Taylor Hunnicutt makes old-school southern music for the modern world. She's a proud daughter of Alabama, writing songs that nod to the state's tradition of country storytelling, rock 'n' roll rebellion, and guitar-driven grit. Sharpened by a touring schedule that's kept her on the road for roughly 200 days a year, she makes her full-length debut with Alabama Sound — an album that unfolds like a love letter to the American South, written by a road warrior who's spent most of the decade far away from home.  "It's a little country, a little singer/songwriter, and a little Americana," she says of the album, which she recorded with her touring band during short breaks from the road. "There's a whole lot of soul and southern rock, too. To me, that sound encompasses my home. It's not one genre — it's just Alabama." Years before she shared shows with fellow genre-benders like Muscadine Bloodline and Red Clay Strays, Hunnicutt grew up in Marengo County. Her mother filled the family home with '90s country songs, and Hunnicutt discovered her own musical gifts at a young age. She sang in the school choir and strummed chords on an acoustic guitar gifted to her at 17 years old. After graduation, she moved north to Birmingham, where she briefly attended college on an opera scholarship.  "I didn't cut it in college," she admits. "There were too many rules." Instead, Hunnicutt headed to Birmingham and landed a gig waiting tables at a blues juke joint. It was there that Hunnicutt paid her dues, often sitting in with the bands who'd blow through town, developing the powerful, raspy-throated vocal chops that would transform her into one of the state's proudest exports. She expanded her musical tastes, too, falling deeper in love not only with songwriters like John Prine, but also with classic rock frontmen like Bad Company's Paul Rogers, The Faces' Rod Stewart, and Humble Pie's Steve Marriott.  Alabama Sound swirls those influences together. Recorded at Clearwave Studios in North Alabama, the album captures not only a songwriter on the rise, but also a band of hard-working, highway-driving musicians who've built their audience the traditional way: by piling into a van and hitting the road, winning people over one encore at a time. "There was a point where we decided to stop doing three-hour shows filled with cover songs, and start booking ourselves for 90-minute sets of our own music," Hunnicutt says of the band's early years. "We played everywhere we could, traveling in a terrible van, just figuring it the hell out. We'd go to new markets and play to two people, and not make a dime, then we'd go on the road with a band like Muscadine Bloodline and open up for thousands of people every single night. We were just grinding. That's what we're still doing." Those years in the trenches helped transform Hunnicutt's show into a high-energy, hell-raising combination of southern stomp, country-rock twang, and amplified attitude. "Saw Blade Hill," a moonshining song stacked high with slide guitar riffs and menacing grooves, made its debut during those gigs. So did tunes like the anthemic "Trail of a Broken Heart" and the barreling, boogie-woogie rocker "Upside Down & Shaken”. On their days off, Hunnicutt and company would drive to Decatur to work with producer Jeremy Stephens, who spot lit the band's well-oiled chemistry by capturing Alabama Sound in a series of live takes. "We recorded almost everything live, because we wanted to capture the energy that we have onstage," says Hunnicutt, who duets with Adam Hood on "Nobody's Business" — a bluesy brush-off to anyone looking to stick their nose into her private business — and rips into the title track, "Alabama Sound," with fire and ferocity. "Nothing we'd ever recorded before could really portray that. I'm happy with the push-and-pull of some of the songs, because it sounds so real and raw. It sounds like us." And, to paraphrase the frontwoman herself, it sounds like Alabama.

Kentucky Mule is an alternative country band based in Santa Cruz, California. The vocalist and songwriter, Coleton Joe Tidwell, effortlessly weaves small-town storytelling and metropolitan modernity. Altogether the band tips it’s cap to the full spectrum of country music while seamlessly blending in their outside influences.