Zach Bryan’s New Song Is a Cover By an Obscure Kentucky Songwriter

Over the weekend, Zach Bryan released new music for the first time since dropping his EPYoung Manhood and Other Donatable Organs two weeks ago. But Bryan’s latest, which he uploaded to YouTube, had nothing to do with his high-profile EP that features Lana Del Rey and Turnpike Troubadours. Instead, it was a cover of a new song by the relatively obscure Kentucky folk-singer Ian Noe.

The song, “Kentucky Hurricane,” is a highlight from Noe’s recent album, Canyon Falls Trailer Band. The lyrics tell the story of a man’s relationship with a sex worker that ends up with the narrator behind bars. Earlier this year, Noe told Rolling Stone that “Kentucky Hurricane” started with the lead fiddle melody, which provides the song’s hook. “I was just singing whatever I was humming,” said the songwriter. “I know I worked on that one a little bit to get it right.”

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Bryan’s version stays true to Noe’s original while adding its own flourishes: Bryan plays the song on electric guitar with no percussion while Billy Contreras plays the infectious fiddle riff and a group of singers provide backup choir vocals.

“I’m trying to get to a place in life now where I can write things that are only good on paper,” Bryan told actor Matthew Mcconaughey of his  writing process last month. “That’s why I’ve always respected authors so much, because they don’t have anything to lean on. There’s no drums. There’s no guitars. There’s no whistle….They’re writing it on a piece of paper.”