With its latest album, “Fortune Favors The Bold,” Russell County, Virginia-based 49 Winchester is ready and roaring to break onto the national scene with its unique brand of tear-in-your-beer alt-country, sticky barroom floor rock-n-roll, and high-octane Appalachian folk.

“As we’ve aged and matured, our sound has gone from a softer place to this grittier, edgier tone that we have now,” says lead singer/guitarist Isaac Gibson. “So, we’re trending more towards being a rock band instead of a country band. But, at the same time, I don’t think anybody’s ever known quite what to call it.”

Although it’s 49 Winchester’s fourth studio album, “Fortune Favors The Bold” marks its debut for Nashville’s New West Records — one of the premier labels for Americana, indie and rock acts on the cutting edge of sound, scope and spectacle.

Formed eight years ago on Winchester Street in the small mountain town of Castlewood, Virginia (population: 2,045), the band started as a rag tag bunch of neighborhood teenagers who just wanted to get together for the sake of playing together.

Aside from Gibson, there’s also his childhood friend, bassist Chase Chafin, alongside other Castlewood cronies — guitarist Bus Shelton, and Noah Patrick on pedal steel.

“From day one, it’s always been a band and it will always be about being a band. This is everything, everything we love about music — we’re going for broke with this thing,” says Gibson. “And that gives us a unique perspective because it’s still the same guys. It’s still all of us from Castlewood traveling around, playing music and making this band a reality — this is a story of growth.”

And it’s that sense of growth — more so, a sense of self — at the core of “Fortune Favors The Bold.” It’s not only a record that showcases the current state of 49 Winchester, it’s a melodic stake in the ground of how this group is constantly evolving and taking shape, sonically and lyrically.

Reflecting on his early days as a jack-of-all-trades stone mason in Castlewood, where it was about trying to make ends meet in an effort to keep 49 Winchester rolling along, Gibson can’t help but be grateful for a well-earned notion at the core of the band’s ethos — anything worthwhile in life is built brick-by-brick. 

“Everything has to be built. And very few people are going to achieve success overnight,” says Gibson. “There’s going to be people you see succeed in front of you. Maybe you don’t think they deserve it as much as you, haven’t worked as hard as you, haven’t done it as long as you. But, none of that matters — they ain’t you. They’re not living your life. They’re not part of your experience.”

At its essence, “Fortune Favors The Bold” is about going against all odds to bring your art into fruition and into the world. It’s about leaving your hometown and heading for the unknown horizon. And it’s about proving those wrong who snickered and waited for the day you’d give up somewhere down the line, only to circle back home with your tail between your legs. 

But, it’s also about looking into the rearview mirror with a genuine appreciation for where you came from and what you’re made of, those hardscrabble, salt-of-the-earth traits in your blood and character that define what it actually takes to climb that damn mountain of dreams — come hell or high water.

Hailing from the Bay Area of California, Emily Nenni grew up listening to the girl groups of the 1960s. Some of her earliest memories were listening to 60s compilation CDs in the back of her parents car on the way to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. As a young girl, her mother would clean the house to Patsy Cline, and from here her interest in country music began. Throughout middle school and high school her musical tastes only broadened, including Bruce Springsteen (thanks to her Father), and the Kinks (also thanks to her father). Add in some ranchera flair and Frida Kahlo aesthetics and Emily Nenni’s style was starting to form.

After completing a year of school at Columbia College in Chicago, IL country music was still calling her name and Emily decided Nashville was the place to go. The month after she turned 21 she had already found herself in Nashville, on lower broadway, at Roberts Western World. She bribed the doorman with cookies so she could stand by the door, directly next to the band. Those same cookies also bribed the band to let her get on stage and sing. From the moment she opened her mouth the Traditional country crew at Roberts Western World knew they had found another one of their own.

She quickly began recording her first solo album project, all the while playing shows around the local dives of Nashville. With the help of Mike Eli, a local guitar player whom she met at Roberts, the album took shape. Featuring some of the best local players from around the area her first album combines the best of Capitol Records west coast country, the strong female voices of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the sass and abandon of the 1970s outlaw country movement. Emily Nenni is at the same time vulnerable, and strong; delicate and in your face. Her honest writing is accessible and genuine and keeps us wanting more.

In December of 2017 Emily Nenni released her first three singles, including the title track “Hell of a Woman” on all digital platforms.