Growing up Amarillo style is a far cry from nascent. Just Texas sun, oil riggers, and firebrand folk tunes.
Ryan Culwell’s debut release, Flatlands, packs rootsy grit and redemptive rest stops. Opening track "Amarillo" rings with a sweet melody. "You Won’t Come Home" tender lyrics demand listening ears. Dusty anthem "I Think I’ll Be Their God" and true-blues "Piss Down In My Bones" offer gusty backbeats and steel guitar. His depictions hold a certain yearning of a man finding his Americana on folky fretboards. You can feel the embittered pride in "Red River" and Culwell’s own sacred rest in "Horses." And if ominous feels overdone, porch-strummers "I Will Come For You" and "Flatlands" provide windows-down nostalgia. Flatlands is a melodic fortitude that loves memories and loathes realities. Through the thirsty panhandle, distressed as Culwell’s raspy range, you feel what he feels: his journey of story and relationship; an honest man on his way. Flatlands was released March 3rd, 2015 via Lightning Rod Records. -Ben Neumann
Ryan Culwell has two upcoming Nasville shows: March 25th at Loveless Cafe and April 2nd at Exit/In with Whiskey Meyers (tickets here.)