The Wilder Blue Surprise with Two New Songs
They were previously called Hill Country. Now they’re called The Wilder Blue. But whatever you call them, most folks lending them an ear call them damn good music. They’ve earned many fans since releasing their self-titled album in 2020 from the country, Americana, to the classic rock worlds, including none other than Luke Combs, who apparently first heard about them right here at Saving Country Music of all places, and next thing you know was shouting them out on Twitter.
Consisting of solo artist and songwriter Zane Williams, songwriter and performer Paul Eason, Houston drummer Lyndon Hughes, Austin bassist Sean Rodriguez, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Rogers, The Wilder Blue are a supergroup of sorts that has the latitude to articulate just about whatever style of American music they choose, from classic rock, to bluegrass, to country and folk.
If you loved what you heard from The Wilder Blue the first go-round and are hungry for more, you’re in luck. They just released two new songs, and they pick up right where they left off, which is making music easy to fall in love with no matter your roots music leanings.
“Okie Soldier” features the outfit’s signature harmony vocals behind Zane Williams, and the more rootsy, down home country side of their sound about a solider from Oklahoma enlisting for a 2nd tour. The second song “The Conversation” (no, not the Hank Jr./Waylon tune) showcases the band’s more classic rock predilections, and leaves you with all the good feels like the best of The Eagles.
I don’t know what it is specifically about the chemistry of these guys, and it’s not like Zane Williams and Paul Eason weren’t already well beloved as solo artists before. But it has all come together for The Wilder Blue, and resulted in some great music with all the right vibes, and hopefully there’s much more of it to come.
Speaking of, the new songs come as the band is trying a unique approach to distributing their music. Though you can still find their stuff on major streaming sites or buy it on CD, they have set up something called the Hideout, where fans can pay $5 a month or $50 for the year to help support the band, and get access to dozens of unreleased recordings of demos and worktape stuff, along with the solo albums from Zane Williams and Paul Eason, and other exclusive content. They’re also releasing a new song a month to the format before everyone else gets to listen.
I’m sure eventually there will be a new album from the band released in the conventional manner. But until then, the Hideout is a unique way to support the band and keep them making good music, and an idea you’re likely to see similar versions of from other independent artists and bands more often moving forward.
In the meantime, we’ll all be enjoying these two new songs.
June 21, 2021 @ 8:10 am
Loved their first album. Excited to hear new stuff from them.
June 21, 2021 @ 9:25 am
I like these. The name change is a bit confusing, but I think this is a better name to separate them from other bands and brands. Zane seems to have finally found his groove in this project. He has always been good, but this band has taken him to a new level. Thanks
June 21, 2021 @ 7:46 pm
Name change had to do with, of all things a bbq restaurant in New York that holds the rights musically to the words hill country.
Zane did attempt to work it out with them to no avail.
This is of course the crib notes version.
June 21, 2021 @ 8:07 pm
If you type Hill Country in to a search engine you will gets hundreds of results for all kinds of things. I know they were trying to represent their region of Texas, but I think in the long run the new name will suit them better. Just leads to confusion for people trying to find their music short term. The Cadillac Three went through something similar after their first album as The Cadillac Black, though some people would probably prefer not to find their music.
June 21, 2021 @ 9:26 am
Very few artists are more underrated than Zane Williams. Add harmony to his sound = gold.
June 21, 2021 @ 9:48 am
This is such a great band. And underrated too.
June 21, 2021 @ 10:02 am
Saw em open for The Steel Woods. Pretty good band. I had em pegged as mid 70s honky tonkers at first, but turns out theres some real layers to these guys. The Bee Gees cover they played was quite unexpected.
June 21, 2021 @ 1:49 pm
We’re you at the Grey Eagle? If so I was there too. Enjoyed the whole night
June 21, 2021 @ 10:07 am
Damn good music. They had me at “Evergreen” on your playlist.
June 21, 2021 @ 10:44 am
To say I’m a fan would be an understatement. Class act that know their business – all their songs have made my playlist.
June 21, 2021 @ 11:40 am
Good tunes. “The Conversation” is a little too on the nose of the Eagles’ “Already Gone”, but still good nonetheless.
Looking forward to the next one from these guys.
June 21, 2021 @ 11:43 am
Damn, I should have actually read the body before commenting to see Trig already drew the Eagles comp.
June 21, 2021 @ 12:35 pm
I think I talked about this in my review of their last record, but they have a savvy way of taking elements from universally-beloved songs and instilling them in new original songs. This is why most anyone who hears The Wilder Blue can connect to the music, and almost immediately. If you really know your stuff, you might spy this and dock them some for originality. But it’s a really smart way to make music that resonates.
June 21, 2021 @ 2:54 pm
Absolutely. You can definitely hear a lot of well executed, tried and true pop elements shining through in the Hill Country album. Some of the vocal harmonizing on that one made me especially nostalgic.
There’s that fine line of being a good student and integrating proven elements that work, and Kroeger/Moi’ing your way to success. These guys are definitely on the former side of that line, but I always find myself getting distracted when I’m listening to a new song and my mind is trying to place a melody.
The pros certainly outweigh the cons for these guys, though.
June 21, 2021 @ 3:50 pm
Trigger,
Can you provide a classic SCM rant over the new FGL song “Drinking Beer, Talking God, Amen?”
It has the audacity to mention listening to Red Dirt on the radio in the lyrics. Good grief. Talk about pandering.
As a Red Dirt fan and a Christian, it is a piece of garbage that needs to be trashed.
Bring out the old 2014 snark.
June 21, 2021 @ 5:41 pm
The Red Dirt reference is cringe for sure (coming from them), and it’s about as bad a song as I expected, but why can’t they sing about God? Are they in reality as un-Christian as they are Red Dirt? Also, seems it’s a Chase Rice song and been out for a minute.
June 21, 2021 @ 7:54 pm
Took off and caught 2 shows recently in Oklahoma.
Not only did we get to hear our favorites, they threw in a new wrinkle, Paul performing a song in Spanish.
Such an amazing group of guys, not just the music, genuinely good guys.
June 22, 2021 @ 2:34 am
super talented band and killer musicians the only minus being they’re a bit all over the place musically and make it hard to pin down their “personality”.
Champagne problems of course, great music here.
June 22, 2021 @ 10:32 am
Despite being unafraid of being labeled “copy cats”; legally I think the Eagles feather’s might get ruffled by “The conversation” I’ve never known Zane “The Texas Realtor” Williams to be all that engaging live and I think this effort goes to prove that he always tries too hard to be something he isn’t.
June 23, 2021 @ 8:25 pm
Really love this band, from the moment I heard their music last year (if recalled correctly) on SCM!
The name change is worthwhile, because (as someone already pointed out) a Google search of “Hill Country” brings up a lot of extraneous material.
I am henceforth a devoted Wilder Blue fan!