Austin country singer Scott Ballew signed to La Honda Records (Colter Wall, Vincent Neil Emerson, etc) last year, and now he’s announced his first album for the label, Rio Bravo, due March 29. The album was produced by Michael Nau of Cotton Jones/Page France, and it features Twain’s Mat Davidson on backing vocals and multiple instruments, as well as Kevin Morby collaborator Rob Barbato on bass, Austin Vaughn (Cass McCombs, Buck Meek) on drums, and the background choir from Black Pumas.
Scott has expressed an admiration for melancholic singer/songwriters like Jason Molina and Townes Van Zandt, and he shows off his own great knack for somber songwriting on the new album’s lead single “Suicide Squeeze.” He says:
I wrote this on a napkin inside Alamo Drafthouse Movie Theater watching ‘Licorice Pizza’ by Paul Thomas Anderson. Inspired by perfect running montages, I resonated with the kid who had ambitions to take a huge bite out of life. So I guess you could say the song is about growing up. Originally written as sort of a rocker, it gradually morphed into something that might appear on The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack. We recorded this one live as a full band in my living room to ¼ inch tape. We only did two takes of the song and kept the second one in its entirety.
Listen to the new song below. Scott also says that La Honda has plans to repress his 2021 debut LP Talking to Mountains on vinyl, so stay tuned for that.
Tracklist
True Love Can’t Surf
Trouble Darling
Suicide Squeeze
Can You Hear Me Smile
Rio Bravo
Impossible Smile
Mutiny
Old Fashioned
All That Is Sacred
A Funny Masterpiece
