GRAMMY®-nominated trio Midland announced Barely Blue, an eight-song exploration of loneliness, masculinity and resilience in the face of heartache. Evoking near-empty bars and heat waves shimmering across the blacktop, the new album brings to life the generosity of spirit required to love, lose, and move on. Recorded with 9x GRAMMY winner Dave Cobb at Georgia Mae Studios in Savannah, GA and mixed at Apex Sound in Burbank, CA, lead singer/guitarist Mark Wystrach, bassist/vocalist Cameron Duddy and guitarist/vocalist Jess Carson lean into a space where solitude is acknowledged, life goes on and steel guitars are often what binds it all together.
Today, the trio released the album’s opening track “Lucky Sometimes,” along with an official video directed by Harper Smith, and announced “The Get Lucky Tour” that kicks off on September 19 in Cincinnati, OH with a performance at The Andrew J Brady Music Center.
“We knew we wanted to go somewhere else,” Cameron Duddy adds about the creation of Barely Blue. “We are all big believers in a certain time and place, a sense of classic country that comes from roadhouses and bad coffee, miles and miles and miles on the road – and the idea that, even though we’re all happy, love and life falls apart, but that doesn’t mean you have to, too. When we were writing these songs, it was a trip into all the things in country music we love. You don’t hear much of this kind of unfiltered, hard stuff that comes with the great guitar sounds, the deep harmonies and shuffles you can tuck into. But that’s the essence of what Midland is – and Dave Cobb brought a new altitude to our sound.”
Wystrach adds: “Dave Cobb had been a producer we wanted to work with since we first heard Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Dave’s eclectic musical background and the way he approaches recording as an experience and not a task made him the perfect match for us. On Barely Blue, we feel like Dave helped us find the sound we’ve been searching for for a long time.”
Barely Blue highlights the trio’s signature celestial harmonies that harken back to Laurel Canyon-lushness of The Mamas & the Papas, the more muscular parts of Buffalo Springfield and the cosmic American sounds of The Flying Burrito Brothers’ The Gilded Palace of Sin or the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo. For those feeling good, it’s the sound of these tracks and how the songs move. For those feeling the ache, it’s the truth and the forbearance that’ll get them to the next horizon. For everyone in between, it’s an honest accounting of how we all face disappointment and make life work in spite of itself.
“Lucky Sometimes” follows the release of “Old Fashioned Feeling,” which was named one of the best songs of the week by Rolling Stone and Billboard who said, “The track is brimming with old-school, soulful country sounds, and spearheaded by the trio’s harmonies, which are as smooth and warm as any top-shelf bourbon.”
“Our sound and writing has always been evolving,” Duddy reflects. “We were three guys who met at a wedding, shot the shit about music and realized how much we had in common. We started singing together and were amazed at the sound of our combined voices. What started with ‘Drinkin’ Problem’ was the beginning of a journey that’s always been interesting; it’s twisted and turned, but honestly, Mark, Jess and I have loved everywhere it’s taken us.”
About MIDLAND
Double Grammy® nominees Midland have sought to reintroduce the Western plains, Laurel Canyon-cum-Bakersfield and Lone Star juke joints to Country music since coming together at a friend’s wedding over common influences and the need for a return to this sort of post-Urban Cowboy Country. For lead singer/guitarist Mark Wystrach, bassist/vocalist Cameron Duddy and lead guitarist/vocalist Jess Carson, the five-times platinum hit “Drinkin’ Problem” set the stage for their critically acclaimed On The Rocks and No. 1 Billboard Top Country Albums debut Let It Roll to unite classic country fans, hipsters and media including Entertainment Weekly, GQ, The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Variety, Rolling Stone and NPR. Based in Dripping Springs, Texas, the trio of songwriters who developed their sound at Tornillo, Texas’ storied Sonic Ranch have been building a following that’s sold-out the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show, packed a multiple-night stand at Ft. Worth’s iconic Billy Bob’s and re-opened North Hollywood’s legendary Palomino Club for one night only. Bringing listeners a resurgence of their thick harmonies, sad melodies, tart lyrics and steel guitar with their album The Last Resort: Greetings From (Big Machine Records), the retro-Nuevo trio has grown from bar band to an in-demand headliner who mounted their own cruise in April 2024. For more on Midland and tour updates, visit MidlandOfficial.com.
