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but I'll go with Americana

Home: Austin

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15 
Both Weekends.
Sunday at 3:15

Tito's Tent

Thoughts:  His third trip to ACL - 2021 and 2024 - they are really trying to make "fetch" happen.  As you can tell from the post that I wrote back in '21, he was not on anyone's radar at the time:

"We've reached the part of the poster where the band doesn't even have Spotify.  Not a good sign.  There is something called Calder the Band, but that doesn't seem anything like Calder Allen.  On YouTube, a search for Calder Allen brings up a dude who looks like he might still be in high school.  His two uploaded videos are a Spanish project and a video about Slope and Direct Variation, that must have been for a math class that I long ago forgot about.  Calder caught a nice fish one time.  I tried "Calder Allen musician," and got this video of two children singing in a church?

Not bad!  But nothing else on YouTube appears to reflect the sounds that this artist plans to make for us at ACL.  The internet tells me only this: "Calder Allen, who comes from a talented family: he's the grandson of Terry & Jo Harvey Allen, son of Bale Creek Allen, and nephew of Bukka Allen."  Okey doke!  Seems like, if he were so damn talented, that he'd have his music available on the Internet for people to hear!"

But since then, he's become more of a thing.  The Chronicle wrote about his debut at ACL, and it was obvious then that he had a musically famous family that other unknown ACL artists do not.  "Calder Allen debuted at last fall’s ACL Fest with an all-star band that included Charlie Sexton [Arc Angels, his own solo stuff], Martie Maguire [The Chicks!], Glenn Fukunaga [apparently Austin's premier bassist for 50 years], and his uncle Bukka Allen [has played with Terry Allen, Ian Moore, Joe Ely, Robert Earl Keen, Jack Ingram, Ryan Bingham, The Bodeans, Courtyard Hounds and Joe Walsh]."  I mean, his dad wrote "Amarillo Highway," so this dude is set up for success.

Well, now he has some music on Spotify for the world to hear.  2022 was a big year: Stone EP, Shine EP, Show Me The Way EP, and then the album The Game.  All of the songs that were on the EPs are also on the album, so I guess this was just a slow roll out of the singles.  And strangely, the top song sounds familiar.  Feels like something I heard on a TV show.  "Good Times" has 1.5 million streams.

He's like an ad for Austin with his multiple Howler Brothers hats and shirts and Yeti gear and Continental Club shots.  He is literally wearing two Howler Brothers shirts at the same time in one of those shots.  I mean, I'd take the sponsorship money too!  His album makes me think of Ryan Bingham - low key musically and a solid, if unremarkable, voice.  Actually, I guess it is in the same vein as Zach Bryan as well.  

Since that one, he has released 2024's poorly punctuated Dreamers Drifters and Hiders and then 2026's Fault Lines.  Neither of those has any appreciable stream count.  No song on DDH breaks 100k and only the opening track on the 2026 album does it.  Sounds very much like Bingham to me. "Daylight Saves" with 117k.

The second-most streamed tune is from the early days as well - "Show Me The Way," with 464k streams.

I called his voice unremarkable up there, and that is probably true, but I also want to take it back.  It's a really nice voice - has a little bit of rough edge to it, while still sounding smooth and comforting.  After listening through all of his tunes today, I really enjoy it.  This guy is solid.

Next of Kin

One Liner: Three local singer-songwriters forming into a harmony-soaked Voltron
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but kind of an Indie Americana?
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 18
Day: Saturday
Weekend One Only.

Tito's Tent at 1:00.

Thoughts:  Just from the cover photo, I am guessing this is a pack of sisters making these sparkling harmonies.  Strangely enough, the Next of Kin band with a Wikipedia entry is a pop rock band from Braintree, Essex, England, composed of three brothers.  Makes me wonder if I have the right one that I am listening to right now.  Hmmm... ah, no, wait.  Their Wikipedia says they renamed themselves Essex County in 2020 and now record alt country music.  Which is ... intriguing...

Back to these ladies.  They are super not related at all!  I feel like I got ripped off!  KUTX says that they are Lili Hickman, Madison Baker, and Caelin (which appears to be her only name?).  Hickman is the daughter of the excellent Sarah Hickman, and was in Flora & Fawna (which was at ACL in 2022).  Madison grew up in Canton, Texas (out in between Dallas and Tyler) but got to Austin to go to UT and buried her musical talent until after she graduated.  Caelin says she came out of the womb performing and started her first rock band at 13 years old.  She claims to have been touring Belmont University in Nashville when Jimmy Lafave called her and begged her to come to Austin instead.

Only five songs, so sort of a difficult catalog to really go in depth with, but you can tell that they love harmonies.  "Jekyll & Hyde" was their first project and it has their most streams with 109k.

You can't help but think of other lady trios with great voices and harmonies - Boygenius being the easy, recent comp, although these ladies definitely lean more towards country than pure indie rock.  Great tune.

In addition to the other band that had previously used this name, when you search for Next of Kin on YouTube you get some great stuff.  British TV show, NIgerian movie, an Alvvays song.  Did you know Patrick Swayze was in a movie from 1989?  Well, now you can see how exciting that could be.

The Sawyze as Detective Truman Gates!  Throwing suckers through windows in the City!  Liam Neeson!  Freaking crossbows!  Helen Hunt!  That guy who was Jayne Cobb in Firefly!  The freaking one-armed man from the Fugitive!  How was this not the biggest movie on 1989?  Wait, what won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year.  Driving Miss Daisy?  Are you shitting me!?!

Anyway, second-most streamed tune is called "Homemaker" with 62k streams.

More killer harmonies.  Yeah, I think these ladies are definitely talented and worth going to see do their thing.  I assume they'll have more songs by then, or we'll be getting a lot of covers!

Tanney Usrey (2025.2)

One Liner:  Really great, low-key Americana guy in the vein of Zach Bryan

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but country and americana

Home: Prosper, Texas

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 12
Both Weekends.
Friday

American Express Stage at 2:45.

Thoughts:  This fella was at ACL in 2023, but I missed the show.  But then he came to Two Step Inn for the 2025 rendition, and we got to catch about half of the set.  He's freaking awesome.  High energy dude with a rock and roll-forward stance.

While on the beach for Labor Day in 2024, a friend asked me about what country artists would be at the Fest for 2024.  I told him about Randall King and Morgan Wade, and said that I guess Mumford and Lumineers are in that wheelhouse.  But I hadn't yet heard this cat - got a basic but powerful sound that makes me think of Zach Bryan, Charles Wesley Godwin, and personal favorite Chris Knight.  That kind of country that leans into southern rock sounds and great lyrics.

Originally from Prosper, Texas, which is one of those far north suburbs of DFW that probably used to be a little slice of small-town nothing, but is now likely a mega-suburb in the making full of cheap D.R. Horton homes and a high school with an 80 million dollar football stadium.  Matt Carpenter, LaTroy Hawkins, and Torii Hunter, all accomplished MLB players, were from Prosper, as are Deion Sanders and Dak Prescott.  Kind of wild to have that many stars from a little squirt of a town.

He says that he used to belt out music all the time as a little kid, that his family would tell him to shut up.  In high school he picked up a guitar and leaned into making music.  His favorite band is Whiskey Myers, which is something I have heard of before, but I don't know that I have ever heard one of their songs.  He released the Medicine Man EP in 2019, which gathered a bunch of streams, and then was featured on Yellowstone and grabbed even more listeners.

"Come Back Down" was that initial big single that got people streaming - 47.7 million streams.

Basic on the instrumentation, but a classic lost love lyrics tune.  Great sound.  "Take Me Home," a 2023 single is also great even though it is basic.  I have wondered before how it is that Zach Bryan, the most basic of singer-songwriters, using the most basic of acoustic guitar tunes underneath, can turn into such a massively HUGE phenomenon.  His show at the first Two Step blew my mind because of the crowd's fervent participation.  But listening to this, I can't really see the difference.  Maybe it's all about social media or something.  Or maybe one is a good-looking ex-Navy guy and the other is a chunky bearded bro?  Who knows.  "Josephine" is lovely too.  Funny thing, the Yellowstone tune doesn't even make his top ten.  Only 3.8 million streams - and the opening of it makes me think of Stapleton's song about getting stoned.  I'll give you the top tune from his 2023 EP called Who I Am. "Take Me Home" with 28.6 million streams.

Those fan-created slip videos are so weird.  Like, setting up in a stairwell to do rock-paper-scissors and then sending that video to a country music artist for a video for a love song?  So strange.  But I like the song a lot.

Also in 2023, he released his next full album, Crossing Lines.  It features that "Take Me Home" track, and it also has his biggest song overall - "Beautiful Lies" which sounds familiar because it was also a 2019 single.  Funny thing too, there are two versions on his album, the first one features a woman named Ella Langley, but only has 3.8 million streams.  But then the non-duet version at the end of the album fires up 47.6 million streams.  I guess it got a lot of play as the 2019 single version and they just decided to add it to the new album a few times?

Parts of the new album go into more of a southern rock country type angle, but this one stays true to my feelings I had before about the Zach Bryan basic vibe.  "Down Here at the Bottom" almost sounds like the Black Crowes.

I'd definitely go check this out again - this guy puts on an electric show.

Dylan Gossett (2025)

One Liner: Another Zach Bryan acolyte, from Austin, making good acoustic tunes
Wikipedia Genre: Country, red dirt, Texas Country, Americana
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 7

Friday

Both Weekends

AmEx Stage at 4:30.

Thoughts:  This guy was at Two Step Inn two years ago, when it felt like half of that poster was made up of Zach Bryan-ified guys.  I like ZB, but it feels like one or two of those stripped down guys is enough, before we'll just have singer-songwriter night on every stage.

He actually grew up in Austin, the son of a school teacher and a high school basketball coach.  He tried guitar lessons as a kid, but those didn't pan out.  He ended up teaching himself via lessons from YouTube, immersing himself into classic country and some of the new school guys like Turnpike and Flatland.  Maybe I need to give the guitar a try again.  I wonder how you go about finding the best guitar lessons on YouTube, so that I'm not just wading through garbage for hours?  Anyway, he went to A&M, and after he graduated he took a job at the Circuit of the Americas in the Operations team.  He kind of reminds me of Jackopierce's early stuff, but also of the kind of guy you would hear in the corner of a bar just rocking out by himself while everyone talks and drinks.

He started posting covers online ("Ophelia" by the Lumineers, for example), and then finally caught on with "To Be Free," which apparently became a thing on TikTok.  But it was "Coal" that really blew up and catapulted him into the big time.  At 294.9 million streams now.  Impressive.

Great central line - "they say pressure makes diamonds, how the hell am I still coal."  Good tune, very low key, DIY, basic singer-songwriter vibe.  That song blew up, with the New York Times calling it one of 2023's best country songs.

When he came through Two Step, he only had six songs available on Spotify, so there was a limited amount of vibe to figure.  "Coal" blew up and he quit his job.  Now, he has two EPs - 2023's No Better Time and 2024's Songs in the Gravel.  He also scored a single on the Twisters soundtrack, which is kind of cool.  He definitely went for it on that song, cranking up the banjo and the tempo.  His tune "Somewhere Between" is sort of the same, where he cranks up like a Mumford and Sons freakout.  Even with all of those new songs, his second-most streamed tune is still his first sing, "To Be Free" and is lovely.  61.1 million streams.

Still just a boy and his guitar, but that one gets a little more of a snappy tempo going.  "Beneath Oak Trees," which is about him getting married in Wimberly under an oak tree canopy, is really nice.  "Lone Old Cowboy" is good too, like a REK story song.

Two new singles, and they add in a little more instrumentation, but still stay pretty low key and pure.  He still sounds like a singer/songwriter.  I'd go catch his set.  Even if it is chill, he feels like the kind of guy who may be on the up elevator right now.

Crowe Boys

One Liner: Actual brothers making pretty fun folky rock
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie rock, Americana, folk rock
Home: New Orleans (via Baton Rouge)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15
Day: Friday
Weekend Two Only.

Beatbox Stage at 2:00.

Thoughts: My elementary school principal was named Mrs. Crowe.  She freaking ruled.  Well, you know how memories from childhood persist and morph and settle in, to fit what you think they were, but if my memory is correct, it was Mrs. Crowe who made it so that our hallways were like a miniature zoo full of animals we could look at during the school day.  If I remember correctly, good grades or attendance or something would earn you time with the animals.  I definitely remember the insanely soft, light grey chinchillas.  But my favorite of all of the animals in the school was, in part, because of my favorite place in the school.  The library (who knew, I was a nerd?) was my refuge to go read, and the left side wall of the library had windows looking out into a large aviary that had been built into a nook of the building.  There was a magical little spiral staircase that led up to a similarly small upstairs part of the library, and I would go hole up in that space with a book.  And the soundtrack to that space was the gently soothing cooing of the group of mourning doves that lived in that aviary.  I loved that space.  While in law school, I found that the sketchy bamboo thicket out back of our crappy duplex was the home to a pack of mourning doves, and so when I was stressed out I learned to go sit on the tiny back patio and just listen to them call.

You can see the spiral staircase there, and those windows in the bottom right corner led out to the aviary.  I think I had to spend extra time here after school while my mom did PTA stuff, and so I spent some nice, quiet time in these spaces.

Oh, I am so pleased.  Go to 17:20 in this video and you can see some of what I meant!  At 21:35 you can see the aviary!  I am literally tearing up right now.  God, I hope this band is actually good.  Haha.

Hooray for me!  A nice little Americana/folky sound with great harmonies and some tasty banjo licks.  Their Spotify bio says that they spent their childhood traveling around the American South with their family band until their mother passed away.  So, the boys put down roots in New Orleans as young teenagers and started to gravitate towards folk-influenced artists.  Ocie Crowe on acoustic guitar and Wes Crowe on mandolin.  According to their website bio, they originally tried to break through as an indie punk band, with Ocie on guitar, Wes on bass, and other brother Jacob on drums, but that was apparently a major flop.  "After one night of hustling to fill up a venue, the crowd completely emptied out after the opening act’s set."  That has to be a horrible feeling.  But as they evolved into something else, a friend played their tunes for one of the guys in the Revivalists, who jumped on it and helped the brothers get into the studio and record their sound.

They reluctantly started posting little clips to TikTok, and a rendition of "Where Did I Go Wrong" went viral while the two brothers were at their normal jobs, trying to keep track of it going crazy.  Within hours, several hundred thousand views, and by the next day they snagged more than a million views (with it finally topping out over 13 million streams).  That led to managers and labels and everyone else popping out to snatch them up, and they ended up signing with C3.  That is still their top track, with 6.8 million streams.

Good lyrics about just trying to figure out life as it keeps hurtling by.  No actual album yet, although their last several singles are released with the cover for a future album that will be called Made to Wander.  "Let Me Feel Alone" is the second biggest streamer so far with just over a million streams.

His voice sounds like someone else who I can't quite recall.  But the harmonies and the instruments and the vocals, all just spot on for me.  Good ass hootenanny song to boogie down to in an open field!  "Bootstraps" is also a good tune.  For all the people who wanted to hear Caamp last year, this ought to get them in the mood this time!

Clover County

One Liner: Country that veers into a folky pop at times, but sounds great in either

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but country, Americana, folky pop
Home: Athens, GA (via Orlando and many other spots)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 20
Day: Saturday
Weekend One Only.

BMI Stage at 3:15.

Thoughts:  The first song kind of came at me like a Dayglow vibe, and then she kicks in the singing and it is alluring.  I've been through the whole catalog (not a huge feat, relatively limited) and that holds throughout.  Walks a fine line between country and folky pop, that sort of brings to mind people like Sierra Ferrell at times.

No Wikipedia, so I have to piece together a background from elsewhere.  Her website bio says she was raised in Central Florida.  According to Wikipedia, that is usually defined as Tampa to Orlando.  Sounds like a deliciously trashy section of the world.  She began songwriting at the age of 13, teaching herself to play on her dad's "collection of 1980's songbooks."  The idea of a songbook today is hilarious.  I had (maybe still have) one of Robert Earl Keen songs from when I thought I would play guitar.  Until I tried playing the dang F chord.  That one broke me.

A.G. Schiano is her real name.  The name Clover County is an homage to the places she has lived.  Orlando to Denver to Atlanta to Birmingham to Athens (to attend UGA).  Thats a fun string of towns to me.  But they don't seem especially prone to clovers?  Ah, no, this is metaphorical: "“Clover County'' represents a state of mind, no matter where you’re planted you have the choice to grow."  Are clovers especially hearty?  Feels like weeds would be the heartiest and able to grow no matter what.  I guess Weed County brings to mind a different vibe.

A couple of singles and then one 2024 EP called Porch Lights.  To track is "Ultraviolet" from the EP, with 383k streams.

That bright and sunny start is cool, and her voice comes in with a lilt of country but joins in on the bopping of the beat.  By the chorus, she just sounds like she's singing a pop song.  I like it.  "Under These Conditions" is also on the new EP, and is her second-most streamed with 268k.

A little more stripped down, but the steel on the chorus and that piano joining in makes the song for me.  That is a really nice song.  I am going to share it with the wife right now.

I'd go watch this for sure.  I don't know if she will be in the noon area of the schedule where I'll miss out on it, but I really enjoy what she has going on.

The Droptines

One Liner:  Alt-country and good lyrics are still alive and well

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is alt country and Americana and Southern Rock

Home: Concan, Texas

Poster Position: 21
Weekend Two Only.
Sunday at 5:25.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:  Love the band name.  You'll want to make sure to pronounce it like the pokey parts of a fork, not like "teens."  This is a semi-useless aside, but I was very proud of one particular mule deer I shot one time, because it had a drop tine on it, and everyone at the deer camp was confused because supposedly a muley should never have a drop tine.  May have been some sort of hybrid white tail/mule deer.  I know you are on the edge of your seat with anticipation after that amazing anecdote.  Maybe someday I will write a novel.

The band is from Concan, Texas.  So, I guess we should tell more stories now, right?  Concan is near Leakey, and both of them get to enjoy some of the Frio River.  I've been floating on the Frio in Concan many a time, used to dove hunt near there and stay in Concan after the hunts, and that hybrid deer's head got mounted for me by an old friend who lives in Leakey and does some taxidermy on the side.  Good times.  

Well, this music is likewise some good times - their Spotify bio calls it alt-country/post-country, but it sounds like the Old 97's with the Avett Brothers to me.  Maybe a little psych rock nibbles into the edges as well, as I keep listening through the catalog.  Maybe its more like that 49 Winchester band that was at Two Step Inn?  Their current touring schedule is pretty rad though, if you ask me - playing the Lake Charkes Golden Nugget with Dwight Yoakum, then the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA (RIP REM), and then the Bluebird Theater in Denver.  Legit.

Four guys, led by the vocals and lyrics of Conner Arthur.  One article out there calls him the "King of Concan," so I think they should have a song named that so that I can compare it to "King of Oklahoma" and "King of Alabama."  3 EPs and one album - 2019's The Droptines, 2021's Here's 3, 2022's 4 More, and finally 2024's The Droptines.  "Bill of Sale," originally a 2023 single, has the most streams at 1.6 million.

That voice is a little bit of the deep sound of Cash at the start.  Funny that this is the top streamer, I would definitely not say it is their best tune.  Has a cool throwback sound, but their other tunes definitely are more interesting to me.  Although I do love when it switches up the tempo in the middle.  "Army Green" is pretty damn sad.  Singing to a girl who is living it up back home while he is watching his buddy's blood melt into the sand as he eats MREs and smokes weed.  "Kammi's Pants" sounds kind of like Kings of Leon.  "Raining Where You Are" is a rockin' slice of spiteful poetry.  "New Girl," a 2022 single that never made it onto an EP or album, is the second biggest streamer with just over a million streams.

There's some of that Old 97's guitar jangle and driving drums.  Like the other top single, I'd actually prefer some of these other songs than that one.  But I kinda want to play that horrific goat track of a golf course.  While he can definitely veer off into questionable lyrics, like in "Things I Ain't Got" I'd still say that overall, this is a pretty great little band.

Sturgill Simpson (2024)

One Liner: Fantastic torchbearer of the type of Country I love

Wikipedia Genre:  Alternative country, progressive country
Home: Lexington, KY

Poster Position: HEADLINER!
Day: Sunday at 8:25 on the Honda Stage
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  Last here in 2015.  Which is wild - feels more recent.  He was also the guy I was supposed to see, right when the pandemic lockdown cancelled everything.  Tyler Childers to open for him.  Would have been an amazing show!  Dammit!

Classic country.  If you have read my blog before now, you know that, in between lineup announcements for ACL and doing God's work for you all, I listen to new music and collect reviews in posts of four or five new albums.  However, when I heard Simpson's Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, I had to do a post all by itself for the pleasures I found in that disc.  It is an excellent homage to classic country while still sounding new.  I won't repeat myself or repost the song links, but if you are curious, "Turtles All the Way Down" is the most listened to track on Spotify at 66.6 million, and his cover of "The Promise" only clocks in 4th place with 23 million.  "The Promise" is awesome.

After hearing that early album, I went and saw Simpson play the Stubb's amphitheater with my friend Noah, and had a hell of a good time.  I saw a boatload of people I knew at the show, and you could just tell that he was catching fire and on the way up.

Before 2014's Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Simpson had another album, 2013's High Top Mountain.  It is still good, but it just doesn't have the same electric fire that Metamodern uses to slice through old school typecasting.  It is still a rootsy, classic country album with a clear line tracing straight back to Waylon Jennings, but the sound sticks closer to tradition and does less to move the outlaw country sound forward.  His cover of Willie's "I'd Have to Be Crazy" is an aching gem.  Two songs from that album crack the top ten most listened to for Simpson on Spotify, but the most listened to is "You Can Have the Crown," with 61.2 million.

Live version, but you get the gist.  High energy rockin' country.  And funny lyrics - trying to write a song that will pay the bills, but can't so he needs to go rob a bank.  King turd!  Boss Hawg!  And he can't figure out "what the hell rhymes with Bronco."  Uh, Honcho?  Bravo?  Matthew Mcconaughey's Bongos?  Uchiko?  He should join up with Unknown Mortal Orchestra for another song about being buried underneath Uchiko in his Bronco!

I saw his 2015 show at ACL and it was fantastic.  That was my favorite year of ACL bar none.

Part of the cool about Simpson is how original he is.  Born in Kentucky to a Kentucky State Trooper, and Sturgill was the first male on his mom's side of the family to not work the mines.  he apparently barely graduated from high school and immediately enlisted in the Navy.  he spent three years in the Navy, with some time in Japan, before ending up back in Kentucky to pursue his music.  You can hear some of that background on "Sea Stories."  Originally, he started a country rock band called Sunday Valley, and he moved to Nashville, but he even says that "was a total bust."  He moved to Salt Lake and moved up in the ranks of a railroad freight shipping yard that he ended up managing, but his wife and friends kept on him about his music and how he shouldn't give up.  So, after a while, he and his wife went back to Nashville to give it a go.  Anyway, back to the albums.

2016's A Sailor's Guide to Earth further cemented his outside status, using different sounds mingled in with classic country things.  I mean, I love this album.  I know I'm very much not alone in that sentiment, as any middle aged guy who hates Nashville bro-country but likes the old outlaws is required by DNA and law to think Sturgill is the best thing of all time, but I just thoroughly enjoy the guy's tunes.  Metamodern was classic, but this one combines an amazing sound with some truly lovely and heartfelt lyrics aimed at his newborn son.  

First, he opens with this piano ballad for his first born son ("Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)") that evolves into a kick ass blast of Stax-horns-funk-fueled soul.  That is part of why I dig on this guy - he's not just sticking with a formulaic method of pandering to the country crowd - he's crossing boundaries and making kick ass music, regardless of the sound.  And as a dad, this kind of stuff hits right on up there into home.  Second, he covers Nirvana.  I mean, bold ass move, but he pulls it off and I dig it.  I've been singing his version of "In Bloom" for days.  He dropped old school 80's on us in the last album with "The Promise," now he went grunge.

The hit off the album is my favorite track on here, which is a little more traditionally country (with a dose of southern rock), but it is a good one.  "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)" has 34.7 million listens on Spotify, and is just a well-done track.

Make sure you live a little, man.  Be a scary old guy running down gravestones in your hot rod, and you'll be more satisfied when you are dead. Good stuff.  "Oh Sarah," to his wife, is freaking gorgeous.  I think my only beef with the album is that it's too damn short.  9 songs and 38 minutes?  Come on man, keep it coming. Cover "Mayonnaise," "Sober," and "Peaches" to make some 90's alt history.  The other extremely fun track on here is the album closer, "Call to Arms," which sounds like it could be a Blues Brothers rave-up, that includes a succinct review of the current state of entertainment media ("bullshit on the TV, bullshit on the radio").  I am getting goose bumps right now, in 2024 listening to this track crank it up again.  hell yeah.  He won the Grammy for Best Country Album with this disc.

In the midst of all of this music, he also made time to be in several movies and shows as an actor.  Probably the biggest of those was Killers of the Flower Moon, but I remember him in Queen & Slim too.

Next was 2019's Sound and Fury.  Another good album, taking less of a country tack than ever and angling further and further into straight rock and roll.  This one is definitely a keeper, although I will readily admit that I loke the earlier two better.

"Sing Along" is the hit from the album at 21 million streams.  That video is totally weird.  I've said this before, but for some reason the weird bass drop near the end of the song bugs the crap out of me.  Otherwise, it's a fine song, but that one moment is out of place and weird and I don't like it.  But yes, this disc is good.  He apparently made an entire companion film for this, and was openly antagonistic with his label about the whole process of him making a hard-to-market album and companion movie.

But then, he swerved into the pandemic with two personal favorite bangers.  First was 2020's Cuttin' Grass.  I absolutely LOVE this album.  These are bluegrass versions of his previously released songs, and the players that he has surrounded himself for the backing instrumentation are freaking stone-cold killers.  I looked up who they are, and none of them ring a bell to me as artists in their own right, except for Mandolin player/singer Sierra Hull, who I reviewed an album from a while back (and is bad ass).  But each tune bristles with bluegrass perfection - bouncy banjos, lively fiddle, weaving and nimble guitar lines, as well as great harmonies from the collected singers.  And its super fun to hear familiar songs re-imagined like this.  "Long White Line," or "Turtles All the Way Down," or the lovely "Breaker's Roar," it's crazy fun.  And while I know a bunch of his music, I have to readily admit that a handful of these tunes ring no bells to me, which is a very fun deal - I get new-to-me tunes in a perfect bluegrass wrapping.  The top track for streams on here is "I Don't Mind," with 35.4 million streams.

That one turns down the banjo's presence and leans more on the mandolin, guitar, and his lovely voice.  Lyrically, it's also a beautiful track, just a pure love song sung in with conviction and longing.  And I dug into its history a little bit, because it doesn't ring any bells from the albums that I own.  Ends up it came from his pre-solo band Sunday Valley.  

Two months later, he fired out Volume 2. For me, Sturgill could release one of these a week for the rest of my life and I'd die a happy man.  The first track, "Call to Arms," combines a breakneck breakdown that sounds like a train just an inch away from launching off the tracks with killer lyrics excoriating the war machine chewing up our boys.  What a great fucking song.  And this rearrangement of it is just a hillbilly freakout.  "Sea Stories" is another similarly great one that involves poking some fun at the armed services.  And as with Vol. 1, it is high fun to hear some of the great songs from his old albums reimagined into bluegrass.  "Welcome to Earth" starts as a pretty true-to-the-original lullaby, and then turns into a pickin' session.  "Brace for Impact" and "Keep It Between the Lines" remain excellent songs, just with a different flavor now.  The top track is the third one - "Oh Sarah" - with 18.4 million streams.

Sweetly sad love song from the Sailor's Guide album, with that great line of "so forgive me if sometimes I seem a little crazy, but god damn, sometimes crazy is how I feel."  I know some people didn't want to hear volume one, so I get if you won't buy in a second time, but I love the reimagining of his great tunes for a different style.

Keeping with the oddball career choices, next was 2021's The Ballad of Dood & Juanita.  This one is weird and wooly, with clever stories and one particular moment that makes me laugh each time I hear it.  This album takes the bluegrass mastery he showed on Cuttin' Grass (check the breakdown in the middle of "Shamrock," good gravy!) and applies it to a new set of songs (instead of his old catalog) with a story woven through them of old timey Kentucky settlers.  Dood is a son of a mountain miner and a crack shot with his rifle.  Juanita is a good-hearted woman who calms down his worst impulses.  Their story goes south when Juanita is kidnapped and he has to go on a mission to rescue her, but the hero wins in the end.  Instead of the top track of streams, I want to give you "Juanita," because it contains the line that makes me laugh.  8.7 million streams.

"JUANITA!!!  Where'd your momma get that name!?"  Love it.  Need to belt it out at a concert sometime soon.  "Sam" is the top song (61 million streams), which is too bad, really, because it's about Dood's dog dying too soon.  I don't know why the best songwriters in the country genre need to keep making songs about their dogs dying (see "Maggie's Song" from Chris Stapleton) but hearing him sing about how amazing his dog was makes me sad about the day when my dog might die.  But still, the song is good and it works in the fabric of this album.  Great disc. 

He apparently ruptured his vocal cords in 2021 and announced a retirement from touring.  That seems to have resolved itself now.

Now, in 2024, you'd hate to not be kept on your toes by the guy, so he released an album under the name Johnny Blue Skies called Passage Du Desir.  Which translates to Passage of Desire.  The pseudonym apparently has to do with a promise that he won't release more than five albums of original material under his own name.  Which is sort of whack.  Anyway, this new disc is a little under inspiring for me, personally.  It sort of sounds like Sailor's Guide, but without those exciting horns and high energy riffs - takes a more quiet and soft tack towards the same oddball horizon though.  It isn't bad, like the funky little groove on "Scooter Blues" is tasty for me, but it mostly just cruises by under my radar with each listen.  The closer "One For the Road" has some Allman-esque licks that I like and gets a little rowdy near the end.  Not many streams for the disc either - not sure if that is because of the pseudonym or just a lack of excitement.  Top streamer is called "Mint Tea," with 2.5 million streams.

Like I said, just kind of bops along and then is gone without leaving a trace.  I like the imagery of another band aid on this bullet hole, but I don't even think that is an original thought.  For sure Taylor Swift already used it, and I'd expect others.  Huh.  Morgan Wallen has a song named "Band-aid on a Bullethole."  So, there you go, the least original country guy out there already used that thought...  The album is fine, it's just not something that snags my attention and gets me all psyched up to see those new songs played live.  Instead, I'll be hoping for a greatest hits set.

Tyler Halverson

One Liner:  Low-key Americana tunes with very good lyrics

Wikipedia Genre: "Amerijuana" music - country, Americana

Home: Nashville (via South Dakota)

Poster Position: 21
Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 5:25.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:   The kind of traditional-ish sounding country guy who has a cover image of him lighting a joint and a song called "Mac Miller."  He's new and upcoming enough to be one of the 4,387 artists chosen to put a country-esque song on the Twisters soundtrack (like fellow ACL poster-dweller Re Clay Strays).  In fact, that "Mac Miller" track is his top streamer - pretty smart naming it after a beloved, gone-too-soon artist! - 11.8 million streams.

Also, that cover art is money.  All very clever even when the song has nothing to do with the rapper, other than they happen to be listening to him as they cruise the road.  Really pleasant backing tune that bops along in a catchy way, along with the nostalgia-inducing lyrics of nothing to do and no where to be.  I like it.

In looking him up on Wikipedia, it appears that he: (1) has a twin who plays drums; and (2) was in an American hard rock band from Omaha, NE, called Through Fire, founded in 2015 that had a song reach #29 on the mainstream rock chart.  Or if that is not him it is really freaking weird that two people with the same distinct name would be musicians around the same time.  Because the Grand Old Opry says that: (1) he is originally from Canton, SD (pop. 3054); (2) he got his first guitar in middle school and fell in love with music after a local bluegrass festival; (3) attended Belmont University in Nashville; and then started touring around South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.  No mention of hard rock band Through Fire.  So, I'm guessing there just happens to be two Tyler Halversons who are good with a guitar and making music.  Freaking weird.

Huh.  Yeah.  Take a quick break from the country stuff and enjoy this wicked run through a take on "Master of Puppets."

Uh, hell yeah, Angry Mr. Halverson.  Would have been infinitely more cool if Angry Mr. Halverson and Country Mr. Alverson were the same dude...

"Beer Garden Baby" is the second biggest streamer, and actually has a video.  10.4 million streams and you get to see that he looks super young.

I like that line - "doncha know, the singer gets a check every rodeo."  Makes me want to go out to Criders' outside of Hunt and watch another rodeo with a few million cold Coors beers in hand.

This Halverson claims to play Amerijuana music, by the way.  Which hurts me just a little.  No albums yet, just singles so far.  I like the randomly loud stings near the end of "Tiffany Blue."  Not as big a fan of "Codigo GoGo," feels like he is trying too hard to fit those words into the tune.  But the new song from the Twisters soundtrack is solid.

A little more of a Red Dirt sound in there.  I really enjoyed the Twisters flick - just a pure summer slice of nervous fun.  I found myself literally biting at a knuckle at one point - it really was a nerve-wracking collection of dangerous moments. Haha, just noticed that they spelled his freaking name wrong in the graphic that plays during the song.  Come on, man.

This stuff is enjoyable, makes for a really nice set of background tunes to a soak in the pool or drafting a boring document.  Looking at his slot in the day is kind of odd though - he's up against pop diva Grammy winner Jess Glynne, touchy-feeling rap/sing Brockhampton guy Kevin Abstract, and Texan rap banger That Mexican OT.  He feels like he ought to be more in the 2pm slot to me (and being on the 21st line of the Poster says the same thing), but I guess the BMI stage shows lower-popularity stuff and he would have made a lot of sense as the bridge between Orville Peck and Caamp before Sturgill.  But Ms. Roan screwed all of that up now...

Cale Tyson

One Liner:  Fort Worth County Guy Gone Drum Machine Nashville/L.A.

Wikipedia Genre:  It doesn't say, but I'll say country, Americana, pop

Home: Nashville or L.A.

Poster Position: 25
Weekend One Only.
Sunday at 12:30.

T-Mobile Stage.

Thoughts:   Too bad really, because his older stuff is a really enjoyable Americana sort of low-key country, but his newest EP has the awful drum machine horseshit of modern Nashville smeared all over it.  I was enjoying listening to him yesterday when Spotify was playing some of the top songs, but now that I am hearing the entirety of his new EP I am definitely opposed.

His Wikipedia says that he was originally from Fort Worth but is now based in Nashville, while his Spotify bio says Fort Worth but now in L.A.  I don't know that either is better - which ever one it is has resulted in a soulless shift to commercial crap.  2017's Careless Soul mixes up some traditional country elements with some drunken barroom bluesy sadness.  Check the top track, "Somebody Save Me," with 279k streams.

That is a nice sounding little tune.  Love those organs and the background singers.  I could see shuffling across the dance floor to that one.  But then listen to the soul escaping his body on the 2024 EP If It Ain't Broke, here is "City Girl" with about 9k streams.

I do love that bedroom situation - I want windows like that all around me.  I'll also readily admit that the video is pretty funny - winking at what he is doing here - but still a hard no on country with drum machines.

Billy Allen + The Pollies [EDIT]

One Liner:  Excellent alt-country band from Muscle Shoals (but fronted by a soul singer)

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but alt country, americana, alt rock, indie

Home: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Poster Position: 19
Weekend Two Only.
Saturday at 12:40.

Honda Stage.

Thoughts: Well, that is sort of annoying.  I did a full review of the Pollies - see below - without noticing that the plus sign between Billy Allen and The Pollies, on the lineup poster, is bolded.  Every artist is separated by a plus sign!  That is not great when you are then using a plus sign to denote that two artists are joined together!  Whatever.  So, Billy met the lead singer of the Pollies years ago at a bar, they struck up a friendship and partnership, and so they're doing this thing together now.  Only 5 songs available to stream on Spotify, and one of them is the very clear winner of the streaming battle.  "People, Turn Around" with 640k streams.

Strong voice and sounds good, but if I am being honest I really liked what I heard from the Pollies on their own!  See that below.

Like a young and raw Ryan Adams fronting a young and raw Drive By Truckers.  Has some Wilco strains here and there too, a little Turnpike Troubadours.  After running through their stuff a few times, this feels like the kind of band I would keep around.  Nothing terribly flashy going on, but just consistently solid rock and roll and lyrics.

Not a lot of albums, even though they have been around a lot longer than many of the other bands on this poster.  2012's Where the Lies Begin, 2015's Not Here, 2018's Transmissions, and 2020's From the Guest Bedroom.  That last one, as you can probably guess, is a pandemic album.  Ends up being really fun, because it includes a number of cover songs that are left-field picks.  Like you're bopping along listening to a nice little Americana tune, and then Nirvana's "On a Plain" or Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face" or Prince's "Cream" pops up and piques the interest.  I like it.  Neil Young's "Unknown Legend" is on here too, and is their most popular tune on Spotify right now - they nail it.

The first disc is definitely more a country/alt-country sound.  The second album has their most popular tune by a long ways - "Jackson" - has 200k streams.

Good one, but not as good as some other tunes in here.  It must have gotten picked up on a playlist or something.  A little jammy at the end.  "Lost" is also on that album, and has 52k streams for second place.  The third album's top track is "Hold on My Heart," with 32k.

This album has an all around good sound - a little cleaner and better produced maybe.  Apparently, according to one article, someone in the band was also in Alabama Shakes - Ben Tanner, who used to be on keyboards.  Now they have a different dude.  Also on this album, the ending groove in "Summertime Suicide" made me look up from what I was doing and kind of bop along to it.  This is really enjoyable stuff.  Hard to believe a band this good is so entirely ignored...  I'd go see it live for sure.