To say Kashus Culpepper’s life has changed over the last five years is an understatement. A former state champion wrestler, firefighter, and EMT, the Alabama native developed a raspy, smoke-and-voodoo vocal while stationed in Spain with the U.S. Navy in 2020, forced to pass the pandemic in his bunk. Since then, he’s knocked over one milestone after another.
With a distinctive mix of country, blues, Southern rock, and soul, the 27-year-old cites Robert Johnson, Bill Withers, and Hank Williams as inspirations and is now bringing his roots-renegade instincts to mainstream fans. Despite only releasing his first official track in June of 2024, the music industry short-timer has earned big-time appreciation.
That includes the respect of heroes like Elton John and John Mayer, a Grand Ole Opry debut, tour dates around the country, and inclusion on 2025 “artist-to-watch” lists at GRAMMY.com, Apple, Billboard, Pandora, and more. Culpepper just finished a run of dates with Leon Bridges and he’ll hit the road with Whiskey Myers in June before joining tours by Sierra Ferrell, Darius Rucker, and others later on in the summer. It would all be overwhelming, if he had time to think about it.
“I’ve just been taking it day by day,” Culpepper tells Good Country with a hearty laugh, waiting to perform at a community festival in Arkansas last month. “I think that’s the best course of action. Don’t think too far in the future and just take each show, each writing session, each recording session one at a time. Just pray everything works out and keep going. … Because when things started happening, I was like, ‘Oh, snap.’”
We wanted to get to know Culpepper before anything else “happens,” and figure out what’s fueling the hype. As it turns out, this all-natural talent is just going with the flow.
I read that you didn’t even start playing guitar until you were in Spain for the Navy, right? What made you want to do that?
Kashus Culpepper: Yeah, in Spain we got shut down and I didn’t have nothing else to do, man. I mean, literally I was bored out my mind. It’s a different type of boredom, because during COVID you couldn’t do nothing. It’s not like you can just go outside or go to a bar or hang with your friends. We couldn’t do nothing. So this was a weird point in my life and my buddy had a guitar in the barracks. I was like, “Well, this is a perfect time. I literally have nothing to do.” I just went on YouTube and looked up covers I wanted to learn. Music has always been something I go back to whenever life is hard. So I resorted back to music and that ended up leading me to learn guitar, eventually learn to write songs.
You seem to have a lot of diverse tastes, but that bluesy, soulful country thing – why did that speak to you?
I think maybe that’s just my music taste. My first taste of music was gospel, and I’m from Southern Alabama, so gospel there, it’s really rootsy already. It already sounds like a folk song. And the way they sing it sounds so bluesy, like old Son House type of vibes. From there I got into blues music outside of church. I got into country music and R&B and folk music a little. I’m all over the place when I listen to music. I can go from Allman Brothers to a Conway Twitty song really quick.
But I know you like John Mayer and all that stuff, too, right?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I love so many of those rock artists, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Skynyrd. People ask me all the time my influence and I’m just like, “Bro, it’s so hard to name everybody.” John Mayer was a huge thing for me. Recently I went back to Norah Jones, I’m like, “Man, I used to love this record.” But with my music, at the end of the day, it’s just centered on my lyrics. I just want it to feel as rootsy as possible, because all the music I come from – blues, folk, R&B, soul, gospel – it’s all roots music at the end of the day.
Your voice is so good at expressing these really raw emotional states, I think. Is that how you are naturally? Or does that only come out in your music?
Most of the time? Honestly man, it’s just with the music. It’s hard to open up to the people. I think for me music has been great, just to express how I actually feel through my singing and my lyrics. I don’t usually just tell people.
So you’re from Alabama. After the Navy, did you go home and keep playing?
I got out the Navy in 2022 and by that point I already had gigs booked on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I was booked at all these casinos, all these bars. I was booked out for a year in advance. I got out and went straight to full-time doing cover band shows pretty much for another year, until I literally couldn’t take any more of it. Then that’s when I decided I really want to write songs. Literally, I decided “I’m going to move back home to save as much money as I can and move to Nashville.” I was home for maybe a week or two and posting a lot on TikTok and I remember I was in my mom’s living room. I posted a TikTok, I went out because I had an interview for a job, I got back home, and it had reached 100,000 views. From there it was just, “Oh, snap. It’s going on.”
That’s awesome. Congratulations on how that all turned out. I think one reason for it might be that your music seems so unconventional, almost untamed. Maybe because you did it on your own? Do you feel like fans are hungry for that?
I think so. We talked about John Mayer. John Mayer is kind of like that. He’s all over the place. Sometimes he’ll do a blues song and then straight up pop, and then an R&B song with Leon Bridges. I think people just love that from artists. Artists just being artists. Just do whatever the song feels like. That’s how I feel with songs.
“A Man of His Word” is super soulful, with lots of that gospel influence and a big raspy vocal. Tell me about being the man a girl deserves. Where’s that theme coming from?
I wrote that song with Natalie Hemby and at the time we was just talking about life. The song is from a perspective of a guy looking into a girl and she’s going through hardships, because she don’t have a man of his word. She’s drinking a lot, doing a whole bunch of stuff. The song has a lot of me in it. I grew up with a single mother and you don’t know how those things can affect you without having somebody in your life you can trust. You get the feeling you can’t really trust nobody, because that’s not part of your life, and that leads to mental health problems or substance abuse. You don’t even notice it at the time, until you look back and you’re like, “Dang, that’s why I feel that way.”
After that comes “Broken Wing Bird” with Sierra Ferrell and it’s on the opposite end of the spectrum. Very threadbare and folky, right?
Oh man. So I’m a huge fan of Willie Nelson. One of my favorite songs is “Funny How Time Slips Away” – I just love so much the crooner era that he was doing – and I wanted a song that felt like that.
I wrote the song about somebody that’s not really good for you and you just keep taking ‘em back regardless, because you love them and no matter what they do, you’re always going to. So she’s like my broken-winged bird – no matter what she does, she’s flying back and I’m always going to help her out and then she’ll probably be on her way again.
It’s been good getting to know you a little. Big picture, what do you hope people take away from your music?
I think overall, I hope they can see I’m just an artist trying to express the way I see things, and I hope in some way they can find music that can fit every part of their life. Whether they’re trying to have a good time out partying, or if they want to soak into the sadness of a lover they lost, I just hope my music can fit some aspect of their life. And I hope they can enjoy it.
Photo Credit: Cole Calfee
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Fueled by a strong Midwestern work ethic, Hailey Whitters played the long game to earn her well-deserved spot in country music. From the time she moved to Nashville from Iowa in 2007, Whitters immersed herself in the city’s songwriting community while chipping away at her dream of being a recording artist.
It took about a decade, but her own songs found their way to Alan Jackson, Little Big Town, and Martina McBride, and she earned a GRAMMY nomination for Song of the Year as a co-writer on Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile’s “A Beautiful Noise.” But her true breakthrough arrived in 2022 and 2023, when her platinum single “Everything She Ain’t” charmed small-town fans and country radio programmers alike.
After “Everything She Ain’t” eased off the charts, Whitters forged ahead on the road and returned to the studio to create Corn Queen, her first new album in three years. In a call with Good Country, Whitters chatted about working with Molly Tuttle on “Prodigal Daughter,” the influence of the Chicks, and how a childhood diary set the foundation for her as a songwriter.
Corn Queen kicks off with a song called “High on the Hog.” which seems like it’s based on a true story. What was on your mind as you were writing that?
Good lord. I mean, it feels pretty literal to me. I was in the middle of just burnout, probably. I was thick in heavy, heavy touring, sometimes being in the airport three times a day. I was watching my [follow-up] single at country radio fail miserably. It was such a whirlwind, but I remember just taking a minute to be like, “What on earth is going on here?” and having a moment of clarity. I’ve been in Nashville for 17 years now, and I’ve been on the road for over a decade. I got my first bus last year. It was this funny juxtaposition where everyone was thinking that I’d made it. I’d had this big single, and my whole family thought I was so famous! But if you saw that I slept on an airport floor last night and got ready in a gas station bathroom, you would be shocked by what is behind this curtain. I wanted to show that with this song. Outsiders might think this business and this job are really romantic. And I think it’s a grand illusion!
There’s a silver lining in that song, I think. Do you consider yourself an optimistic person?
I always say I’m a negligent optimist. I’m optimistic to a fault! I’ve really had to put on some reality glasses the last few years because I will always choose “glass half full.” I’m always going to look for the brighter side of things. But yeah, I got some good kicks in the rear end the last few years, and that shook me up a little bit. So wait, what’s the silver lining, though? I’m curious, the “high on the hog” line?
Yeah, I took it as, “Hey, despite everything, I’m still out here doing this thing.”
And that’s true, too. In the bigger picture, when I’m not pulling graveyard shifts in driving the van and breaking down and having my audio engineer leave at the border in Canada and getting thrown to the wind before opening for Tyler Childers… I think it’s a silver lining. It’s also a little like sarcasm. Like, I know I’m not supposed to complain, but I’m high on the hog out here! But ultimately, there’s been some really great moments and some really cool things that I’ve dreamt about my whole life. So, at the end of the day, this gig ain’t that bad.
Molly Tuttle is on this record, too, on “Prodigal Daughter.” How did you cross paths with her?
I think one of the first times we ever met each other, I want to say we were both singing at a Tim McGraw tribute show. I may have made that up, but we were both on the bill, and it was Basement East. I remember meeting her backstage and hearing her, and she’s phenomenal! She’s absolutely incredible. And we got set up to write during the pandemic. It was me, her and Lori McKenna, and we wrote maybe two or three songs. And I really, really loved it.
I listened to her and I listened to Billy Strings a ton during the pandemic. I always thought it would be cool to do something with her someday. She’s just an insane talent. Then I wrote this song, “Prodigal Daughter,” and it felt like more of a bluegrass, rootsy kind of vibe. And I thought, “I would love for Molly to do some picking and sing on this one.” And yeah, she played clawhammer! We went over to my engineer’s studio and it was freaking insane. She just blows my mind.
At what point did you become a bluegrass fan?
I think I always liked bluegrass. Bluegrass fans might think this is crazy, but probably my gateway drug was when the Chicks made the Home album, which was more of a bluegrass record. Then that turned me on to Alison Krauss & Union Station, and the early stuff from Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley. I have so much respect for that music. They’re so talented and I’m in complete awe. I feel like they come out as babies with an instrument in their hand and just know it up and down. To be so dedicated and devoted to your instrument like that, it really blows my mind.
Home was a landmark record for me, too. Living in Nashville this long, I think about that song “Heartbreak Town,” and how that really shows the way the music industry is here.
So good! [Written by] Darrell Scott, another great musician. And that record was the first time I got turned on to Patty Griffin, too, because of “Top of the World” and “Truth #2.” I grew up in a cornfield in the Midwest. There was no musical influence around me. My family is super blue-collar. Everyone’s digging dirt, or farming, and women are raising babies. The only musical influence I had was what I was hearing on the radio. I was a big country radio kid, and I remember when the Chicks put out that record. That’s the first time I thought, “I need to scratch the surface and dig a little deeper into some of these influences.”
If there’s one song from Home that you think somebody has to hear, which one would you pick?
If you’re wanting to be a songwriter or an artist in country music, I would probably say “Travelin’ Soldier.” That song is so well-written. Anyone can hear that and feel something. Bruce Robinson wrote that song. There’s a certain magic to a songwriter who can sit down and write a song by himself. If you want to go deep, “Top of the World.” Even when I was a senior in high school, I was so blown away by that song. It really makes you reflect and think about your life. I remember seeing a Patty Griffin show at the Ryman a few years back, and I just sobbed in the pew to that song! It was a spiritual experience for me.
How did you pick up guitar? How did you learn how to play?
It’s funny, I got a diary one Christmas in 1994. I would have been five years old, barely knew how to write at that point, and I kept a diary. So I always wrote, for my whole life. In elementary school, my guidance counselor asked me what I wanted to do when I grow up. I was like, “I want to sing country music.” And he asked me, “Well, who are some of your favorite artists?” And I said, “The Chicks.” And he was like, “You know they write their own music, right?” And I said, “No! How do you do that?” And he told me, “You’ve got to get a guitar, you’ve got to learn some chords, and you’ve got to write some songs.” So that was when I started doing all that.
How did you make friends when you got to Nashville?
Actually I’m just leaving a breakfast with three of the first people I ever met in Nashville. We met back in 2007, and still to this day, they’re some of my closest friends. When I moved here, I went to Belmont University, and I met them there. We were all Miranda Lambert fans, and she was playing a show, so we all were talking about going to the show. We just always loved country music together. Especially when we first moved to town, we were so completely enamored by Nashville and the songwriting scene. Back when Nashville had showcases, we would go to three showcases a night. It was like, get out of class, get in my friend Lauren’s car, and go hit shows all night long.
On this record, I especially enjoyed “Hearsay.” It’s a love song, it’s funny, it’s got attitude, and a great hook, of course. Are there any moments or memories that stand out for you as that song was taking shape?
That song is about the Black Squirrel in my hometown, which is this little townie bar that’s been around forever. I remember going to see bands there, and they literally had chicken wire up to protect the bands. It’s that bar where you walk in with somebody that you’re not supposed to be with, and the whole town is going to be talking about it, and everyone’s going to know within an hour.
The song “DanceMor” is inspired by a place in your hometown, too, right?
DanceMor is the dance hall across the street from the Black Squirrel. It’s been around since the 1930s. My dad grew up going into it, my aunts and uncles, generations grew up throwing their boots on to go out line dancing and listening to country music. I always thought it was so cool. It closed for a minute when I was in high school, when it was undergoing different ownership, but I’d always wanted to go back and play it. It’s literally an eight-minute drive from my parents’ house. Everyone packs it out. We drank them out of beer last time. And everyone actually went across the street and started buying buckets and came back across the street and kept drinking. It’s such a sweet spot. I’m a big fan of old shit and protecting it and keeping it alive. There’s energy in those kinds of places that you can’t get in a new, polished venue. It’s kind of our little love song to the old dance floor ballroom.
I loved to hear the Wilder Blue singing on there. What did those guys add to the feel of that track?
I think they made the track. It needed those stacked harmonies, and they bring so much texture to all the different vocals and whatnot. They seemed to be a great fit for that. I met them on the Luke Combs tour last year, and they were so fun, and felt like brothers on the road. I listened to the record they did with Brent Cobb and I thought it was phenomenal. Then we got to tour together and play stadiums last year, and me and them, we’re at the bottom of the bill! We always went on early, then we went out in the parking lot and set up cornhole and made pickle margaritas and drank tequila and smoked cigs and played cornhole all night. I just hit it off with those guys.
There’s a message of encouragement in that song, too. You must have met a lot of little girls who look up to you. What do you like about having young fans?
It’s really cute. I mean, I used to be that girl. I remember getting on my dad’s shoulders in a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, reaching out and touching Ronnie Dunn’s hand when he’s on stage. I blame those early country concerts, because those were the moments where it felt larger than life, and you’re like, “I want to do that one day.” That’s really special to see girls like that holding up posters, or with the cowboy boots on, or wanting to get up and sing “Everything She Ain’t” with me. I egg it on. I think it’s great! And they can blame me when they’re twenty years into a ten-year town one day!
KC Johns is an incredible singer-songwriter and artist based in Nashville, Tennessee. We had an excellent Only Vans conversation live from the mountain at Steamboat MusicFest 2025! In this episode we get into old fashioneds, cruise ship jobs, Nashville, singing in the mountains, touring overseas, and more.
KC Johns and I met over social media and we became fast friends. She is a whiskey girl like me and has her own mesquite-smoked Thunder Whiskey. This was a live-audience episode recorded and filmed at MusicFest in Steamboat, Colorado. The audio for her live acoustic performances ended up being unusable, totally on our end, and I am so sorry about that. KC is such a great live singer, but unfortunately the recording was too distorted to use. Please go see her sing live if you can, or check her out on Instagram.
During this episode, I jump into talking about her life as a cruise ship performer, and also provide no context when I bring up her super clever song, “I Wanna Rock for Christmas.” Sorry gal, I just love that tune!
Anyway, this is KC Johns. Check out her new single, “Break From the Heart,” and KC, I will come find your next Key West show at Hogs Breath and crash your stage!
And, happy birthday to Only Vans producer Kyle! You rock.
Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?
Gillian Welch. She has shown me that lyrics can be both beautiful and dark, honest and true. Her instrumentation is brilliantly simple and to see her play live is to transcend to a different plane.
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
We played “The Wild” in Seattle, and I asked if anybody had gone fishing that day. A fella had been out that morning and caught three coho salmon. When the song started he closed his eyes and I knew he was back on the ocean in the breeze and the water. I love to see other people getting to escape through my music.
What other art forms – literature, film, dance, painting, etc. – inform your music?
Photography, antiquing and home décor design, cooking, and hosting friends.
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
I love Daft Punk. Especially their song “Something About Us.” They influenced a lot of the cosmic aspect of my album and I greatly admire their lyrics and musicality.
If you didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?
There is nothing I could do instead, I am married to the music.
Celebrating the rich history of women in old-time music, past, present, and future, has been an obsession of mine for over 50 years. I’ve listened to archival recordings, sat in the living room with Ola Belle Reed, Jean Ritchie, and Alice Gerrard, toured with Patsy Montana, taught Maybelle Carter’s unique guitar style, and interviewed Lily May Ledford at the Renfro Valley Barn Dance.
I was a proud member of the team that created The Birthplace of Country Music’s exhibit, “I’ve Endured: Women In Old Time Music.” And I’m thrilled that Baltimore’s Creative Alliance is hosting both the exhibit and the Say Sister! Festival celebrating women in roots music in January 2025. This playlist includes music from the past and the “I’ve Endured” exhibit, present artists from the Say Sister! Festival lineup – and the future is coming! – Cathy Fink, musician and co-curator
“I’ve Endured” – Ola Belle Reed
Ola Belle (1916-2002) was born Ola Wave Campbell in Grassy Creek, North Carolina. She was a fine traditional banjo picker and guitarist and grew up with a rich repertoire of family music. She also became a prolific songwriter, realizing that she had her own things to say and her own way to say them within the structure of old-time music. This song has been covered hundreds of times by contemporary artists. Ola Belle received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 1998 and was awarded a prestigious National Heritage Fellowship Award in 1986.
A native of Tennessee, Amythyst Kiah performs both original and traditional songs on banjo and guitar. She dug deep into old-time music as a student at East Tennessee State University’s roots music program. In “Polly Ann’s Hammer,” the legendary John Henry takes a back seat and his wife gets the lead role. Like the “I’ve Endured” exhibit, this effort brings light to someone who has not received the attention she may have deserved.
“When John was sick/ Polly drove steel/ Like a man, Lord, like a man … This is the hammer that killed your daddy/ Throw it down and we’ll be free…”
“Things Are Coming My Way” – Marcy Marxer
Marcy adapted this song from the singing of Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers. Marcy met the Georgia Sea Island Singers during various folk festivals and always delighted in this song. She’s been celebrating the rich history of women in country music in our duo for over 40 years. Marcy’s a multi-instrumentalist on guitar, cello banjo, mandolin, ukulele, percussion and more. This song showcases her fingerpicking guitar style.
“West Virginia Coal Disaster” – Sarah Kate Morgan
Sarah Kate Morgan steps follow right after Jean Ritchie with traditional and original songs and dulcimer playing. She’s an innovative Appalachian dulcimer player with a gorgeous voice and a love for Appalachian music and heritage. Here she sings Jean’s potent song about the 1968 Saxsewell No. 8 Mine disaster. Hang in there for the awesome instrumental at the end! Sarah Kate teaches at the Hindman Settlement School in Kentucky.
“Red Rocking Chair” – The Coon Creek Girls, Lily May Ledford
Lily May Ledford (1917-1985) from Powell, Kentucky played clawhammer banjo and fiddle and was the leader of the first all-girl string band on the radio, The Coon Creek Girls. Here her solo banjo playing is featured.
“Cotton Patch Rag” – Kimber Ludiker
Kimber plays fiddle and mandolin and sings with bluegrass group Della Mae. She’s a sixth-generation fiddler from Spokane, Washington. Here’s her winning performance of “Cotton Patch Rag” from the 2006 Grand Master Fiddle Championship.
“What The Lord Done Give You” – Cathy Fink
I was the first woman to win the West Virginia State Banjo contest (1980) – and went on to win it several times, total. In 2018 I also won the Clifftop Appalachian Music Festival Banjo Contest. This original song is played on a gut string fretless banjo, making a new tune sound old.
“I Will Not Go Down” – Amythyst Kiah featuring Billy Strings
From Amythyst’s most recent album, Still + Bright, comes this awesome collaboration with Billy Strings. It’s a powerful song and arrangement. I can tell you that if Ola Belle Reed were able to hear this song, she’d give it a big thumbs up! Speaking truth to power is part and parcel of women’s work in roots music.
“Muddy Creek” – Sarah Kate Morgan
Sarah Kate Morgan has redefined what can be done on an Appalachian dulcimer. Her trills, embellishments and awesome tone here are joined by fiddle, banjo and feet. This one will make you happy!
“Now Is the Cool of the Day” – Jean Ritchie
Jean’s clear soprano voice couldn’t be more beautiful than on this original song that draws on her traditional roots, while conjuring God’s calling to humans to take care of the earth. First released in 1977 and still timeless.
“No-See-Um Stomp” – Della Mae
Kimber tears up this original fiddle tune with an all-star band featuring Molly Tuttle, Alison Brown, Avril Smith, and Della Mae.
“Chilly Winds” – Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
Cello banjo (Marcy) and five-string banjo (Cathy) make up the instrumental duo behind the vocal duet in this classic old-time song.
“The Little Devils” – Jean Ritchie
Jean’s solo voice reminds us what it must have been like to gather round the fire after dinner and hear her mother sing to the family before the age of television.
“Banjo Pickin’ Girl” – The Coon Creek Girls, Lily May Ledford
This song has become the unofficial theme song of many a banjo pickin’ girl and string band. Lily May Ledford and the Coon Creek Girls sang this on the WLS Barn Dance (Chicago), Renfro Valley Barn Dance (KY) and Lily May continued singing it solo for the rest of her career.
Say Sister! Festival takes place in Baltimore, Maryland at the Creative Alliance on January 10 & 11, 2025. Tickets – in person and “watch from home” – are available here. The “I’ve Endured: Women of Old Time Music” exhibit opens at Creative Alliance on January 3 at 6pm.
Photo Credit: Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer by Irene Young; Amythyst Kiah by Photography by Kevin & King; Sarah Kate Morgan by Jared Hamilton. Poster Credit: Gina Dilg
Each year, the country music machine and its many fans and acolytes turn over, again and again and again, the quintessential question of “What is authenticity?” We’ve asked that very question quite a few times on Good Country over the last year ourselves, and we know as long as roots music and folk music are made, listeners will continue to ponder what is or isn’t “real,” “raw,” or… “authentic.”
Wyatt Flores has been chosen as authentic. Country Music has spoken, and this quickly skyrocketing young artist has been riding a wave lately surfed by folks like Sierra Ferrell, Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, and Zach Top. Like these real country “poster children,” Flores’ music is realistic and grounded. It isn’t idealized revisionism in outlaw trappings. His songs never attempt to sugarcoat or mythologize, paving over the complications of rural life, red dirt realness, or the gritty patina of a rural places – like his homeland of Oklahoma.
Flores’ new album, Welcome to the Plains, is decidedly and delightfully trad country with nearly universal critical and listener acclaim. He currently racks up 3.5 million streams a month on Spotify alone, bolstered by a series of incredibly popular and consistently viral singles and EPs leading up to this, his full-length debut. For so many writers, diehard fans, and critics, Flores has long been “one to watch,” but that visibility stretches further and wider, to listeners across the country and around the world from so many different backgrounds and starting points.
Part of the reason why such a young artist with a relatively nascent career could have already amassed such a coalition of followers is that realistic, unguarded, “I know who I am, even though I’m still figuring out where I’m going” approach. It’s evident in his artistry, his performing prowess, and his skill for songwriting – all of which are evidenced prominently across this album.
Welcome to the Plains is one of the most remarkable records of 2024; it continues a tone long set in Flores’ career and music, even before this current inflection point and its substantial momentum. Wyatt Flores is bound for longevity, for many more successes, for many more millions of plays, as long as he remains exactly who he is: Wyatt Flores.
Your music has such a strong sense of place, so I wanted to start by talking about Oklahoma and growing up there. You’re down to earth in the way that you talk about Oklahoma from the beginning of the album, from the first notes of the title track. You’re viewing it in a very realistic way, not just in an idealized way. Can you talk about how Oklahoma inspired the album and what “home” means to you?
Wyatt Flores: When you think about Oklahoma, you have to [barely] scratch the surface to know that the history behind it is pretty screwed up, how Oklahoma came about, and we’re not one of the best states, if that makes sense? We’re 49th in education. And we’ve got a lot of people from California moving there just because it’s cheaper and everything else, but to live in Oklahoma, you gotta bear through the weather.
Then also, every year is a coin toss if things are going to grow, right? This year’s been a struggle up until this past couple of weeks, [during] which we just got like a foot of rain. But yeah, it’s been one of the hardest places to really build. And the people are so damn nice in Oklahoma, but it’s a tough place to live. Most people don’t want it. But I love it. “Welcome to the Plains,” it’s trying to describe [Oklahoma] … in the verses I really wanted to try and find more of a nature side to it, and then by the chorus just really tell the truth about it.
It feels really authentic and grounded, but you can still hear that you love Oklahoma in it, too. I think that’s a really interesting combination. Country is really good at rural America propaganda – and I love rural America, so I’m for it, to a degree – but to me, your album doesn’t feel like it has to close an eye to the history of Oklahoma to love it.
Yeah, it was a fun journey to try. I was sitting there just trying not to write songs about the road, because that was the only thing that I was doing. I was like, “This is the only life I’m living.” And not many people know what it’s like to be on a bus or on tour – at that time we were still in the van. It was more so daydreaming about home, missing the place, and then just trying to find the memories to piece everything together.
And I had a lot of weird influences, like “Little Town,” I was really trying to find the same feeling as listening to “Pink Houses” by John Mellencamp. I don’t write too many happy songs, and I was not in a good headspace in that time period. For some reason, I guess I was just daydreaming of a better life, and I kept writing about home, but in a different format of not always missing it.
Another song that really captures this topic is “Stillwater.” I love that it has this sort of dark, contemplative tinge and it feels gritty. Could talk a little bit about writing “Stillwater” and about your relationship with “home” and the construction of “home”? That’s such a country tradition as well, not just talking about home and missing it, but understanding that home is a nebulous, intangible thing, even if it literally exists.
There’s a lot of bands that say they come from Stillwater, but they really just started in Stillwater and they came from a different area, since it is a college town. But I was born and raised there in Stillwater. All my life the college has been my backyard. When I wrote that song in the summer of ’22, I had my guitar player with me and my fiddle player’s husband and we sat down to write that. It was more so just trying to give people a different perspective on what it’s like to actually grow up in a college town, because it’s a vicious cycle of the same shit – like, no one else sees it, because they’re living inside of the four years of going [to college].
And me also being a college dropout, I never got to actually go to [Oklahoma State University]. I went to OSUIT in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. And that did not last long. [Laughs] But yeah, I was like, “No one’s ever actually talked shit on a hometown and actually put the name in it.” So I was just being ballsy with it. I had to change quite a few lyrics, because I kind of went a little too far. I probably would have pissed a lot of people off.
The song was intentional. I don’t know, [I wanted to] make people think differently. Because that is my home. A lot of times, you just see people take advantage of the town, and the town keeps growing. Every single time I come back home now, there’s another chicken place and another damn car wash. I was like, “How many do we need?” Good lord. I was really pissed off in the mindset of it. I’m glad that we captured it, because for a while, I was scared to release it just because I was like, “People are gonna think that I hate Stillwater.” But really, it’s still a love song towards it.
It feels like you’re loving Stillwater, you’re loving Oklahoma, but your love for it requires you to look at it through an accurate lens and not an idealized version of it.
And it’s a relationship. My relationship with that town has just been back and forth. You’ll have that resentment, and you’ll have that frustration with it, but you still love it. It’s crazy to think about it that way, through that lens, but that’s what it is.
You touched on your co-writing process and I was excited to see how forward your own writing and your own perspective is on this album. Can you describe your co-writing and collaboration process for these songs? I noticed, too, that Ketch Secor co-wrote the title track.
When I wrote with Ketch, that was super cool. ‘Cause I had just gotten done watching Killers of the Flower Moon. I was already so inspired by that and wanting to really speak some truth. But not just by absolutely laying into people on the bad shit that’s going on – you can’t force-feed people. When we sat down [to write, Ketch] said that he wanted to write shit about Oklahoma and I was like, “That works out great!” The song just came together and it was it’s one of the coolest things, because I didn’t know how to feel about it quite yet. I was like, “This has some good shit in there…” and then when we went to record it, I was like, “Here it is! This is the way it’s supposed to go.”
But with the writing of this entire album, I was scared shitless. I didn’t think I was good enough, and I didn’t think these songs were good enough for an album. I started overthinking the entire thing. People can get mad at me all they want for doing co-writes, but I’m still writing. It’s not like I just sit in there and wait for these people to write these songs for me. This is all me.
The other thing is, my music taste [has] so much variety that I think it’s only better if I sit down with other people that have other strengths, to get to where I want to go – into these different styles of songs. I don’t want to do the same song, different chords, you know what I’m saying? I wanted it to be so unique and to keep it the way that I’ve always done it, which is to have different styles of songs. For that, I feel like you have to have different songwriters come in and give you different pieces.
I also have to ask you about bluegrass. One of the first things that we shared on our site of yours was a Tyler Childers cover that you recorded with Sierra Hull at Red Rocks. Our audience loved it so much. I think part of why your music resonates across diehard country fans to indie fans to bluegrass fans is that you’re not just a performer and a songwriter, but you’re a picker, too. What is your relationship like with bluegrass music? Is it something that’s prominent in your listening and in your influence?
So, I will first and foremost say this: I am not that good of a picker. [Laughs]
That stuff, that is something that I love. That is a different art. That is so beautiful. But my love for it– everyone in Oklahoma started listening to Tyler Childers and that’s when he came around, I want to say in my high school days. That’s when everything took a shift. I was like, “I don’t know what this is…” because we all grew up listening to red dirt [country], which is what I am. But my influence has really changed. In the summer of ‘22, Laurel Cove Music Festival was the first time that I had seen Nicholas Jamerson, Charles Wesley Godwin, Sierra Ferrell, Cole Chaney. That changed everything for me. It changed the entire way that I looked at music, and from that point on I started listening to every single one of those artists. It just led to more.
I love bluegrass and I try to have a couple songs [in that style], but I can’t call myself bluegrass. As much as I love what they’re doing and I try, I have my influences, I’m still red dirt. The way that those artists do what they do, it’s because they are them. I have my influences, but I am still just me. So whatever comes out, it’s just me loving and respecting it. But I can’t fully call myself a bluegrass musician, because I’m not. I’m jealous of it though, I’ll tell you that much. I’m jealous, I wish!
The production style and the different aesthetics that you’re utilizing on the album feel like classic country and old country plus dashes of country & western. There are moments that are really rocking and there are moments that are really subdued. It’s also really modern and crisp. How much of that is coming from you or from the ensemble and how much is coming from your producer, Beau Bedford?
A lot of that was Beau. I learned so much from him. [Before,] I really didn’t ever get the experience of being in a studio with musicians that are just wizards. Beau really took care of me.
It was a challenge, because we recorded in three different places. We were in Nashville, in North Carolina, in LA, and then we finished in Nashville. We were scared that it wasn’t gonna flow together, being in these different studios and then also just having this [group] of songs. Luckily, it all came together and as different as they do sound, they still flow. That was all just luck. We’re all we’re all sitting there going, “Huh? Hope this goes right!” I had my doubts, too, and [Beau] goes, “Wyatt, everything’s gonna be all right, because you are the main character that runs through this entire thing.”
That’s the constant throughout the entire project. I’m just lucky that it worked. When you go from different styles of songs – red dirt, and then you got this beachy [thing], old-time. It’s just crazy how they all go along together. Then it goes into this weird psychedelic rock and “Falling Sideways.” It was a wild adventure, and I’m so grateful for it. I just can’t believe the way that it turned out.
I ask this last question often, especially with people like yourself who are so effortlessly traditional country. There are a lot of folks out there who are excited about you – and artists like Zach Top and Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan – because these listeners sense that there’s this “new movement” that’s going to save country music, that’s going to renew country. That country is going to be what it used to be before “murder on Music Row.”
I wondered what your thoughts and feelings are on that paradigm?Because I sense that you don’t care so much about what is or isn’t traditional or what is or isn’t “inside” country. Does country music need to be saved? Do you see yourself as part of that saviorship? Do you care?
There’s something to be said about it, because yeah– I have my opinions about commercial country. There’s some really good songs and then I also think there’s some songs that say absolutely nothing. I guess as a songwriter, my goal is to keep writing about real shit and keep expressing myself with vulnerability. And to still write good songs.
I have a very important person in my life who’s been a mentor to me; his name’s Shane Lamb. I used to talk about writing these super-poppy melodies. And he goes, “Yeah, it’s because it’s popular music. … Who are some of your favorite artists?” We started going through Tyler Childers, early on in the days of me being in Nashville. [Shane] was like, “Listen to the fucking melody, Wyatt. It’s a pop melody. It’s for popular music. That’s why it works. But his arrangement is country.”
And I was like, “Oh… when you think about it that way, yeah, I guess you’re right.” So, I do try to have poppy melodies as much as I can, but I still try and keep my verses very needy, if that makes sense. I like putting a whole bunch of detail and really trying to focus in on the verses and let the chorus speak for itself.
That’s so perfectly put; yes, country has always been popular music. It’s one of my favorite Tyler Mahan Coe quotes, the creator of Cocaine and Rhinestones, the podcast and the book. He talks regularly about how country music has always been popular music. That’s not to say that fact absolves Music Row and Music City from all the truck and beer songs, but it certainly helps remind us that hand-wringing over “Is country music going to be okay?!” is not something that’s ever going to go away, but it’s also not something we really need to worry about.
And I think for the first time ever with social media, people are able to find new music that’s always been there. They’re just now finding out about it for the first time, because the radio stations aren’t playing it. That’s its own deal. But now they’re able to find all this new music and I feel like country is still going to be country. Like you said, when it comes to beer and truck songs, I think the thing that’s missing is them not explaining what they love about it. They’re just talking about it, not being vulnerable with it.
I think about “Drive” by damn Alan Jackson, dude. That is just talking about driving. That’s really all it is, but the sentiment is there, because it has to do with the father and the son. And then, all of a sudden, there’s the father and the daughter – that is fucking awesome country music that I still absolutely love! I wish that I could do that, like that Zach Top thing. I told him that whenever I met him, I was like, “Dude, I wish I could do it.” I really do. ‘Cause he’s fucking killing it. There’s so many different styles of music and I’d rather just do what I want to do, which is all of them, rather than just settle for one sound.
One of my favorite people on earth, Dallas Burrow, stopped by for this new episode of Only Vans to talk about owning a music venue, shamans, Charley Crockett, having a complicated past, and all the good vibes!
Editor’s Note: Only Vans with Bri Bagwell is the latest addition to the BGS Podcast Network! Read more about the podcast coming on board here. Find our episode archive here.
Fresh off a new full length album, country and Americana singer-songwriter Mason Lively joins the show to chat with host Bri Bagwell about songwriting, priorities, babies, and the housing market. Do yourself a favor and check out Mason’s new record, Burn The Ground, today!
Editor’s Note: Only Vans with Bri Bagwell is the latest addition to the BGS Podcast Network! Read more about the podcast coming on board here. Find our episode archive here.
Ryder Grimes is one Texas Country’s most exciting up-and-comers. He’s got a vintage, old soul style and one-of-a-kind voice. On today’s episode of Only Vans we dive into starting early, self-confidence, fashion sense, and the classic “van vs. bus” argument.
Editor’s Note: Only Vans with Bri Bagwell is the latest addition to the BGS Podcast Network! Read more about the podcast coming on board here. Find our episode archive here.
Sometimes it strikes me just how much power can emanate from a creative mind. Speaking with Denitia was one of those times. When the indie music artist comes across an unfamiliar musical concept, she goes “sponge mode” until she understands it. Then she seamlessly integrates it into her artistic vocabulary. This relentless curiosity and sense of play can be heard across Denitia’s catalog, from her early work as half of the New York indie R&B duo denitia and sene to her breakthrough 2022 country album, Highways. Her fluency across multiple genres gives her a refreshing approach to record-making, sound, and fashion alike (from her New York streetwear days to thrifting vintage clothes in Nashville).
Since moving to Nashville and pivoting from R&B to indie country, Denitia has been grabbing audiences’ attention with her gorgeous voice and catchy-as-hell, cool girl indie songwriting. Denitia was selected for the CMT Next Women of Country Class of 2024, and her forthcoming album, Sunset Drive (out September 6), delivers on the hype. Denitia and her longtime songwriting partner, Brad Allen Williams, have painted classic country landscapes against which tales of escape from the ordinary are told with longing and warmth. The new record is something of a full-circle moment for the Texas-born artist and a showcase for her prodigious talents as a vocalist.
Basic Folk co-host Lizzie No leads the conversation in our interview with Denitia, where she offers music industry insights, vocal warm-up techniques, and music marketing strategies.
Photo Credit: Chase Denton
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