Texas-born troubadour Casper Allen is ushering in a new era of soulful, electrifying Americana with the release of his debut single, “Damned Old Sun,” backed by his powerhouse trio The Naturals: critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter Shawn Hess on bass and R. Cooper Long locking down the rhythm. The track—premiering via FLOOD Mag—arrives today alongside a visually stunning music video directed by Greg Lewis, and it serves as the first taste of the band’s upcoming debut EP, The Hard Way, slated for release this May.
“‘Damned Old Sun’ was written as I was becoming conscious of the dissolution of my marriage,” says Allen. “I was thinking back on better times and walking along the beach in the Peconic Bay in New York, and the lyrics just started coming to me. I was listening to Roy Orbison’s Crying album non-stop at the time, so, apologies to Roy if I accidentally swiped any ideas.”
Following a decade-long solo career that drew from the hard-living storytelling tradition of legends like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, Allen has assembled a three-piece band that embodies the spirit of Americana in its rawest, most electrifying form. Casper Allen & The Naturals deliver a genre-blurring sound that fuses Texas blues, honky-tonk, R&B, and vintage rock & roll—an organic outgrowth of Allen’s passion for honest, heartfelt songwriting.
The band’s formation was as spontaneous as their sound. Their first recording session was, remarkably, also the first time they all played together.
“Shawn and I had messed around a little, but I’d never played with Cooper before,” Allen shares. “Three of the tracks on the EP are from that very first day. The session went so well, we looked at each other and said: ‘We should take this on the road.’ And here we are, 100 cheeseburgers and a few thousand miles later.”
Laid down in a whirlwind weekend at Shawn Hess’ studio in Laramie, WY, with Ruebin Buchanan at the controls, the EP captures the lightning-in-a-bottle energy of a band in perfect sync.
“We started on Saturday morning, took a break for a gig that night, came back and recorded more, then did a track the next morning before we all had to leave,” Allen recalls. “When Ruebin sent us the files, we were all texting each other like, ‘Holy shit, these rule.’ I just drove around banging that shit for like three hours.”
With “Damned Old Sun” now available and The Hard Way EP on the horizon, Casper Allen & The Naturals are ready to make their mark on the ever-evolving landscape of Americana. Fans can look forward to a year of relentless touring, soul-stirring performances, and stories that come straight from the heart.
“Damned Old Sun” is out now on all major streaming platforms.
The Hard Way EP will be released in May.
