Jack Studer

All Bad, the latest album from Nick Shoulders, ultimately encapsulates everything that makesShoulders inimitable form of country music so vital: a heady balance of dazzling musicianship andpunk defiance, coupled with gritty eccentricity and a generational connection to the roots of thegenre. With a singing style inherited from his familys vocal lineage, Nicks songs achieve the rarefeat of imparting difficult truths while inciting a certain joyful abandon, balancing a sound forged byyears of hard travel with a heartfelt reverence for the origins of country music. In the spirit of HazelDickens and Jimmy Driftwood, the incisive yet wildly jubilantAll Badvocally objects to the recklessdestruction of the natural landscape and development run rampant, while still offering plenty of joyand dance-ready rhythms. Spanning a variety of early country styles, the albums infectiousharmonies shine alongside everything from jangling cajun waltzes to surf-rock infused bluesyballadsall tied together by a voice seemingly out of place in this century, yet ever ready to speak upabout its problems.Released via Gar Hole Records (a label founded and co-owned by Shoulders),All Badmarks thefirst LP made with his longtime band, the Okay Crawdad, since 2019s premier full-lengthOkay,Crawdadand their subsequent pandemic-imposed hiatus. After writing most of the album from thefront seat of a tour van, the Fayetteville, AR-based musician and bandmates Grant DAubin(harmonies/bass), Cheech Moosekian (drums) and Jack Studer (lead guitar) recorded the album in ahome studio on the banks of theMississippiRiver with New Orleans collaborators Ross Farbe andSam Doores.Surrounded by a singing style passed down from a time before microphones, Nicks childhood ofbird call whistles and an over-exposure to southern gospel music eventually steered him toward anadolescence drumming for metal and punk bands, and subsequent years as an active illustrator andmember of Arkansass heavy music scene. After numerous personal calamities and a growingobsession with the rural musical traditions of his lifelong home, Shoulders left the Ozarks and livedout of his van, singing on the street corners of the west while slowly being drawn to the vibrance ofthe New Orleans dance and busking world. After forming in early 2018, the Okay Crawdad bandflourished briefly in the wildly talented south Louisiana alt-country scene, culminating in the releaseof Rather Low by the popularYouTubechannel Western AF, catapulting Nicks songs to a vastlywider audience right as Covid-19 and lockdowns ensued. Since then, a rapid ascension into theworld of touring music has seen Nick playing alongside the likes of Sierra Ferrell and at majorfestivals such as Stagecoach. With the hard rhythms and heavenly melodies of their newest release,All Bad, the band manages to concoct a body of work that is at turns sublimely freewheeling andprofoundly illuminating, yet primed to permanently warp the listeners perspective to glorious effect.