Blue Water Highway Releases New Album 'Paper Airplanes'

Today, Blue Water Highway releases their new album Paper Airplanes. The album has received acclaim from outlets such as Relix, American Songwriter, Wide Open Country, Parade, American Blues Scene, and Sounds Like Nashville. Relix writes of the new record that "the results build on the rich, absorbing Americana of 2015's Things We Carry and 2018's Heartbreak City.

Blue Water Highway recently released their music videos for the song "Sign Language", (watch it HERE) and for the title track "Paper Airplanes" (watch it HERE).

"Find a way to fly, feet on the ground. We set out to make an album about recapturing childhood wonder, about how to dream as an adult," writes singer/guitarist Zack Kibodeaux. "We wanted it to sound true to the places we come from-like the contrast between the urban and the rural, technological progress and grounded tradition. Like a kid building a space ship in a barn. In the process we rediscovered the wonder of playing music again, and ended up with something that means more to us than anything we've released before. These songs have been a long time coming-held back by other projects, other musical directions, even a pandemic-and we are so happy to finally share them with you."

When Blue Water Highway assembled to begin writing their album, the lyrics of "Paper Airplanes" served as inspiration for a new creative starting point. "We wanted to explore the contrasts of childhood and adulthood," writes Kibodeaux. "What is it like for you to stand in your childhood room as an adult, or look up at the stars, and how do you have dreams as a realistic, maybe jaded grown-up?"

"Paper Airplanes" opened things up for the band, setting the tone for a succession of songs that quickly followed, and the vision for their new album, indeed titled Paper Airplanes, became clear. "It wasn't just going to be the album we wanted to make," says Kibodeaux. "It would be the record we needed to make."

"It was essentially mixing organic sounds of the country with sounds of the urbanized, modern world," writes Kibodeaux. "We achieved that with acoustic instruments and natural vocal harmonies, mixed with analog synthesizers and electric guitars. Lyrically, we were going for something similar, holding fast to elemental and timeless values of love and communication, while the world outside is rapidly changing and sometimes feeling more isolating and disconnected.'

Blue Water Highway was started by Zack Kibodeaux (lead vocals/guitar) and Greg Essington (vocals/guitar) who have been best friends since high school. Zack then turned to Catherine Clarke (vocals/keyboard), to complete the three-part harmonies that the band would soon be known for, and they were joined by Kyle Smith (bass). They take their name from the roadway that links their hometown of Lake Jackson, Texas to Galveston. They have released two full length studio albums to date in 2015's Things We Carry and 2018's Heartbreak City, as well as their hit single "Evangeline".

Listen here:

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