Country music trio Restless Road releases debut album ‘Last Rodeo’ – Tennessean
Country trio Restless Road released their new album “Last Rodeo” on Oct. 20, but they want you to know that despite the project’s name—this actually is their first rodeo.
Based in Nashville, Restless Road is known for songs “Growing Old With You” and “Take Me Home” with Kane Brown. The band is comprised of three lead singers Zach Beeken, Garrett Nichols and Colton Pack. Each singer has their own unique voice, backstory and influence, leading to a textured convergence of harmonies and blending of sounds in each of their tracks.
Their debut album is an 18-track project infused with love, storytelling, heartbreak and resilience, including their emotional title track “Last Rodeo.” The album shows off twangy harmonies, Beeken’s velvety low voice, Pack’s classic country grit and Nichols’ smooth, sweet tone.
“Last Rodeo” includes songs the band recently released, like “Roll Tide Roll,” “I Don’t Wanna Be That Guy,” “Sundown Somewhere,” “On My Way,” “Growing Old With You” and “Bar Friends.”
Chances are, even if you haven’t heard of Restless Road, you’ve likely seen them on one of the many social media platforms they’ve taken by storm or heard some of their songs on TikTok.
Restless Road sat down with The Tennessean to discuss their new tunes and the long restless road they traveled themselves to arrive at their debut album.
The band got their start in 2013, competing in the 2013 season of “The X Factor,” an American singing competition show, and were eliminated as the tenth contestant. Beeken said the show was a rollercoaster that showed them a lot about showbiz but not a lot about how to become real musicians. “I think just the years after that, it was our crash course of really becoming a real band,” said Beeken.
After the show, the band worked hard to discover their sound, which took trial and error, different members and components moving in and out and working together to get the right team in place. The band signed to Sony Music and released their self-titled EP in 2020.
Though Restless Road has been a band for approximately 10 years, “Last Rodeo” is their first album together. Beeken addressed this, saying, “I think that when we started putting out music and put out an EP, dropping singles, we started seeing what songs and type of sounds were working on tour and what our fans were drawn to.”
Pack elaborated, adding, “In all these 10 years, there hasn’t been this many people that I feel like has cared about where we are, until now. We’ve just kind of really started breaking through in the past three years.”
The trio has been busy this year, gaining momentum. They’ve made musical appearances in the U.K. with Kane Brown, taken the stage at Stagecoach and CMA Fest, made the “Spotify Hot Country Artist To Watch” list and will spend the rest of 2023 touring alongside country artist Russell Dickerson.
Though the band has a range of influences, they strive towards an independent sound that is especially unique to them within the country music microcosm.
Nichols, hailing from Tuscaloosa, AL, grew up listening to 80s rock stars, but also loves Rascal Flatts. Beeken, raised mostly in Iowa, fell in love with Josh Turner and Randy Travis growing up. And Pack, from West Virginia, grew up listening to Keith Urban, George Strait and duo Brooks & Dunn. All of these inspirations, in a way, melted together to form the sound that is unique to Restless Road.
Pack said, “We wanted it to be that when you listen to these songs that only we could have done them. You couldn’t hear any other artists ever doing them, because that’s what I feel like makes somebody special.”
Though the band wrote most of the album together, they know when to let one member or another shine. Nichols noted sometimes one person may be best at social media, another at the business side of the music industry or organizing complicated vocal arrangements.
“There’s always creative differences. But that’s a good thing,” said Pack, stating that the band’s three different perspectives are what keep them evolving and changing for the better. The three performers are also in different stages in their personal lives, bringing differing perspectives to their songwriting sessions.
Since the album delves deep into topics surrounding love and heartbreak, it’s interesting to note that Nichols is engaged to be married, Pack is married and Beeken is single.
“Colton represents the family man, the stability, that growin’ old you,” Nichols said. “I’m in that part of my life where I’m figuring it out. I’m on my way to that but I’m not quite there yet. And Zach’s looking for love, or the heartbreak topics,” noting that many of the heartbreak songs came from Zach’s breakup.
Responded Pack: “This is probably a good time for me and Garrett to come clean. We orchestrated the whole breakup so that we could have more diversity on the album,” adding with a chuckle that they needed Zach in his Taylor Swift era.
The differing backstories of each singer connects to a wider audience, Nichols elaborates. “Instead of having one person with one story, there’s three different stories going on and it can connect with a lot of people no matter where you are in your life.”
Listeners can hear the wide range of life experiences in the music—and they converge to create an album that is holistic, full and rich with songs that take the reader into the stories, all told through the lens of country pop with a rock tinge.
“I think that like in five years, it’d be nice to at least have album two out and to be headlining arenas,” Pack said.
Beeken added, “Even though it’s called last rodeo, we’re only just getting started.”
For more information on Restless Road, their new music and touring schedule, fans can visit www.restlessroad.com.
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