Will Payne Harrison

With two albums and an EP under his belt since relocating to Nashville several years ago, 2022 sees Will Payne Harrison set to release Tioga Titan, his most cohesive and emotionally-mature album to date. His first self-produced effort, this new record leans fully into the sounds and songwriting flourishes that earned the Music City its moniker — rife with fiddle, pedal steel, two- beat bass and shuffled drum beats, airtight vocal harmonies, and a healthy dose of love, loss,and other timeless themes of the country music tradition.

While the native Louisianian has established himself as a fixture of the East Nashville scene these days, Harrison still wears his Cajun heritage proudly on his sleeve, as the album takes its name from the small town where he was born and raised. The title track is a country/western tall tale about a “Titan of Tioga” — written from a first-person perspective — poking fun at the irony of being a big fish in a small pond while still evoking a palpable sense of pride for his roots and Main Street USA in general. “Mommas don’t let your sons end up like me,” he croons sardonically (while also shamelessly nodding to a certain famous country song).

“Trapped in some toxic masculinity / Pray that they find a little bit of enlightening / So they don’t end up like the Tioga Titan.”

Speaking of his roots, Harrison is keen to remind us — Nashville may be serious about getting the music perfect, but New Orleans and Louisiana at-large are serious about keeping the music fun. That dichotomy is on full display with Tioga Titan; while the production and songwriting are rock-solid in the Nashville tradition, there’s an undeniable swagger and effortless cool that emanate from these ten tracks.

“I’ve always wanted to be a bluegrass musician, but I just don’t have the chops so it comes out as Americana,” he chuckles. “For these new songs, I paid attention to what the fans were really digging into previously and decided that I should release a full album of honky tonk since those were the tracks that resonated most with listeners.”

“Pretty Little Dancer” starts the album with a bang, setting a sonic tone for the remainder of the album. Blazing electric guitar, fiddle, and pedal steel take the front seat on this number that’s sure to scuff some dance floors at the local watering hole. “Goodbye, Sweetheart” takes things in a more mid-tempo direction, climaxing with a double-electric-guitar solo that evokes something of a Jerry-Reed-meets-Waylon-Jennings energy.

“Simple Truths” is another high watermark on the album, a slow-burning ballad documenting the struggles of day-to-day life in America, while remembering to appreciate the “simple truths” that the sun will come up tomorrow, and that life in itself is a gift, however complex or painful it may be. It’s as timely as it is timeless in the wake of the global pandemic and the toll it took on so many across the world — and showcases the depths of emotional vulnerability Harrison was willing to explore when writing for this album.

In fact, writing and recording Tioga Titan was much more than just making another album for Harrison, as production began in May of 2021 while the music industry was still largely ground to a halt. He also became a father for the first time in 2020, with the birth of his daughter lighting a creative spark within him as he discovered a new depth of love and sense of resilience.

“Despite My Sin”, written as a message to his daughter on the day of her birth, documents these feelings:

“I’ve never known more joy in my heart / Than the day that you were born / There’s no force that can tear us apart / I’ll weather through every storm.”

“Keeping my mind on creating this record along with doing my podcast is probably what kept me from cracking,” he recalls of the production pacing, which was more slow and methodical compared to his previous work. “I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and I saw it, so I raced for it with this record.”

After years spent honing his craft in Nashville, Harrison embraces the new while nodding to the past with a wry grin on this new album, and has managed to create a collection of ten rich and rewarding country songs that showcase a songwriter at the top of his game. Life is complicated; sometimes we need a laugh, sometimes we need to cry, and Tioga Titan offers both in droves as Harrison takes us on a journey towards that light at the end of the tunnel.