Review: 49 Winchester ‘Leavin’ This Holler’
By Hal Horowitz
“Tough times don’t last, tough people do,” sings 49 Winchester frontman, guitarist and primary songwriter Isaac Gibson on “Favor,” the opening track of the band’s fifth album, Leavin’ This Holler, available August 2.
That line is directed to those who live in the Appalachian valleys, or hollers, like the one in Castlewood, Virginia where the group was formed. But it also serves as a description of his outfit’s gumption.
It’s something he’s deservedly proud of due to their increased popularity over the course of a decade toughing it out in the Americana music trenches. The quintet even named themselves after the address of Gibson’s childhood home. Through three early discs, they honed a combination of backwoods folk, country, and bluesy Southern rocking, with a sound similar to that of rootsy contemporaries Blackberry Smoke.
High profile label New West picked them up for their fourth, 2022s Fortune Favors the Bold. It, along with non-stop touring (including opening dates with Luke Combs in the UK and Europe and others with Tyler Childers), introduced them to a larger audience.
They write about what they know, which lately is being a “Travelling Band,” (not the Creedence Clearwater Revival song). On it he sings “I’ve seen miles and miles of highways/Still I gotta chase it while I still can/But that’s my life/Playing in a traveling band.” The group digs into a “Lodi”-styled approach with the hint of twang between words that yearn for the simpler life they left behind. It’s sung with resolve yet an understanding that this is the life he has chosen.
A similar theme runs though the peppy, banjo and pedal steel enhanced twangy country rocking “Yearnin’ For You,” a sweet love song about coming home to his life partner.
Gibson recounts more about life on the road in “Tulsa” which also references his affection for marijuana (“Well I think I should have stayed in Tulsa/East Texas ain’t for me/They’ll lock you up for smoking grass/And throw away the key”) in a grinding rocker that could have fit on a Lynyrd Skynyrd or Drive-By Truckers album.
The title track is moodier, slower, swampy ballad as Gibson voices someone heading away from their childhood home after being let down by a lover. “I’m skipping town,” he moans as a guitar solo snakes around the bridge in a tune that feels influenced by Crazy Horse’s determined pull. A backing choir erupts, bringing further drama to the album’s emotional centerpiece and longest track.
They’re not afraid to experiment or push boundaries either, overdubbing “Fast Asleep” with the Czech National Orchestra which appears after a stripped down acoustic guitar open. That addition alters the direction, which seems like two songs stitched together. Here Gibson reservedly self-reflects on how he might be to blame for letting his lover down.
Not only are these 10 selections on Leavin’ This Holler some of 49 Winchester’s finest (Gibson writes or co-pens all of them), but the five-piece has gelled into a well-oiled outfit, churning out credible guitar rocking and emotionally laced lyrics without resorting to excess soloing.
Leaving the place they once called home has yielded their finest release yet. In 49 Winchester’s case, you can take the man out of the holler, but you can’t take the holler out of the man.
Pre-order the album here
“Fast Asleep”
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