I love reading the back stories of these country stars. For one thing, they always come from places that sound much cooler than where I live. Take Blake Redferrin, not only was he born in White House, Kentucky, but he spent the first 24 years of his life riding motorbikes about the place, before eventually turning professional.
If that wasn’t enough to convince you you’d wasted your life, along comes his first full-length EP showcasing his brand new chosen career path.
And guess what? The boy is already excelling there as well. Not only was he Amazon’s 2024 star to watch but one of his songs, “Jack and Diet Coke” received remix treatment from a rapper and got 60 million streams in the process.
That song begins things here. And the first thing you notice about it is Rederrin’s voice. If he wasn’t born to sing in a country band then I don’t know who was.
One of those voices that makes you believe that everything playing is true. The heartbreak of “Lose Her For Nothing” is a case in point, and there’s a darkness in the music, a little like Hardy, that hints at real pain.
“Miss Summer” is almost perfect country pop, you imagine that it’s the anthem for Spring Break in America, but it works everywhere else too. That’s how universal this sound is.
“Old No 7” is at its best though, when it’s lurking in the darkness. To that end there’s just a slight menace to “Just Like Johnny” and the lead guitar is superb.
Indeed, this is very much a guitar-based record. A magnificent thing too. The acoustic mixed with the lap steel on “Doin’ Life” coupled with the way it builds slowly is so good that you don’t even notice the darkness of the drink and drugs in the words. That’s the skill of this storyteller – oh and just to make you wonder if there’s anything he can’t do, our mate Blake co-writes these too.
“She’s Like Whiskey” is a love song, of that we can be sure. Whether it’s a homage to the love his life or a bottle of Jack we can’t be certain.
Perhaps best of all, though is the last one. “Champagne In The Morning” is a beauty, Jelly Roll fans need to get here fast and there is a solid gold hit look to this.
And that’s the point, this boy has the voice, the looks, the songs and everything else to go all the way. In these days when country is less about the Grand Ole Opry (hell, even Dolly is making rock records) and more about connection with the people, then expect Redferrin to get very big indeed.
Rating 8.5/10
