How The Wilder Blue Landed Luke Combs on “Seven Bridges Road”

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If this dark little corner of the internet never did anything else worth a damn, at least it introduced The Wilder Blue to country music megastar Luke Combs. Folks often ask if big country artists read Saving Country Music. Well Luke Combs does—or at least he did once—because that’s how he found out about the Texas music supergroup.

Lead singer and songwriter Zane Williams, singer and songwriter Paul Eason, multi-instrumentalist Andy Rogers, drummer Lyndon Hughes, and bassist Sean Rodriguez make up The Wilder Blue, which might one of the best under-the-radar bands in the entirety of country and roots music at the moment, and one of the greatest vocal groups you can find anywhere. Their four and five-part harmonies are sublime.

In 2020 when the band was still going by the name Hill Country, Saving Country Music reviewed their self-titled debut album. “I just can’t stop listening to this Album, it just strikes every chord that I want it to,” Luke Combs tweeted out around that time. “The melodies, the harmonies, the instrumentation, and the songs. All just grade A. Y’all check this record out.”

When Zane Williams responded to Luke, Combs confirmed, “Heard about the album through [Saving Country Music] review actually. Been on repeat since then.”

The Wilder Blue have a new album coming out on November 21st called Super Natural. Earlier this week, they released their version of Steve Young’s song “Seven Bridges Road” made popular by The Eagles. It’s the perfect showcase for the band’s harmonies.

The Wilder Blue pick up the story from there.

Back in mid-2020 our band was surprised one day to see a tweet by @LukeCombs talking about how much he liked our record “Hill Country”. We had never met him and had no idea he knew our music existed…turns out he heard about our album on Saving Country Music.

Almost a year later, with a little assistance from Ward Guenther, I had the opportunity to meet Luke and write a song with him and Channing Wilson. It’s never been recorded but it’s a cool tune and I learned that day that Luke is exactly what he seems to be…down to earth, real, and genuine.

Fast forward another couple years and we’re in the studio in Dec. 2023 with our buddy Brent Cobb producing. Brent suggests that we reach out to Luke and see if he’d be interested in being involved creatively somehow with this record. Turns out Luke was into it! He said he’d love to sing on a track with us. We recorded “Seven Bridges Road” that week, and felt like it would be an epic song for Luke to do with us.

Another six months or so went by before our schedule and Luke’s lined up and he was able to record his vocal. We couldn’t believe it was really happening! Another six months or so has gone by waiting for the album to officially come out and in the meantime we’ve found out we’ll be doing 12 stadium dates with Luke next year. The Friday lineup we’re on is all artists we know and respect, from Hailey Whitters to Charles Wesley Godwin and Cody Jinks.

We are self-releasing the single “Seven Bridges Road” on all platforms. For an independent band who does all the jobs ourselves, it’s pretty dang exciting to see the influx of new listeners. It’s all thanks to Luke and so many other folks taking the time to spread music they care about. I like the direction country music has been headed in for a while and I’m just proud we can add our voices to the ongoing, ever-changing chorus of songs. Get ready for our album “Super Natural” which drops next week and thanks so much for being a part of our journey! -Zane

The support The Wilder Blue and others are receiving from Luke Combs shows how the country superstar commonly uses his platform to help up-and-coming artists. The band’s version of “Seven Bridges Road” shows why The Wilder Blue makes instant fans of anyone within earshot of them.

When Saving Country Music saw them perform in September, Zane Williams said “Some people ask why I gave up a solo career to be in a band. I say to them, ‘Have you heard the band?’”

© 2023 Saving Country Music

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