Sam Stoane and Vincent Mason are on deck today.
“Tehachapi”
Sam Stoane
Written by Maddie Lenhart and Samantha Stoane
JK: “Tehachapi” has maybe my favorite melody of the year to date, and I love how the rising line in the single’s chorus lets Stoane really lean into the sense of longing that drives the narrative. “Long gone, it has to be,” is a a simple enough lyric on the page, but Stoane gives those final three words such emphasis that they transcend that simplicity.
That she does so over an unfussy arrangement that’s little more than a nimbly strummed acoustic guitar and a lonesome fiddle? “Tehachapi” is a reprieve from so much of the noise in modern country. It’s an unassuming but effective single that establishes Stoane as a real talent– in the vein of Ashley Monroe, and God bless– who stands to elevate the country space as we move farther into 2025. A-
KJC: In the vein of Ashley Monroe?
I thought this was some glorious side project under a pseudonym.
That’s a hell of a compliment to Sam Stoane, who delivers a phenomenal vocal performance over a delicious fiddle track. This has a campfire quality to it, like we got the super cool unplugged version as the actual record.
I want to wrap myself up in this record to keep warm until spring’s here for good. A
“Waitin’ On You to Wear Off”
Vincent Mason
Written by Jack Hummel, Vincent Mason, and Colton Venner
KJC: I imagine if the Austin music scene was my sweet spot, this would be manna from heaven for me.
I love Mason’s twang and his rough and ready delivery, sounding something like Ryan Adams without his suffocating pretension. But as good as it all sounds, the song doesn’t really go anywhere.
I’m waiting on the rest of the lyric to be developed, here. Everything else is good to go. B-
JK: I just mentioned the long tail on Kenny Chesney’s influence on the genre in discussing his Country Music Hall of Fame induction. Chesney and his contemporary, Tim McGraw, ushered in an era in which the genre’s men no longer had to have great technical skill as a vocalist. And like the Biblical “begats,” there’s a straight line from the Chesney – McGraw era to the likes of Vincent Mason and what seems like a hundred other guys who look and sound just like him who are just marginal singers.
Mason, specifically, sounds like John Mayer affecting a southern drawl. And no thank you.
To Mason’s credit, the song isn’t half bad, and I do appreciate that there’s some legitimate twang in the arrangement, which might otherwise fall on the genrefluid Zach Bryan – Noah Kahan axis. With a better vocalist at the helm– and we know that there are guys like William Beckmann and Dee White and Tae Lewis and Kashus Culpepper out there– this might be something I’d revisit. But as it stands? I was just waiting on this to end. C-
Wow! The Sam Stoane song is gorgeous!