Muscadine Bloodline has their foot on the gas and are showing no signs of letting up.
2023 has been a prolific year for the Mobile, Alabama duo of Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton. They started it off strong with the release of their biggest album to date, Teenage Dixie, back in February, and quickly followed that project up with the fan-favorite Teenage Angst EP in June, which featured stripped-back covers of pop-punk classics by Blink-182, Yellowcard, Mayday Parade, and Jimmy Eat World.
But as if two spectacular projects wasn’t enough to keep them satisfied for the year, the boys got right back to work on their next album, and have been teasing new songs on social media since. Well, the short-lived wait is over now, because Muscadine Bloodline is already back with new music, releasing two new songs today as the first singles off of their next record.
“‘Weyerhaeuser Land’ & ‘Low Hangin’ Fruit’ are the first two songs and first taste of the record we are finishing as we speak. Gunna be fun to watch these stories and songs unfold. We’ve never been this excited and sure about the music we are making and what you’ll be getting more of soon!
Best part is we are having a lot fun making this record, which serves as window into the place we are from. There is no big strategy, no pressure, no bells and whistles, just bringing the best music we can! Thank y’all for supporting independent artist!”
With “Weyerhaeuser Land” and “Low Hangin’ Fruit,” it’s obvious the band is picking up right where they left off, with sonically diverse songs that tell stories through deft lyricism and catchy choruses. Aside from just the music, one of the things that makes Muscadine Bloodline so great is all of the content they push out surrounding their music, whether that be music videos, stories behind the songs, clips from live shows, or whatever it may be.
For these new tunes, they provided some pretty awesome videos to set the scene for these songs.
“Weyerhaeuser Land”
Here’s a little taste of the lyrics:
“Jade moved down from a up north town
Prettiest thing three counties round
Yeah Papa was a Fogerty fortunate son
Buying up property one by one
She don’t like the smell of the pulpwood air
Rather be sitting anywhere but here
She don’t like the dirt and ain’t into grits
And hates she had to move to a place like this”
“Low Hangin’ Fruit”
“Tell me why’s your crazy ass steady knockin’ and a bangin’ on my door
Just take your lies and alibis and all the boxes and the baggage off the porch
And while you’re out there on the curb I hope you learn that you ain’t welcome back around
There ain’t a spoonful of sugar to help the taste of your own medicine go down”
Stanton and Muncaster began releasing music together as Muscadine Bloodline in 2016, and through a whole lot of hard work and road doggin’, they have honed their sound and become one of independent country music’s most prominent acts. After releasing dozens of singles and several EPs over their first four years, and perhaps chasing a radio hit instead of the music that was authentic to them, Muscadine Bloodline seemed to change gears a bit with their debut full length record Nothing Much To Do in 2020.
That’s not to say the music from the early years wasn’t good – songs like “Porch Swing Angel,” “Put Me in My Place,” and “Can’t Tell You No” have been streaming giants over the years, and for good reason. But their 2020 album was a step in a different direction, and then they really hit their stride in 2022 with their metaphorical middle finger to corporate Nashville Dispatch to 16th. Ave. Carrying that momentum into the following year, as they continued to release a slew of impressive singles, Muscadine Bloodline dropped their best project yet in February 2023, the aforementioned Teenage Dixie.
Full of short stories based on people they had met, tales they had heard, or things they had experienced themselves in their South Alabama upbringing, Teenage Dixie is a masterpiece, and undoubtedly one of the top few, if not the best, albums of 2023 thus far. But based on these two singles, it is obvious Muscadine Bloodline has no intention of taking a step backwards, and this next record has the potential to be even better. I can’t wait for this one to drop.
