Martin's Downtown

Playa’s Ball Themed Costume Contest

Born Joseph Foreman, Afroman is a Southern rapper best known for his hit stoner classic "Because I Got High." Citing influences like Too $hort, Big Daddy Kane, and 2 Live Crew, he began his rap career in the eighth grade, when he started making homemade tapes of his own songs and passing them out to his classmates. He got his start as a performer at church, where he played drums and eventually moved on to playing guitar. For a while, he even worked as an airport baggage handler while trying to make an impression with his songs.

In 1999, while he was still living in East Palmdale, Los Angeles,

Afroman released his first album, Sell Your Dope, and played parties, sidewalks, and contests. Not finding L.A. to his liking, he moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he teamed up with drummer Jody Stallone and keyboardist/bassist Daryl Havard. In the spring of 2000 he recorded his breakout LP, Because I Got High, with producer Tim Ramenofsky. He distributed it at shows with the help of T-Bones Records in Hattiesburg. As word spread about his live shows, demand for his music increased. At the time, online file-sharing service Napster had just kicked off the MP3 revolution, which turned out to be a boon for Afroman. A fan managed to acquire a copy of his album in digital form and posted the track "Because I Got High" to Napster. Howard Stern also boosted the popularity of the track by playing it on his radio show. "Because I Got High" went on to become a huge worldwide hit by the end of 2001. It was nominated for a Best Rap Grammy in 2002.

Afroman eventually attracted the attention of Universal Records, which signed him to a six-album deal. His first Universal album, The Good Times, was a compilation of his first two LPs and a few new tracks. "Because I Got High" was also included on the soundtrack to Kevin Smith's film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. After parting ways with Universal, Afroman became an independent artist and self-released a string of follow-ups. When he returned, he did so in a big way, releasing a whopping four albums in 2004. He started with the double-disc Afroholic...The Even Better Times, released on April 20th. Free of Universal, he wrote, produced, and recorded Afroholic on his own, marketed it largely online, and toured with a live band. He followed with 4RO:20, the holiday album Jobe Bells, and his fifth studio album, The Hungry Hustlerz: Starvation Is Motivation, which featured rappers like Po Boy, Mr. Mixx, Strainj, and Blaq. Two more albums arrived in 2006: Drunk'n'High and his second holiday album, A Colt .45 Christmas.

In 2008, Afroman released Waiting to Inhale, the Greatest Hitz Live collection, and Frobama: Head of State. After a prolific four-year stretch, Afroman remained relatively quiet until 2013. That year, he released the aptly titled Marijuana Music, which featured his nephew on multiple tracks. The vaguely G-funk album The Frorider was released the following year, before he unveiled a pair of EPs in 2015: the self-aware One Hit Wonder and his socially conscious statement The N-Word.

Run-down honky-tonks. Lost love. Broken dreams. Empty bottles. This is the stuff of inspiration for Bowling Green, KY band the Josephines, a rowdy quintet of down-home rockers whose raw, rough-around-the-edges music has the rarely felt power to make you dance while you cry.

In January, the band will release their highly anticipated debut studio album, Cocaine or Cowboys, which follows their 2017 EP, Sober Up. The Josephines recorded Cocaine or Cowboys over the course of two sessions, one in 2019 at Blackbird Studios and the second in 2020 at Monocle Studios, coproducing the album alongside Jon Lawhon and Chris Robertson. Guest musicians on the album include co-producer Robertson (lead guitar vocals), Cody Beck (fiddle), Robbie Crowell (keys) and Nate Davis (keys).

The Josephines are Brad Tabor (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin), Zach Lindsey (lead guitar, vocals), Alex Lindsey (lead guitar, pedal steel, lap steel, vocals) and David Page (drums, percussion). The band formed in 2017, taking their name from the street they all once lived on together: Josephine Street.

Struck by Tabor’s songwriting, Lindsey knew they had a band on their hands. The pair joined forces with Alex Lindsey, with drummer David Page coming on board shortly after the band’s formation. They started playing live shows in and around Bowling Green and, as Tabor puts it, “We’ve been disappointing the public ever since.”

When it came time to make a debut album, the band worked together to determine which 10 songs best represented The Josephines. Being prolific songwriters, they had no shortage of material to work with. “Even when we first went into the studio, we had a lot of songs to work with,” Lindsey says. “And every time we get together we write new stuff.”

Having already recorded a batch of songs at Blackbird Studios in 2019, the band revisited Cocaine or Cowboys in 2020 and wrote and recorded a handful of new songs to round out the record. While on the road with Black Stone Cherry, the band’s Jon Lawhon offered to provide the studio, co-produce album and the final version of Cocaine or Cowboys became a reality.

Across Cocaine nor Cowboys’ 10 tracks, the band showcases their serious musical versatility, bringing together influences from bluegrass, heavy metal, outlaw country and classic rock and roll for a sound that truly is unlike any other act out there. It’s music that’s made to be experienced live, too, as many of the album’s songs have already been road-tested at the Josephines’ characteristically energetic live shows, which attract a devoted following of fans looking to have a good time.

Cocaine or Cowboys opens with the foot-stomping anthem “Fireball,” which tells of a “fireball” of a girl who’s “so damn mean” but nevertheless manages to steal the narrator’s heart. Lead singer Bradley Tabor tells the story with a lonesome wail, while the band anchors his vocal in a crunchy wall of twang. The track is the perfect encapsulation of what the Josephines do best: setting real, relatable stories to music that gets your heart beating and feet moving.

Second track “Set Me on Fire” explores the darker side of drug use and the realities of addiction, telling the story of a down-and-out guy who finds hope and healing in the woman he loves. The song is pure rock and roll, but melodic guitar from Zach and Alex Lindsey and a soaring chorus vocal ground double down on the emotional story at the lyric’s core. “‘Set Me on Fire’ came from a conversation in the kitchen with Zach. We were talking about how easy it is to overdose and how strange it is, and how you can die so quickly,” Tabor says. “It’s almost like a snapshot. So this girl is there to help him out and he’s reminiscing about the past. He’s thinking about picking her up, going out, having all these good memories but, from the beginning, he’s in bad shape. She’s his fire to live and he doesn’t have much of that left.”

“Broadway” laments the struggles of aspiring musicians who head to Nashville to try to make it big, with the album taking its title from the song’s anthemic chorus. “She moved down to Nashville to be a big star / It’s been 10 years, she’s still tending bar,” Tabor sings in the first verse, before warning, “Don’t fall in love with cocaine or cowboys / They’ll take all your money and leave you alone.” “We’re telling the story of two hopeful young people,” Tabor says. “One of those people is the bartender you see everywhere, who’s getting into music and moved to Nashville to try. That’s a hopeful feeling and it works for some people. But then you get down, and it’s easy to get down in a town like that. The second verse is describing a man who has to get out of town and irrationally decides he can make it in Nashville.”

“Sarah’s Lincoln” is a mournful ballad about losing a loved one, with Tabor channeling his own heartbreak after a difficult break-up into a story of a young man unexpectedly losing his wife. On “Satansfield,” the band turns up the intensity for a barn-burning, bluegrass-inspired rocker about seeking vengeance against a two-timing ex-lover. “We’re not here to sing about cookies and rainbows and shit,” Tabor says. “That’s not what we’re about.” Whether fans come to The Josephines for the honest stories they tell or for their loud, rowdy guitars, the band is just happy to connect with others through the music they love to make. “That’s the cool thing about us,” Tabor says. “Some people listen to our music for the lyrics and others just like a party, some even do both. It doesn’t matter why you listen to it as long as it does something for you.” Jose

Zach Person is an American recording artist based in Austin, Texas known for his contemporary, pop-rock approach to blues and American roots music; he is considered to be "The Future of American Indie Music.”

"What else can I say, this young man is hot!" -Buddy Guy

“Well, this guy is a star, isn’t he?” And he is; he’s a rock star through and through. With fuzzed-out guitars and a deliciously distorted, snarling vocal, Zach is set to bring his take on the blues to a whole new generation and I am here for it. I made him my Featured Artist Of The Week straight out of the gate on my show on Kerrang! Radio.” - Alex Baker of Kerrang!

"Reminiscent of everyone from Elmore James and Duane Allman to The Black Keys and Jack White, Person channels a raw, pure-bred American swagger." -American Songwriter

"One of the latest hot new faces of blues." -Classic Rock Magazine

Zach Person is an American recording artist and guitarist based in Austin, Texas, who is considered to be “The future of American indie music -the illegitimate love child of The Black Keys and Lenny Kravitz.” Zach is a House of Blues Music Forward Foundation Alumnus known for his contemporary, pop-rock approach to blues and American roots music.

Zach Person began touring throughout the United States and Canada in 2018, making special appearances at the Toronto International Film Festival and Amazon’s AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas. In 2019, Person headlined numerous events for Fairmont Hotels, Firefly Aerospace, GitHub, SXSW, and AT&T. After an appearance at Intersect Music Festival with Foo Fighters, Anderson Paak, Beck, and HER, Person returned home to Austin, Texas to wrap production of his debut EP.

Upon completion in 2020, Person’s manager, Christopher Durst, and music producer, Will Loconto, expressed interest in co-founding a record label to help protect Person’s intellectual property. Together, they formed BlackDenim Records, positioning Person as the label’s flagship artist, and, unapologetically, making him the first, unreleased recording artist to have ever received an equity position in a record label for signing.

In late 2020, Person began recording his debut, self-titled full length LP with his longtime musical collaborator and drummer, Jake Wybe, who was also featured on Person’s first release. Zach Person’s debut LP includes 11 original tracks, 5 of which were included on his debut EP -“Can’t Stop Running”, “Send Me Away”, “Let Me Know”, “Back To Me”, and “All Shook Up”, a wildly-electric cover of Elvis Presley’s classic hit song. During the recording of Person’s debut LP, the label partners then co-founded BlackDenim Publishing, creating a secondary protective shelter for Person’s publishing. The collective formation of BlackDenim Records and BlackDenim Publishing successfully positioned the partners to sign and develop young, indie rock, pop, and blues-inspired artists.

In January 2021, Person finished recording his highly-anticipated debut LP and immediately began production on a series of music videos to support his LP release, which dropped April 2, 2021. Person’s first European/UK tour is scheduled for summer 2021, with plans to visit The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, and England.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Zach Person was born in Cumberland County, New Jersey, but lived most of his early childhood in Southern Pines, North Carolina, where he first began taking guitar lessons with Baxter Clement at Casino Guitars. Interestingly, Person’s longtime musical collaborator and drummer, Jake Wyble, was also born in Cumberland County, New Jersey, but the two future musicians never actually knew each other, until a chance meeting in Austin, Texas in 2017, where each of the performers had moved to pursue music.

At age 13, Person moved to Houston, Texas, continued his musical studies, and soon began performing at popular, local music venues. In 2016, Person was launched into the public eye, after competing on the 15th season of American Idol; he quickly became a favorite with celebrity judges Jennifer Lopez, who was quoted as saying, "He's from another time," and Keith Urban, who said, "You've got your own style.”

This experience gave Person his first taste of the industry, and significantly contributed to his overall growth as a vocalist. Following American Idol, Person was openly embraced by the Texas music scene, becoming a House of Blues Music Forward Foundation Alumnus, and representing the Houston Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge, a competition featuring some of the foremost blues artists from around the world. The exposure he received from these opportunities would later provide Person the chance to share stages with legendary acts such as Robert Cray and Buddy Guy, who once said, “What can I say, this young man is hot!”

Vandoliers are the next wave of Texas music. The six-piece Dallas-Fort Worth group channels all that makes this vast state unique: tradition, modernity, audacity, grit, and—of course—size. Forever puts it all together for an enthralling ride down a fresh Lone Star highway.

Produced and recorded by Adam Hill (Low Cut Connie, The Bo-Keys, Deer Tick, Don Bryant, Zeshan B) at American Recording Studios in Memphis, TN, the band’s third album (and first with Bloodshot) Forever is a mix of youthful and defiant punk, rugged Red Dirt country, and vibrant Tejano. The full-length’s 10 songs blend emblematic rock ‘n’ roll with bold horns, violin, and a slather of twang reflecting where the band is from, where they’ve been and, eventually, where they’ll be headed. It’s regional and universal all the same.

“I wrote a series of songs about my life and gave it to the best musicians I know to flesh out,” says lead singer and guitarist Joshua Fleming. “I spent over a year writing by myself, with friends and mentors, and we spent just as long filling out arrangements and writing scores. We wrote horn and fiddle parts on a trio tour through the mountains of New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana.”

One of those mentors is fellow Dallas-Fort Worth musician Rhett Miller of Old 97’s. The influence and tutelage of Miller and his bandmates helped sharpen Vandoliers’ Texas-bred, roots-based punk rock.

“Before the band started diving into the new material, I sent Rhett a bunch of acoustic phone demos,” says Fleming. “Being the amazing person he is, he sent me back a 3,000-word email of advice that read like a master class in the art of songwriting. Beyond their influence musically, they’ve really taken us under their wing, letting us play shows with them and giving us all kinds of advice along the way.”

While tracking alongside the muddy path that country-punk bands like Old 97’s, Jason and the Scorchers, and the True Believers blazed in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Vandoliers define their own style; no one else is upending the genre quite like them. There are familiar ingredients—Fleming’s raspy vocals, rousing sing-along choruses, and an infectious energy (like on the rippin’ “Sixteen Years”)—that lay down the foundation on Forever. But it’s the ancillary instrumentation that separates them from others. When they seamlessly inject punk rock with ‘60 and ‘70s country grime (“Tumbleweed”), old-timey fiddlin’ (“Miles and Miles”), Tex-Mex horn and violin (“Fallen Again”), and heartfelt balladry (“Cigarettes in the Rain”), a rich new sound emerges. References to the Texas Tornados, Social Distortion, Deer Tick, and Calexico can be made, but none fully capture the soul of the self-proclaimed “Converse cowboys.”

For a band that spends more than half the year on the road, “forever” is their credo of hope and determination—“VFFV” (Vandoliers Forever, Forever Vandoliers) is tattooed on the six members’ arms as an emblem of their solidarity and commitment to the collective, through good times and, more significantly, the tough ones. The album’s lyrics center on themes of dedication (“Sixteen Years”), being known as middle finger-throwing rabble rousers (“Troublemaker”), seizing adventure while traveling (“Nowhere Fast”), and addressing anxiety and depression (“Fallen Again”). When they return home from tour, broke and empty, they humbly look to their families for support (“Bottom Dollar Boy”), and unconditional love—despite their unconventional career paths—(“Tumbleweed”). Thus recharged, they can hit the road again, to spread the Vandoliers’ message with renewed fervor.

Formed in 2015, Vandoliers are Fleming, bassist Mark Moncrieff, drummer Guyton Sanders, fiddler Travis Curry, electric guitarist Dustin Fleming, and multi-instrumentalist Cory Graves. Their first two albums Ameri-Kinda (2016) and The Native (2017) were released on State Fair Records.

GABE LEE www.gabeleetn.com
- He was just on Rolling Stone’s End of Year list for top Country and Americana. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country-lists/best-country-albums-2020-1095488/gabe-lee-honky-tonk-hell-1095520/

Despite the sardonic album title, Gabe Lee’s Honky Tonk Hell is full of rough-around-the-edges country songs that you’d love to hear come on any bar’s jukebox. But it’s got a helluva lot of soul too. “Emmylou” starts off as a heartbreak tune and ends up at an accurate portrayal of depression. “Babylon” sees Lee channeling Dylan by way of the War on Drugs, capturing the bittersweet triumph of getting sober and growing up. And while Lee’s got the balls to directly call out “phony-ass country songs” made in his hometown of Nashville, it’s not completely necessary — the music does all the talking for him. —C.S. Rolling Stone Magazine

Nashville-based songwriter Gabe Lee is becoming increasingly known for his ability to detail the intricacies of everyday life, the small distinctions that leave some on the fringe and others in the mainstream, and the particulars that stick around long after a lover leaves.

His second album in as many years, Honky Tonk Hell, finds Gabe diving deeper into themes that aren’t far from his own life -- exactly what it meant to grow up in Nashville and what it means to still be a songwriter there, how it feels to be settling into adulthood and the monotony and occasional heartbreak it can contain, as well as the pieces of a younger time that didn’t quite work out as expected. But, the way he tells these stories — these common pieces of experiences — is through narratives of men on the run, lovers who leave and vivid imagery, inspired by everything from Biblical stories to forgotten small towns and the people who inhabit them. Adorned with wailing guitars, pedal steel, a B3 organ, an occasional harmonica, dobro and lap steel, Honky Tonk Hell almost seems tailor-made for any dancehall jukebox — but with sentiments that will stick with you for much longer than its initial play.

“Heartbreak doesn’t necessarily have to apply to romantic love but also the relationship between an individual and a community, family, and society,” Gabe says. “In a lot of ways this album is about the relationship of the songwriter to the scene, the thrill and the burden — the heaven, the hell — and all in between.”

Like his previous release, farmland, the 11-song collection offers hints of his distinct perspective, influenced by a musical childhood -- in which he was surrounded by music, but a particular amalgam of church and gospel, classical music, and NPR radio. One of just a few songwriters of Asian descent in Nashville’s Americana scene, Gabe’s parents immigrated from Taiwan in the early ‘80s to pursue master’s degrees at the University of Arizona. They followed a job to Nashville, where he was raised. His mother, a professional and classically-trained pianist, was an integral force in Gabe’s musical education.

“Emmylou” marks the first time Gabe has recorded a track he’s written on piano. “It’s another heartbreak song,” he says. “It’s about the stage where it seems impossible to get someone out of your head, centering on a man who’s wishing someone back in every waking moment.”
Gabe’s material mixes a deep understanding of his classical training with what he learned at his friends’ homes, where he learned about the greats of the classic rock canon including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac and Bob Dylan. There are hints of his adolescent favorites including Nirvana and Bright Eyes weaved in, as well. It’s a varied set.
The lead single from the new album, its namesake, “Honky Tonk Hell,” is a rollicking co-write between Gabe and southern rock wunderkind Marcus King, that began as the two discussed Nashville, specifically the elements of Lower Broadway — bars named after country stars row after row, music blaring out every window, the debauchery that can take place. It's an ode to the ramblin' man aesthetic, centering around a troublemaker and his perception of modern country music.

“Susannah” follows suit with the southern rock influence of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones or Lynyrd Skynyrd. The narrator exists in a love/hate relationship with Susannah — either a horse, or maybe a truck, Gabe says — because although she is broken down it’s still the only means of escape from a seemingly endless proverbial game of chase with the world, law, god, and whatever it is you may run from.

“Heartbreaker’s Smile” details the way we sometimes glorify the people that hurt us the most. “Shine on, Shine on,” the refrain says, “you can have whatever you like whenever you want.”
“It’s not easy after a falling out to be happy for the other person,” Gabe says. “I don’t think most people are wired that way, but this song touches on the possibility of continuing to love someone you can’t tie down.”

“Babylon” is simply about getting rid of old habits, dealing with motifs of addiction, bad love, and the trials and tribulations of a crooked life. “Piece of Your Heart” is a painfully honest goodbye song, with a narrator who thinks life would be better off if he could just let go of all the memories and mementos of his now-heartbreak.

No stranger to using imagery to tell his stories, “Great Big River” utilizes powerful horns and piano-driven melodies to offer a bit of hope, a cleansing of sorts. “30 Seconds At A Time” presents three separate, indirectly correlated vignettes about the fleeting nature of youth, beauty, and power.

“It also holds some of my favorite imagery on the record, from kids smoking in a train yard, a displaced woman selling magazines on the street, and Jesus catching a lunch break at the diner,” Gabe says. “I wanted this to be a song where a listener can find new and tiny unexpected cracks to mull over every time it’s played.”

“Imogene,” written in the wee hours of the morning, was inspired by a small town that never inherited more than 100 people, but had burned down more than a handful of times.
“As a kid, my parents loved to take detours to wayward rural towns of the Midwest,” Gabe says. “At the time my little brother and I would hop out of the car, take one look, and want to keep going. But thinking back a part of me wishes I’d spent a little more time just living in those moments, imagining stories of what possible dramas or plots could have happened in the farthest corners of America.”

One of the album’s deep tracks, “All Dogs Go To Heaven,” will be particularly relatable to any dog owners. “Being a dog parent, I live the life of chasing down these little hell raisers every day. But at the end of even the longest day, they are my best friends. I think a fun message that came out of it is that we should try to adopt some of the optimism, energy, and good-naturedness of our four-legged companions, even if we sometimes make a mess.”

“Blue Ridge Goodbye” the album’s closer, ventures into a different kind of goodbye than much of the rest of the album. “Without bringing in religion or politics, I wanted to form a message about moving on that was accessible, comforting, and most of all filled with hope.”

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“It’s hard to know how people are gonna react,” Chris Knight says of Almost Daylight, his ninth album and first new recording in over seven years. “I’ve written songs about a lot of different things going all the way back to my first record, and some folks still think ‘somebody kills somebody’ is all I write about. Maybe that’s why I was bound and determined to get these particular songs on this album. If people like them, then we’ll be fine. But I wasn’t gonna do it any other way.”

For the past 20 years, Chris Knight has only made music his own way. He’s released eight acclaimed albums, played thousands of electrifying live shows and built generations of fervent fans from Texas honky-tonks to Manhattan rock clubs. He’s been hailed as “the last of a dying breed...a taciturn loner with an acoustic guitar and a college degree” (The New York Times) and “a storyteller in the best traditions of Mellencamp and Springsteen” (USA Today). Bottom line, he’s hard-earned his reputation as one of America’s most uncompromising and respected singer/songwriters. And now with Almost Daylight, Knight delivers the most powerful – and unexpected – music of his career.

Almost Daylight is very much a Chris Knight album, familiarly featuring vivid pictures of rural characters, desperate men and hardscrabble survivors. At the same time it’s unlike anything Knight has done before, with formidable testaments to compassion, redemption and even straight-up love. It’s an album both tough and tender, as bare-knuckled as it is open-hearted. “I do think there’s a cohesiveness to this album,” Knight explains in his thick Kentucky rasp.“The title is key, I suppose. Through all these songs, you could find a theme about seeking shelter.”

Produced, mixed and mastered by Grammy-winner Ray Kennedy – best-known for his 30+ year creative partnership with Steve Earle as well as producing Chris’ Enough Rope (2006),Trailer II (2009) and Little Victories (2012) albums – Almost Daylight also sounds like no other Knight record, with scorching guitars by Georgia Satellites founder and two-time Knight album producer Dan Baird, rich background vocals by Chris Clark, Siobhan Kennedy and Lee Ann Womack, and deeper instrumentation than ever before. “Chris had been playing some of these songs on the road and started developing ideas before we got to the studio,” Kennedy says. “He and I talked about keeping the Appalachian factor with banjo, fiddle, harmonica and mandolin where it felt right. It was significant that Dan was involved, as he’s the man who can play guitar with the right feeling for Chris. The background vocals really brought the fire, and this lead to ideas for piano, Hammond B-3, accordion and Wurlitzer electric piano. Everything evolved from the performance of each song and I let the songs dictate what they needed in order to evolve into an album.”

“I was determined not to do any acoustic songs on this album,” Chris explains. “I wanted it all to sound edgy and raw, but to feel big at the same time. We kept trying different approaches until I felt we landed on what worked. The thing is, some of my songs might take a year of writing before I even think they’re ready for recording and I fretted about every one of these. I’ve never put a cover song on any of my records before, but there are two covers on this one. And I think it all fits together pretty good.”

The album opens with “I’m William Callahan”, a defiant roar fueled by equal parts pride, memories and searing guitar. “Crooked Mile” is classic Knight, a piercing take on outsiders bound by love, while the poignant “Send It On Down” is a plaintive plea for salvation. There are tales of small-town despair (“I Won’t Look Back”), ominous rural menace (“Trouble Up Ahead”) and melancholic break-ups (“Everybody’s Lonely Now”). Chris’ cover of Johnny Cash’s “Flesh And Blood” – which originally appeared on the Dualtone 2002 tribute albumDressed In Black – is a poignant interpretation of Cash’s ode to devotion. The plainspoken positivity of “Go On” is one of Knight’s most life-affirming songs, while “The Damn Truth” is a ferociously clear-eyed look at our current cultural divide. The title track might be the most unexpected Knight song of all, an unapologetic paean to the power of love. “That’s probably my favorite song on the album,” Chris says, “because it’s closest to the truth.” He then quickly adds with a laugh, “I’m killin’ people with love now.” The album closes with yet another surprise; a joyfully raucous duet between Knight and longtime fan John Prine on Prine’s 1973 classic “Mexican Home”. “I love that song, but it took me 15 years to find a way to do it,” Knight says. “I kept playing around, changing the vocal key and finally landed on the spot. I’ve been singing it my kitchen table for the last few years, and when we were down to the last song, I knew this should be it.”

With the release of Almost Daylight, this native son of Slaughters, Kentucky (population 238) is eager to get back on the road and perform these songs for the faithful. Meanwhile, the singer/songwriter who was originally inspired by the likes of Prine and Earle now finds himself influencing a new generation of artists who revere Knight’s idiosyncratic talent and attitude. “There’s all kinds of different ways to make music, but this is the way I chose to do it,” Chris says. “If I don’t have something worth saying I’m not opening my mouth, which is probably why I took seven years to make this.

Pistol Hill is an independent country music artist, born and raised in Shelby, North Carolina. He picked up his first instrument at the age of six, and by age twelve was writing his own songs. Less than two years after graduating from high school, Pistol quit his day job to put his entire focus into his dream of playing music for a living. In 2018, Pistol teamed up with Grammy award-winning producer Billy Hume to release a two-part EP, followed later by three singles. He is working on another 5 song EP, to be released in the Fall of 2021.

Pistol is currently touring in 25 states across the US as part of the Hillbillies and Guitars Roadshow. He has opened for major artists including Travis Tritt, Edwin McCain, Richard Marx, Ray Scott, Doug Stone, Ward Davis, Reckless Kelly, Mo Pitney, and more. His music has received more than 50K streams on Spotify and 23K on Apple Music. His original music is available on all streaming platforms.

Born in Marietta, Mississippi, Chance Stanley has taken to sharing the small town vibe with the great big world. Before joining the Hillbillies and Guitars tour, Chance attended music school, then toured the country playing in every small bar that would have him.

When listening to Chance, it only takes a few songs until he reveals his identity as an artist. Storytelling is the cornerstone. There are light, easy to digest stories that are riddled with clever insights into the human condition. Then, there are dark tales, detailing the realities of living in a small southern town.

Chance released his single "Folks in Alabaster," with Grammy award-winning producer Billy Hume, in August of 2020 and is expected to release an EP this year. He has opened for major acts including The Bellamy Brothers and The Kentucky Headhunters. He is currently on tour as part of the Hillbillies and Guitars Roadshow, covering close to 25 states and playing more than 200 shows a year.

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