Texan
songwriter Ash Gray returns with his second solo album Chicken Wire. Having relocated over the
past decade from Austin to Sheffield via New York City, Ash is, in the truest
sense, a troubadour, falling in with likeminded folk wherever he ends up.
Nowhere
is this better exemplified than on Chicken
Wire. Ash recruited friends from the Sheffield music scene to lay down the
basic tracks, later inviting musicians from back home in Austin to add their
own touch. Ash then collaborated with noted Austin producer Chris ‘Frenchie’ Smith
(Meat Puppets, Datsuns, Dandy Warhols etc) on the final mix. The end result blends
country and bluegrass with undertones of psych, rewriting the grand Austin
tradition of the ‘cosmic cowboy’.
Speaking about the recording, Gray says, “The album represents a nice bridge that’s been developing between Sheffield and Austin in the three years that I’ve called Sheffield home. I met so many amazing musicians in Sheffield and have tightened connections with old and new acquaintances in Austin since I began working on these recordings and I was interested in trying to include everyone that I’d been playing with.”
Born and
raised in the US, Ash began travelling to the UK at the end of the 90s, where
he formed punkgrass outfit The High Class Family Butchers with future members
of Menlo Park and Kings Of The South Seas, doing brisk business at the
forefront of the London alt.country scene. Winding up in NYC, he took the
guitar job in legendary biker band The Cycle Sluts From Hell, before forming
the psych-pop ensemble Ash Gray & The Girls, releasing the acclaimed album Born In The Summer. Later retracing his
Yorkshire roots, he finally released his debut solo album Once I Got Burned in
2014. Most recently he’s been helping facilitate the musical twinning of his
hometown with the city of Angers in western France.
Chicken Wire is released on Friday 26 January.
“Ash has a penchant
for a killer melody”
Beat Surrender
“Convincing and
effective” RnR
“Indie country with
a blazing attitude”
Maverick
“Without characters
such as Ash Gray the music business would be the poorer”
American Roots UK
