Rising NYC-based, Kentucky-born singer-songwriter Sam Phelps will release Hunter Springs Road – a collection of songs about home, restlessness and homesickness – on November 4th (full track listing can be found below). Alongside the EP announcement, Sam has released the lead single “New York Newsstand Blues,” a tale of abandonment and everyday life he wrote after stumbling upon an empty Manhattan newsstand in the midst of the pandemic. PRESS HERE to listen and HERE to watch the official video. The artist will play two special EP release shows in NYC on 10/3 (Pete’s Candy Store) and 10/14 (Culture Lab) – for more information please visit www.samphelpsofficial.com.
Produced by GRAMMY-Award winning artist Chance McCoy (Old Crow Medicine Show) and featuring guitar from virtuoso Laur Joamets (Sturgill Simpson), Hunter Springs Road (which is named after the street McCoy’s West Virginia studio is located on) showcases the most vivid of the countless songs Sam Phelps wrote over the past year in lockdown, and the singer-songwriter’s open-hearted storytelling is on full display.
On “Kentucky,” the artist confronts his complicated relationship with his home state, and on “New York Newsstand Blues,” he merges Americana and folk traditions with the modern urban storytelling of one of his heroes, the late Justin Townes Earle. “Stand Up Guy'' is a meditation on change and restlessness featuring some of the artist’s gorgeous finger-picking. On “Leavin,” meanwhile, Sam Phelps shows off the tender vulnerability and delicate craft of his songs about past ghosts, farewells, and how one's past is never far behind.
Born and raised in Pulaski County, Kentucky, Sam Phelps’ father gifted him his first guitar when he was 13 years old, and as soon as he heard Steve Earle’s “Billy Austin” for the first time, he knew that songwriting would one day be his calling. Sam writes songs that stop reality, songs that demand your attention, songs that force the listener to live in the world they've created.
Hunter Springs Road EP Track Listing:
1. Leavin
2. New York Newsstand Blues
3. Kentucky
4. Stand Up Guy
