Texas Supergroup ‘Hill Country’ is Now ‘The Wilder Blue’

Ever since releasing their debut self-titled record in late May, the newly-formed Texas music supergroup recording under the name ‘Hill Country’ has been receiving worthy praise for their music, including from country music superstar Luke Combs, who said in late June after discovering the band here on Saving Country Music, “I just can’t stop listening to this album, it just strikes every chord that I want it to. The melodies, the harmonies, the instrumentation, and the songs. All just grade A. Y’all check this record out.”

Consisting of solo artist and songwriter Zane Williams, songwriter and performer Paul Eason who also plays guitar for Kevin Fowler, Houston drummer Lyndon Hughes, Austin bassist Sean Rodriguez, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Rogers, Hill Country has the latitude to articulate just about whatever style of American music they choose, from classic rock to bluegrass, to country and folk. And they take full advantage of it.

You may not find a more laid-back record in 2020 then the Hill Country debut. But as some have remarked, the name is just generic enough for it to get buried or confused with other things, including other bands with similar names, or geographical regions, or local businesses etc., making them a little hard to distinguish by the name itself.

Well now the band has officially decided to change their name to ‘The Wilder Blue,’ which is a phrase used in one of their signature songs “Dixie Darlin'” (you’ll immediate start humming the song if you know it). Though The Wilder Blue definitely is more distinctive, that’s not exactly the reason for the name change. According the the band, a trademark issue got in the way of them moving forward with the original name, which perhaps isn’t surprising for how common the ‘Hill Country’ phrase is.

So they made the switch, and luckily it’s still pretty early on in their lifespan, so hopefully fans will figure it out and make the migration (posting about it here so if folks go to Google, hopefully they’re led in the right direction). It may take a while for the name change to populate on platforms like Spotify and such, but the band’s website is officially changed now to thewilderblue.com, and their social media properties have been switched as well.

So let it be known, ‘Hill Country” is now ‘The Wilder Blue.’ Same great music, just a more distinctive name.

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