As the great-grandson of Hank Williams Sr., grandson of Hank Williams Jr., and only son of Hank 3, Coleman Williams spent years waging an internal battle with the expectations thrust upon him by his own lineage. He represented the fourth generation of country music’s most legendary family — hence his nickname, “IV” — and the pressure to launch his own career was enormous. Although Coleman would eventually make his mark with Southern Circus — the genre-bending debut from his band, IV and The Strange Band, combining southern storytelling and country textures with 100-watt guitar amps and DIY attitude — he needed to break free first and discover his own musical approach along the way. Southern Circus is his homecoming: an album that finds him not falling into a legacy, but earning it.

For most of his twenties, Minnesota musician James Eugene Russell spent his days zigzagging the country in various vans playing in hard working punk bands like Cadillac Blindside, The Book of Dead Names, and The Cardinal Sin. He then began exploring new sounds with his country rock outfit, Prairie Sons. After Prairie Sons disbanded, James spent over a decade absent from the music scene dealing with alcoholism, becoming a father, and finally finding sobriety. James melds all of his life experience into a sound that he describes as “country midwestern”. His first release as a solo artist, ‘As/Is’ is a truthful, gut-wrenching journey through his last decade of change, so buckle up and listen.

Goatroaper is the music of Abbey Janii / Mike Lee and friends, mpls country-rock