The speed and momentum Teddy and the Rough Riders are gathering throughout Nashville’s underground Country music scene is embodied in their latest single, “Fast Livin.’’’ Music City natives, Jack Quiggins and Ryan Jennings, have been going non-stop since the late 2010s, collaborating with everyone from Margo Price to Emily Nenni to Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears, quickly becoming your favorite country band’s favorite country band. With “Fast Livin,’” Teddy and the Rough Riders paint a small picture of their upbringing, leaving town to hit the road, and all of the nefarious hijinks that come along with it. But it’s not completely autobiographical.
“The inspiration behind a song like ‘Fast Livin’’ comes from a classic Country trope about living beyond your means; living hard,” says Quiggins. “Not to say we’re strangers to that life, but there’s something about the familiarity of it that feels natural—but also scary—and I really wanted to portray that in a fast-ripping barn burner.” “Fast Livin’” is indeed a ripper, clocking in at just over three minutes; just enough time for a fiery guitar and pedal steel dual between each chorus and the next verse. Like a J.J. Cale tune hopped up a couple dozen beats per minute or Hank Snow’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” with an extra coat of red paint for every town, “Fast Livin’” exemplifies Teddy and the Rough Riders’ Cosmic American psychedelic Country that won the group Austin, Texas’s Ameripolitan Awards “Best Honky Tonk Group” for 2024.
Yesterday, Brooklyn Vegan premiered the track. Today, fans can stream or purchase “Fast Livin,” check out Teddy and The Rough Riders’ previously released singles, “Catfish Summer” and “Hippies,” and pre-order or pre-save Down Home ahead of its October 11th release via Appalachia Record Co. right here.
Following their European leg with Emily Nenni, Teddy and the Rough Riders will be at Nashville’s 5 Spot for Americanafest, before setting out on their own U.S. tour beginning in October through the end of 2024, with dual album release celebrations in Austin and Nashville. Tour dates can be found below.
Down Home Tracklist:
Bullet
Fast Livin’
Catfish Summer
Trouble Sleeping
Golden Light
Edna’s Song
Mountain Girl
Hippies
Love After Life
Bird Has Flown
Gettin’ High
More About Down Home: Down Home was mixed and overdubbed throughout their previous album’s release, wrapping in 2023. As is often the case with back-to-back productions, this follow-up takes all the strengths of the previous and builds on them, leaning further into the otherworldly fuzz guitar sounds of Sean Thompson on tracks like “Bullet” and “Hippies”—songs with lyrics that turn country and western conventions on their head—where a bullet is a romance imbued beau rather than a weapon (with Doug Sahm inspired organ) and “hippies make the best country music”—a refrain poking the purist traditionalists in the ribs. Elsewhere, modern melodic progressions and the layered backing vocals of Erin Rae and Emily Nenni service the beautiful and upbeat, “Golden Light,” a song inspired by the social and personal paralysis of the Covid pandemic, finding hope in the eventual return to traveling, playing music and sharing stages with friends.
But as the album title suggests, styles never stray far from the Rough Riders’ traditional country wheelhouse. Childhood imagination goes from bummer to core memories in the back-to-nature reflections of “Catfish Summer” and “Mountain Girl” is a rollicking bluegrass-inflected tune with fiddle (Eli Bishop) accenting the super up-tempo stomp, conjuring an essence akin to alt-trad rockers, The Pogues. There’s classic country territory like the grooving but sober “Bird Has Flown” and “Fast Livin’” is an absolute barn burner, invoking Hank Snow’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” with an extra coat of red paint for every town.
More About Teddy and the Rough Riders: On their new album Down Home, the songwriting duo of Jack Quiggins and Ryan Jennings double down on all the elements that garnered praise for their previous, eponymous album produced by Margo Price. Holler Country succinctly sums them up: “Teddy and the Rough Riders are pulling apart the lost threads of country rock and weaving them back together with their own alternative take on the form.” As native Nashvillians, the pair came up through Music City’s DIY rock scene explosion of the late 00s into 2010s, eventually embracing the traditional country roots of their home city. At just 33 minutes, Down Home moves at a fast clip, with a variety of blazing rippers, traditional sounds, and alt-country styles inviting repeat listens. The band has recently been named “Best Honky Tonk Group” by Austin TX’s Ameripolitan Awards for 2024. They tour North America, the EU, and the UK through the summer backing and opening for Emily Nenni, then embarking on their own North American tour in October after making an official appearance at Americanafest in September. Down Home is releasing on October 11th on Appalachia Record Co.
Catch Teddy and the Rough Riders On Tour:
September 20 - Nashville, TN - 5 Spot Americanafest Showcase
October 3 - Las Vegas, NV - Backstage Bar
October 4 - Reno, NV - Off Beat
October 5 - Folsom, CA - Folsom Hotel
October 6 - Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records Roadhouse
October 7 - Costa Mesa, CA - The Wayfarer
October 8 - Tempe, AZ - Yucca Tap Room
October 10 - Abilene, TX - Lone Star Dry Goods
October 11 - San Antonio, TX - Lonesome Rose
October 12 - Austin, TX - White Horse
October 13 - Austin, TX - ACL Fest
October 17 - Birmingham, AL - Woodlawn Theatre
October 18 - Nashville, TN - Soft Junk
October 19 - Thomaston, GA - Mule Days
