Rayland Baxter Holds A Mirror To Humanity On New Album 'Wide Awake' (July 13/ATO), Produced By Butch Walker

LISTEN TO "CASANOVA" 

Rayland Baxter’s new album is a dream realized. Since he first started writing music, this roving rock ‘n’ roll philosopher dreamed of a space where he could devote every waking hour to creating. The hard-touring musician finally found it in the form of an abandoned rubber band factory in Franklin, KY, where he covered the windows, threw a mattress on the floor, and with guitar and piano in tow, spent three straight months writing. At night he would sit and listen to the sounds around him: coyotes, the howling wind, the faint prattle of the nightly TV news. The result of this isolation quest is ‘Wide Awake’ (July 13/ATO Records), a ten-song collection that celebrates the best aspects of humanity and grasps at understanding the worst.

“This is an album about decision making,” Baxter explains. “It’s about being a human at the crossroads. Do I do good or do I do evil? Do I lie or do I tell the truth? Am I going to be happy or am I going to be sad? All of these questions and emotions are things I see in myself, and they’re the same things I see in everyone else no matter where I go.”

‘Wide Awake’ was produced by Butch Walker (Weezer, Pink, Pete Yorn) and features Walker himself on bass, Cage the Elephant’s Nick Bockrath on guitar, Dr. Dog’s Erick Slick on drums, and piano wizard Aaron Embry (Elliott Smith, Brian Eno) on keys. Rayland’s father Bucky Baxter contributes pedal steel, as does original Nashville Cat Lloyd Green.

‘Wide Awake’ runs the gamut from intensely personal to cutting social satire. On lead single “Casanova,” Rayland imagines student debt as a greedy girlfriend, admitting, “I got a real bad feeling ima let her down / got a hole in my pocket and I’m running around.” Album opener “Strange American Dream” was written around the time of the 2016 election and takes a hard look at the country’s values, while “79 Shiny Revolvers” skewers our national fixation with guns.

Listen to “Casanova”.

Rayland has toured with Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, The Lumineers and more, and has multiple songs with over 10 million plays on Spotify. He wrote and performed on Shakey Graves’ new album, is opening some of the shows on his upcoming tour, and will perform with him at Red Rocks in August. He has also played festivals like Bonnaroo and Newport Folk. Stereogum praised his 2015 album ‘Imaginary Man’ as “an impeccable breakout” while NPR hailed its lead single as “close to perfect.”

Pre-order ‘Wide Awake’ on all platforms here: http://wideawake.raylandbaxter.com/

 

 

TRACKLIST FOR ‘WIDE AWAKE’

1.      Strange American Dream
2.      Casanova
3.      Angeline
4.      79 Shiny Revolvers
5.      Amelia Baker
6.      Without Me
7.      Hey Larocco
8.      Sandra Monica
9.      Everything To Me
10.      Let It All Go, Man

 

TOUR DATES:

2-Jun- Wellston, MI - Camp Greensky

 

WIDE AWAKE TOUR – LEG 1

12-Jul- Washington, DC - Union Stage

13-Jul- New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom

14-Jul- Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live

15-Jul- Richmond, VA  - Broadberry          

18-Jul- Nashville, TN - Basement East

20-Jul- Birmingham, AL - Saturn

21-Jul- Atlanta, GA - Terminal West    

24-Jul- Toronto, ON - Adelaide Hall

25-Jul- Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern

26-Jul- Detroit, MI - Otus Supply

27-Jul- Grand Rapids, MI  -  The Stache

28-Jul- Chicago, IL -  Lincoln Hall

1-Aug- Indianapolis, IN - Hifi

2-Aug- Davenport, IA - Triple Crown Whiskey Bar

3-Aug- St. Louis, MO - Delmar Hall

4-Aug- Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck

5-Aug- Omaha, NE - Slowdown

9-Aug- Denver, CO - Bluebird 

 

SHAKEY GRAVES DATES

24-Aug- Salt Lake City, UT - Red Butte Garden w/ Shakey Graves

25-Aug- Missoula, MT - Big Sky Amphitheatre w/ Shakey Graves

26-Aug- Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory w/ Shakey Graves

27-Aug- Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory w/ Shakey Graves

28-Aug- Boise, ID - Knitting Factory  w/ Shakey Graves

30-Aug- Morrison, CO - Red Rocks w/ Shakey Graves

 

WIDE AWAKE TOUR – LEG 2

5-Sep- Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret

6-Sep- Bellingham, WA - Wild Buffalo

7-Sep- Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern

9-Sep- Portland, OR - Doug Fir

14-Sep- San Diego, CA - Belly Up

15-Sep- Los Angeles, CA - Moroccan Lounge

16-Sep- Templeton, CA - Whale Rock Festival

20-Sep- Crystal Bay, NV - Red Room at Crystal Bay

21-Sep- Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst

23-Sep- Sonoma, CA - Harvest Music Festival     

28-Sep- Roseland, VA - Devil's Backbone Hoopla

30-Sep- Asbury Park, NJ - Sea Hear Now Festival