Callie McCullough's 'After Midnight' Out Today
Above: ‘After Midnight’ Cover Art
CALLIE MCCULLOUGH
—NASHVILLE-BASED AMERICANA SINGER-SONGWRITER—
RELEASES DEBUT EP
‘AFTER MIDNIGHT’
TODAY, MARCH 27
NASHVILLE, TN (March 27, 2020) – Nashville’s Callie McCullough, a modern singer-songwriter inspired by timeless bluegrass and old-school country music, has released her debut EP, After Midnight, to early praise. Click here to stream After Midnight via Spotify or here to order a physical CD.
Billboard’s country correspondent, Annie Reuter, noted After Midnight, “…highlights the Canadian singer-songwriter’s whispered vocals alongside descriptive songwriting and ace musicianship provided by members of Union Station and the Time Jumpers.”
Kira Grunenberg of American Songwriter offered that McCullough is “…an artist who chooses not to rest her creative laurels on the singularity of one approach to the traditional roots sub-genre…McCullough adds another stripe of sonic worldliness to her increasingly beloved repertoire…McCullough’s own vocal lilt, which sounds at once delicately modern and warmly classic in its character.”
The six-song After Midnight delivers well-crafted Americana/Bluegrass-tinged tunes and features the lead single, “Five Dollar Pearls,” which The Bluegrass Situation placed a spotlight on and the second single, “Feathers,” had Americana Highways saying: “With a fast paced Western upswell, ‘Feathers’ will have you riding horseback on the open range with a sorrowful breakup song. McCullough’s powerful vocal range will free you from your tethers as you rise aloft with her on After Midnight.”
Callie McCullough has chased her unique muse for years, making contemporary roots music that nods to the legends who came before her. It's a sound anchored by intimate ballads and McCullough's gorgeous voice, whose Alison Krauss-worthy tone and Dolly Parton-sized beauty stand in contrast to her dry humor and larger-than-life personality.
Emotional and eclectic, After Midnight—tracked in her adopted hometown of Nashville— also features first-class picking from members of the Grammy-winning bluegrass band Union Station and western-swing super-group the Time Jumpers. The result is a collaborative and intimate EP that laces McCullough's voice with touches of dobro, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and acoustic guitar, mixing the fresh energy of a rising star with the finesse of a hotshot backing band.
To bring those songs to life, McCullough turned to Nashville-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Dustin Olyanwho helped assemble a top-tier studio band whose members included Grammy-winning banjo/guitar player Ron Block, upright bassist Barry Bales, dobro player Brent Burke, drummer Billy Thomas, accordion and piano player Jeff Taylor, and celebrated fiddler Stuart Duncan. Recorded in iconic Nashville-area studios like the Tracking Room and the Sound Emporium (as well as Olyan's home studio, the Tone Distillery), After Midnight blends hushed, nocturnal soundscapes with traditional influences, contemporary twists, sharp songwriting, and the expressive singing of a front-woman who's truly found her own voice.
Track listing for After Midnight:
“After Midnight”
“Feathers”
“Five Dollar Pearls”
“Missing You”
“No Good Way”
“Three Quarter Time”
Above: Callie McCullough