Red Shahan Introduces His New Record to San Angelo

SAN ANGELO, TX — West Texas singer-songwriter Red Shahan will introduce his sophomore album Culberson County to San Angelo tonight at Blaine's Pub, 10 W. Harris Ave. The "CD release" party begins at 10 p.m.

Shahan's new record has earned praise from The Boot, Wide Open Country, Saving Country Music, New Slang and Cowboys and Indians. Garden and Gun called Red one of “Americana’s next great voices,” and Austin Chronicle named him one of SXSW’s “must see country acts” and “the next rising Texas troubadour."

Rolling Stone Country called Shahan one of their "10 New Country Artists You Need To Know" and said, "'Culberson County,' a slow-burning ballad about heading west, may be the only song in existence to pair spacey, Pink Floyd-esque slide guitar with a truly Texas pronunciation of the word 'coyote.'"

San Angelo fans of Texas music may recall Shahan as part of the very popular Stepheneville music act, Six Market Blvd. That band of talented musicians broke up two years ago when at the peak of their ascent into the Texas music scene.

Shahan launched his solo career shortly after the breakup.

Like his debut album Men and Coyotes, Culberson County is a full-band affair, with Elijah Ford (an acclaimed solo artist in his own right) returning to the producer’s chair, Matthew “Paw Paw” Smith (formerly with Ryan Bingham) back behind the drum kit and Shahan’s old Lubbock buddy Parker Morrow on bass. Shahan himself played rhythm electric and acoustic, while special recruit Daniel Sproul was called in to handle most of the lead guitar for the sessions. Guests on the album include fellow Texas songwriters Charlie Shafter and Bonnie Bishop on background and harmony vocals, as well as Shahan’s own mother, Kim Smith, who sings on the song "Memphis."

Culberson County finds Shahan exploring the ebb and flow of the darkness and light in the world around him. The album ranges from songs like "6 Feet," which tells the story of an incarcerated drug dealer dreading the cartel justice awaiting him on the other side, to "Someone Someday," (a rare co-write for Shahan, penned with Brent Cobb and Aaron Raitiere), where he sings a line about "rubbernecking all the outlaws" that lands as both a laugh-out-loud commentary on the modern Texas/Americana music scene and a playfully self-aware admission of his own aspirations and insecurity.

The Culberson County Track List:

• Waterbill
• Enemy
• 6 Feet
• Culberson County
• How They Lie
• Roses
• Someone Someday
• Revolution
• Idle Hands
• 'Memphis
• Hurricane
• Try

After San Angelo, Shahan heads to Las Vegas and the west Coast on tour.