The Cadillac Three offer up today 'Hard Out Here For A Country Boy' featuring Chris Janson and Travis Tritt, a new song from their upcoming album Country Fuzz. Singer-guitarist Jaren Johnston and drummer Neil Mason wrote the track with Jeremy Stover while out on the road.
Listen below!
"We were playing some tour dates with Travis Tritt and The Charlie Daniels Band when 'Hard Out Here For A Country Boy' was written. He was on the bus when we were playing through some songs and with his big signature twang belted out the line. I grew up listening to Travis, and he's a big reason I sing the way I do -- that gritty twang thing. We knew he had to be on the song," shared Jaren.
Neil adds, "This song was kind of a jumping off point for the record and one of the first we cut. We've all been buddies for years and Chris heard the song playing in the background during a call with Jaren. It was cool that he quickly wanted to be a part of it and cut the vocal the next day."
The band has also released 'Long After Last Call' and 'Back Home', as well as the recent singles 'Crackin' Cold Ones With The Boys' and 'All The Makin's Of A Saturday Night' - all of which are part of the 16 tracks on the album they collectively produced.
With each advance preview, anticipation continues for Country Fuzz, out February 7th via Big Machine Records. Country Fuzz isn't just the name of the group's new album. It's also their aesthetic, the phrase that best sums up both the music and lifestyle of singer-guitarist, drummer and lap-steel alchemist Kelby Ray who've brought their sonic chemistry across the globe.
"We've been Country Fuzz forever," says Jaren. "When I think of Southern rock, I think of Lynyrd Skynyrd. When I think of country, I think Garth Brooks. This record and this band are all of that. But it's also ZZ Top and Jerry Reed. It's Medeski Martin & Wood and Prince. There's no better way to describe who we are than Country Fuzz."
"It's not easy to land on something that is your own thing, but we're proud to say we did that," Neil says of the band's sound. "It works for us in any direction that we're going. Country Fuzz is anything from a stripped-down country ballad to a sludgy, riff-heavy rock song. And it's also country-funk."
"We've matured as musicians and as a band," says Kelby, whose lap bass line is largely responsible for the trio's one-of-a-kind vibe. "Our sound is second nature to us and that only comes from playing together for as long as we have."
CMT notes how, "'Long After Last Call' and 'Back Home' put the band's cool country vibe front and center but they remain just as focused on Southern rock and fuzz." Rolling Stone gravitates toward 'Slow Rollin', which "preaches the fuzz-guitar gospel of inching down the asphalt at a cool, confident crawl, with Foghat on the radio and a Sonic Drive-In Slush in the drink holder." Watch TC3's perspective on some of the stories behind the songs here.
Following a US tour which starts this month, The Cadillac Three is also on the stellar line up for the Country 2 Country tour, performing alongside Luke Combs, Darius Rucker, Eric Church and more throughout the UK and Europe in March 2020. The tour stops off in London, Dublin, Glasgow, Amsterdam and Berlin. More information about C2C can be found here.
THE CADILLAC THREE C2C TOUR DATES
March 6th - Verti Music Hall, Berlin
March 8th - AFAS Live, Amsterdam
March 13th - O2 Arena, London
March 14th - SSE Hydro Arena, Glasgow
March 15th - 3 Arena, Dublin
COUNTRY FUZZ TRACKLIST
Bar Round Here
The Jam
Hard Out Here For A Country Boy (featuring Chris Jason and Travis Tritt)
