(Photo Credit: Anne Yarbrough)
Houston in the Blind is a brand new group featuring members of Dead Confederate, Ponderosa and Snowden. As you can probably imagine, their sound is a sweet, subtle combination of Dead Confederate’s more alternative country songs, with Snowden’s indie rock aesthetic. Singer Charlie Garrett brings them all together on their latest track “Who Are You,” premiering for the first time here on mxdwn.
This song is an absolute soundscape of slow, moody country with cooing, gentle vocals. The electric guitar warbles with a strong indie edge over a stripped-down backbone of strumming acoustics and a simple snare flick. By far the stand-out of this straightforward song is Garrett’s soaring vocals and emotional lyrics. The harmonies on the chorus ring out with a beautiful clarity as he sings, “Wanna talk it over? Who are you? Who are you? Are you the one that sets me free?” Clocking in at seven and a half minutes, this is an opus of an alt country song, yet its mood digs in such a groove from the start that it’s easy to listen through to the end. “Who Are You” is the song you want playing in the background first thing in the morning, or as you contemplate your love life alone in a bar over stiff whiskey.
Featuring Garrett on vocals and guitar, John Watkins from Dead Confederate on keyboards, Darren Dodd from Ponderosa on drums and Corinne Lee from Snowden on bass, this supergroup of sorts have already announced their debut album for release next month. Their upcoming album Limbs is set for an October 9 release, and includes production work by Kalen Nash of Ponderosa.
Before you pigeonhole Houston in the Blind as just another pieced-together supergroup, Garrett says,
“From the first show we played together, I realized pretty quickly that this was going to be a band, not just some dude playing acoustic guitar with a bunch of hired guns.”
While Limbs is the first release for this group, they actually started work on the album about two years ago. Its upcoming release is a culmination of their hard work over the past few years. You can pre-order the album right here.
Listen to Houston in the Blind’s brand new release off of their upcoming album below: