Singer songwriter Cory Bishop spent a semester in Seminary before dropping out for good to pursue music. He has said "I see it now as my job and my duty to craft songs that can help people catch a glimpse of hope; catch a glimpse of love and redemption." It is a job he most certainly does well on his self-titled EP released this past October. The five tracks, all written by Bishop, tackle soul searching, love, guilt, and redemption in story songs that will leave you feeling.

The record leads off with “You Can’t Take Me,” a soul searching tune with an opening line that speaks a universal truth “We’re all a little bruised/We’re all a little broken.” The mandolin infused “Carolina,” whether a place, person, or both, is about moving on and travelling new roads, literally and figuratively. Standout track “Crown of Thorns” is so detailed, raw and honest it made me angry and sad. Hung-over and guilt ridden he tells a one night stand “When we wake I’m gonna take back everything I say/But you’ll never get back what you’re letting me steal away/It’s far more real than it seems/Although I’ll shake it off just like a dream.”

After that song emotionally drains you, “Wherever You Are, Babe,” will lift the spirits with its harmonica (for which I am a total sucker) and horns. A break up song that finds him looking forward with promise rather than lamenting what was lost.“I’ve played your lover, but I won’t play your fool.” The EP closes with “Honey I Ain’t” a delightful, uplifting song about love, acceptance and promising to stay in a world where people leaving/giving up is the norm. “We hung our love out on the clothes line/The world could end tonight and that’s fine/There are no names left to be learned/No wages I’ve left to earn/Since I’ve met you no pages left to turn.”

Well written lyrics and lovely melodies delivered by a voice truthful, grounded and warm, Bishop simply makes good music--and that is something to be appreciated.  

To purchase the EP visit here

US fans were introduced to Canadian Dallas Smith last year with his high energy single “Tippin Point,” which set the record for the fastest Canadian single to go GOLD and has since been certified platinum in Canada. Additionally, Smith gained new fans opening for Florida Georgia Line on  their US Tour and taking part in their recent cruise. Continuing to bridge the gap between rock and country, Smith will release a new EP, Lifted, on November 24th. The seven track collection includes six new songs, as well as a live version of “Tippin' Point.”

Lifted’s tracks showcase a diverse sound from Dallas's previous offerings while maintaining his unique energy. The themes of relationships and love run through the songs, whether they are straight up country rockers (“Thinkin’ Bout You”) or ballads (“Heat Rises”). In addition, the traditional instruments used, banjo and pedal steel, blend well with the rock crunch of the electric guitar. Carrying it all are Smith’s vocals which keep the rocker edge, while also bringing a country warmth and believability.

“Wasting Gas,” his current release on Sirius XM’s The Highway, is a road-trip anthem celebrating young love and its no-particular-place-to-go mentality. The title track reminisces on riding the dreams of youth; remembering the time when “we were high on nothing but living and loving running own something called a dirt road dream.” The destined to be a hit, “Cheap Seats,” will be the song of the summer 2015 due not only to its massively infectious melody, but its highly identifiable lyrics. Finally, in “Just Say When,” he's ready for a relationship, but is waiting on her to give him the green light. "Just lettin' ya know/I'm sittin' on go/I'm ready to roll/Just needin' to know/Baby if you're in."  

Be ready to feel Lifted when you listen.

Recording artist Austin Webb is preparing to release new music in 2015 via Streamsound Records. The new single, “All Country On You,” is produced by Grammy-award winner and Streamsound Records co-owner Byron Gallimore, (producer of Tim McGraw, Sugarland, Faith Hill) and is set to impact country radio on January 5th.

"All Country On You" was co-written by Mark Irwin, Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins, the songwriters behind such hits as "Before He Cheats" and "Redneck Crazy." The single best can be described as a fun, up-tempo song about what can happen if a guy wrongs his girl, but with a twist.....said guy takes full responsibility for her actions: " But you can't blame no one else/When you brought it all on yourself." The lyrics go onto describe what a girl might do when she goes "all country on you" while the undeniably appealing melody is one that will be stuck in your head at first note.

"Don't tick her off, break her heart, tell her lies,
Don't feed her any lipstick alibis
Ain't nothing she cant see through
No telling what she might do"

On the new single, Webb shares, "I know for a fact country girls are the best kind of girls, but they certainly don’t take any BS. The first time I heard the lyric 'going all Carrie Underwood on my truck' I was sold immediately. I’ve made my share of mistakes and learned the hard way what can happen if you mess it up. This song emphasizes the fact that you better treat your girl right… or she’ll go 'all country on you'."

For more information visit his official website

Singer songwriter Adam Hood released his fourth album, Welcome to the Big World, on November 4th. The Kickstarter funded project contains eleven tracks all of which he co-wrote. Hood is an artist, a singer, a picker, but above all he is a stellar songwriter; a storyteller whose album encompasses stories about life, love, family and the road. The stories, all united by Hood's warm, familiar vocals, are authentic, intimate and personal, yet relatable to the listener, making Welcome To The Big World, quite possibly, his best album yet.

The album starts off with the humorous, rockin’ and bluesy “Don’t That Sound Like Love” and segues nicely into “Trying to Write a Love Song,” which was a Top 5 hit on the Texas charts. Things take a quieter turn from there, but in a most wonderful way. Three songs in, the title track is definitely a centerpiece to the album. Sit back, listen to the lyrics and let them sink in--they’ll strike a chord.

Multiple tracks nicely tie together, referencing life on the road and missing the ones you love. The mid-tempo “Bar Band,” with its sing along city shout out chorus isn’t about carousing, rather it talks about Friday nights and those “good ole boys packed into a beat up van” who’ve “got it made, playin’ in a bar band.” The beautifully sad "Postcards and Payphones" (co-written with Will Hoge) expresses the loneliness of missing the ones you love so perfectly, it’s palpable. Finally, “Way Too Long” deals with the distance the road puts between people; tired and lonesome, needing her to meet him in the middle. “This place couldn’t be any colder, I need your head on my shoulder, my hearts been breaking way too long.”

In personal favorite, “Stars around a Cajun Moon” (can someone please sing this song to me??), the sweetly romantic mood is set by the accordion as he sings about returning from California to the one he loves. “I’m gonna hold her tight and kiss her and tell her just how much I missed her.”

The emotional “He Did” is reflective both lyrically and melodically (another song you can feel). In it he sings of his father and how he now does things like he did (like learning to like coffee and fixing things with a wrench) and how being like him brings him a sense of joy. “And out of all I dreamed I’d become, it’s the one thing I’m proud that I’ve done.”

Also on the album is “Whole Lot of Hard Work” which is about what it takes to make a relationship work, noting that “This road ain’t for the weak or for the faint of heart.” The album closes with a song about the end of a relationship, “I Took a Train,” that also contains one of the best opening lines in recent memory, “When she caught romantic fever I knew it was time to leave.”

Welcome to the big world indeed. If it’s a world filled with Hood’s music and storytelling, then it’s definitely a nice world to be in.

For more information on Adam Hood visit his official website.