ALL AGES
STANDING ROOM ONLY
When it comes to his latest album, In the Shadow of the Mountain, 25-year-old singer-songwriter Cole Chaney is pretty candid and blunt about who he is and what kind of music he wants to make — the result of which, this stunning offering from an artist wise beyond his age.
“There’s a yin to every yang,” Chaney says. “I want nothing more than for people to be creatively fulfilled, and to do what they want. But, for me to preach that? I have to practice it.”
That attitude resides at the core of the record, where the trajectory of the songs seemingly — more so purposely — shoot off in the opposite direction of many of his contemporaries in the Americana, country and folk music scenes. In truth? Chaney is summoning his rock roots.
Pointing to his lifelong admiration for 1990s rock — specifically Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots — as a vital influence on the sonic landscape of the album, Chaney aimed to find a melodic balance between that raw and real rock sound and the bluegrass and folk music of his native Kentucky.
“I wanted to make something that sounded like Ralph Stanley went in and got backed up by Soundgarden,” Chaney jokes. “I write what I listen to. And whatever I listen to is going to come out in my music.”
In the Shadow of the Mountain was captured by famed producer Duane Lundy at his legendary studio in Lexington, Kentucky. While talking at-length about the possible collaboration, Lundy spoke of his love for Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots.
“Logan has that mystic quality that every songwriter seeks to harness each time they put pen to paper, and he’s just getting started. ‘Dark Black Coal’ is a striking lamentation on growing up in coal country, and he takes you there.” –
Hippies and Cowboys Podcast
“There’s a starkness and a wisdom in this guy’s voice that is way beyond his years. ” –
Grady Smith
