Country guitar virtuoso William Tyler has released a new single off an upcoming album with his band The Impossible Truth called “Area Code 601,” a live performance. The album, Secret Stratosphere, will be a live one dropped on March 31 and the first recorded output for William Tyler and the Impossible Truth. Tyler describes the single as “Hawkwind meets a Barefoot Jerry number,” and the nearly nine-minute track is a rocking instrumental tune that melds progressive rock with Tyler’s more deep-fried home cooking of Southern stylings.
The album was recorded live in May 2021 in Huntsville, Alabama, and shows Tyler and the Impossible Truth refashioning some of the best songs from his catalog into a harder-rocking format. The backing band includes Jack Lawrence (Raconteurs, Dead Weather), Brain Kotzur (Silver Jews), and Luke Schneider (Margo Price), which take Tyler’s guitar-driven compositions to new psychedelic dimensions.
Tyler has been on the forefront of the “cosmic country” scene, a Nashville-born musician who has released three solo albums since 2010. His 2016 album, Modern Country, was a breakthrough for him. Tyler said of “Area Code 601” that it’s the area code for southern Mississippi where all his family is from and where he spent most of his childhood. Area Code 615 was also a Nashville instrumental ensemble that he’s pulled inspiration from.
Tyler has been playing the Area Code 601 track live since at least 2016, but it’s never seen a proper release until now. The single and, I’m guessing the album, will definitely be a new direction for Tyler. Most of his albums to date have been acoustic and rather chill, so listening to Area Code 601 was almost jarring to me at first. But given Tyler’s immense talent, I’m looking forward to what the rest of the album contains.
Support William Tyler by checking out his Bandcamp or website, or finding him on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).
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