Ik ben een sucker voor zo'n diepe, warme stem die ook kan uithalen wanneer de song het vraagt. De jonge Hutchinson doet inderdaad wat aan een Sturgill Simpson denken met zijn bariton, heeft echter een pak meer power (check de live sessie) en vastheid. Een countryzanger dus die de traditionele shit aan kan, maar evengoed een stevig potje kan rocken én een scheut blues in zijn sound kan brengen.
Slot Machine Syndrome (ep) verschijnt op 17 september in eigen beheer.
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American Idol season 16 runner-up Caleb Lee Hutchinson recorded his new EP Slot Machine Syndrome with Brent Cobb, and it arrives September 17th. The project’s title track shows a more grown-up, more defined talent, blessed with a gritty baritone that has some shades of Sturgill Simpson. The title tune is a three-quarter time ballad with lots of walking bass and guitar lines, about a guy who “feels just fine, puttin’ it on the line” when it comes to gambling with his heart. Read ‘em, as they say, and weep. With his second EP, Slot Machine Syndrome, rising star Caleb Lee Hutchinson plants a flag deep into his Southern roots – standing proudly apart from the country mainstream. Produced by Grammy-nominated Americana talent Brent Cobb, the set moves hard country’s bleeding edge into a new, modern era, with one of Nashville’s most dynamic vocalists embracing a grittier version of himself.
No longer the 19-year-old boy next door from 2019’s self-titled debut (produced by Sugarland’s Kristian Bush), the Georgia native proves his talent goes beyond what fans thought they knew.
“I felt like everybody had these different versions of me and what I should be – or that I was too young to be in the position I was in,” Hutchinson says. “But I always felt like I had a clear vision of who I was.”
Recording five tracks written or co-written by himself, Hutchinson sets his booming baritone free and give each song a swampy, electric-twang sound, building not just on his own work but also classic artists like Jerry Reed and Merle Haggard. And working quickly with Cobb to capture the authentic magic of in-the-moment creation, each song underscores his newfound artistic honesty.
The project marks the beginning of a bold new chapter for the singer-songwriter, full of outsider’s pride and the sense of bold conviction shared by his heroes. It’s a chapter where he is finally the author of his own story.
“I want to be known for who I am, not who I’m remembered as being,” he says.
