Song Premiere: Craig Gerdes "Smokin', Drinkin' & Gamblin'"

Craig Gerdes. Photo by Al Steinz

Craig Gerdes began playing country music at the age of 10 in the band of his father with the songs of Jones, Haggard, and Cash providing the musical foundation. By age 12, he was a capable songwriter and musician, and by 16, he'd wandered from the narrow path. "In the same summer," he recalls, "I totaled my car, broke my best friend's neck, dropped out of high school, got arrested and got married."

A few years later, Gerdes wound up living on Music Row and while he was able to gain traction with a publishing company and do some co-writing, his traditional songs just didn't fit in. After years of commuting back and forth, he left Nashville behind and returned full-time to Illinois. During this point, while he was on a hiatus from songwriting to concentrate on raising his kids, his 16-year-old cousin was killed in a car wreck. He was compelled to write again by an angel he believes is her. 

And write he did. His upcoming project, Smokin', Drinkin' and Gamblin', due February 16th, includes murder ballads ("Dead In A Box In Kentucky"), songs about distant lovers, ("Almost To Alabama"), a cover of Johnny Paycheck’s "Slide Off Of Your Satin Sheets" and his take on the music business with the title track, which TDC is incredibly pleased to premiere today. 

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Penned by Gerdes, "Smokin', Drinkin' and Gamblin'" is a Texas-style barn-burner led by smoldering guitars, pedal steel, and Gerdes' well-seasoned vocals. The no-frills anthem recalls Haggard, Shaver, and Coe and finds Gerdes emerging as a standout member of the new class of outlaw country traditionalists.
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Gerdes had this to say about the track,"'Smokin’, Drinkin’ and Gamblin’', is a reference to the music business.  The Smokin’ is about the smoke and mirrors that happens, the Drinkin’ is about the drinking and substance abuse that haunts many of us, and the Gamblin’, well, there is no bigger gamble than the music business.”

Listen to the track above and for more information visit:
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