While Americana music has been thriving for years with more great artists than one can possibly name, in recent years it has hit a new peak, with artists like Jason Isbell, Zach Bryan and Sam Barber taking it into new commercial heights in mainstream culture. If I were to add a new name to the list of acts ready to ascend to the heights of fame in this space, I’d feel comfortable putting money on Logan Halstead.
Having written his first song at just fifteen, the Kentucky-born, West Virginia-raised artist has drawn inspiration not just from fellow Appalachian artists like Tyler Childs and Sturgill Simpson, but also from the small coal mining town and lifestyle he grew up around. It’s no surprise the first track he wrote was called “Dark Black Coal”, a wistful ode to those he knows who spend their days in the mines (“Well, you ain’t got no life anymore/You stay in a dark coal mine/Working away every day/With your wife and kids on your mind”). There’s a clear authenticity to his songs, which are filled with rich details and empathy (“Just don’t let my children become the victims/Of the mountains evil ways”).
Halstead doesn’t just paint in shades of sad though. On songs like “Man’s Gotta Eat”, he reveals a wry, tongue-in-cheek humor beneath the plaintive storytelling (“Moonshine takes the place of wine/And working for dirty deeds/If your tap ain’t working, ma’am/I’m sorry, a man’s gotta eat”). Musically, he also picks things up with a jaunty fiddle joining the acoustic guitar to infuse some spirit into the tale of unabashed desperation.
Whatever the tone he takes, there remains a power in Halstead’s songwriting. There’s a Biblical might to “The Flood”, which speaks from the POV of hard working land worker, begging the lord to “spare this land I’ve broke my heart and backbone for.” Halstead’s voice has the right amount of soul and pathos to relay these plights with the emotion in tact but never overwhelming. He can also find a mellow beauty in his melodies, such as in the breezy “Kentucky Sky”.
Get on the bandwagon for this great, up-and-coming American songwriting. Listen to a few of his tracks in our Bad Ass Break-Outs Playlist.
The Indy Review 