Album Review: Brad Cunningham Band 'Every Inch of Texas'

Missouri-based award-winning singer-songwriter Brad Cunningham was introduced to the music of Pat Green & Robert Earl Keen, Jr. while studying at Baylor University. Upon returning to Missouri, he started a band that traveled Missouri's highways for seven years, opening for artists like Jason Boland, Pat Green, Billy Joe Shaver, Stoney LaRue, Zane Williams, and Dwight Yoakam just to name a few.   

On June 17th, the Brad Cunningham Band released their debut album, Every Inch of Texas. The ten song collection was written or co-written by Cunningham (a current finalist in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s famous Telluride Troubadour Competition), recorded at Oklahoma’s 115 Studio and produced by Grammy-nominated Wes Sharon (John Fullbright).

With Cunningham on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, the band also includes T.J. Klein (lead guitar, pedal steel), Kyle Day (bass), Molly Hayley (fiddle) and Drake Detwiler (drums) whose instrumentations blend to create soulful story songs that kick off with the soft strum of the guitar, airy fiddle and enveloping harmonies of “Long Way Home” - which soon turns into a dance hall ready two-stepper. That’s followed by the Spanish-accented “Slow Down” which easily feels like dancing close with the one you want to lose yourself in (and features Sharon on bass and Ryan Engleman of Turnpike Troubadours on pedal steel).

“Ozark Mountain Blues” brings in a folk-bluegrass vibe while “Whole Lotta Love to Find” is a rockabilly firecracker. The rootsy, warm title track (which recalls a bit of “Kiss Me In The Dark”) tells of resurrecting a love gone wrong while the encouraging “Let’s Dance,” stresses the importance of keeping promises in a relationship. The album is rounded out with the sure to be crowd pleasing first single, “Goin’ To Texas,” and the rip-roaring, propulsive “Another Train Song” where he sings, “Thought she was my type but she been giving rides to every other man in town.”

The Brad Cunningham Band has said that they are “on a mission to share the gospel of Texas Country Music with the Northland.” With their knack for well-written lyrics and melodies, - replete with fiddle and steel - which capture that sound, they are sure to see their followers multiplying quickly.  

---