You’d be hard-pressed to find a country singer with a stronger pedigree than Brit Taylor. Born and raised in Eastern Kentucky right in the middle of a small region that has given us the likes of Loretta Lynn, Keith Whitley, The Judds, and Tyler Childers, Taylor is Appalachian to her bones, and she possesses a deep understanding of the place and its people that well serves her new album, Land of the Forgotten.

“This album feels like driving home to me,” Taylor says. Although she has lived in Nashville for 18 years she says she’s always homesick. One thing she often studies on is the “certain type of resilience” she finds in Appalachian people. “If I didn’t have that in me, I wouldn’t still be chasing this dream. The people and the places are always making their way into my writing.”

With her third studio album Taylor says she’s finally achieved the sound she’s been going for since she first arrived in Music City. Taylor has been singing professionally since she was seven years old, when she became a cast member for the Kentucky Opry as one of their “junior pros”. Around the same time she started taking singing lessons and listening to the country classics her grandparents constantly played.

Her vocal style is rich and layered, with notes that trill high as a Kentucky warbler and tonal prowess that is able to prowl low and steady. Her childhood singing teacher taught her how to breathe and protect her voice but insisted that she retain the innate character of her voice, which can move effortlessly from high lonesome sounds to smooth ballads to low growls.

For Land of the Forgotten she enlisted a producer who knows her voice well—her husband, acclaimed singer-songwriter and guitarist Adam Chaffins. “One of the benefits of having my husband produce this record is that he knows my voice. He hears me sing on tour, on stage, in the car, the studio, the shower, the kitchen, in writing rooms,” Taylor says. “All he encouraged me to do is what I do when no one’s telling me what to do. This record is definitely the most honest vocal approach I’ve taken on any of my records.”

In prepping for the album Taylor did various exercises, including the creation of a playlist for inspiration where she found that many of the songs happened to be by female country singers who were being produced by their husbands, especially ones by Patty Loveless (produced by Emory Gordy) and Lee Ann Womack (produced by Frank Liddell). “It seemed a bit serendipitous. And confirmation that making a record with my husband was the 100% absolute right next move.”

They already knew they worked well together from writing songs together over the last ten years. Most of the songs on Land of the Forgotten were written by Taylor and Chaffins along with Grammy-nominated Adam Wright, who has written songs for artists such as Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and others, and who collaborated on eight of the twelve tracks. “The three of us have a similar life view with a healthy dose of cynicism and sense of humor and that definitely comes out in this record.” Jeremy Bussey, Clint Daniels, Jon Decious, and Pat McLaughlin also make contributions.

The result is a collection of tightly-written, hook-driven songs that often center on the working class, which makes it a particularly timely album. “I think it puts a light hearted spin on some of the tougher things about life. Not to make light of difficult times but to remind us two things can exist at one time and not to forget to take a look at the bright side too and to not take it all so seriously,” Taylor says. “There’s a lot of awful things happening in the world that we need to be aware of and need to do what we can to change it. But dwelling on it and ignoring all the good things around us in the process doesn’t help anyone.”

The album opens with a character manifesting better times with the rousing “Broke No More” and segues right into “All for Sale,” about a woman who is “sucking on a Pepsi and a cigarette,” selling all of her ex’s possessions. “Warning You Whiskey” centers on a character who blames the whiskey instead of her alcoholic husband while “Done Pretending” delves into female empowerment. The title track is an epic in intimate details that takes us to contemporary Appalachia, exploring all of its complexities that are so often overlooked by popular media. “Lately I’ve Been Thinking” is a rollicking two-step that showcases Taylor’s trademark mix of cynicism and optimism and the heartfelt “Queen of Fools” allows Taylor to show off her vocal abilities on a song about loving someone you shouldn’t. “Around and Around” is a country rocker about the American rat race and “Crazy Leaf” is a jaunty look at accepting our family members despite their eccentricities. No other genre does songs about one night stands like country music and “Bars Closing” joins the list of great ones with Taylor showcasing vulnerability and a modulating country chorus before landing on “Bird of Prey”, a poetic slow burner about the way signs and wonders are present in nature if we look closely for them.

Taylor and Chaffins have assembled a who’s-who of pickers including Stuart Duncan (fiddle, mandolin, banjo), Justin Schipper (dobro, steel), Adam Wright (acoustic guitar, piano), Jedd Hughes (electric guitar), Chris Powell (drums, percussion), and Chaffins on everything from bass (bowed, electric, and upright) to high-strung acoustic guitar to background vocals.

Taylor says Land of the Forgotten is influenced by country and bluegrass from the 80s and 90s but it’s also a decidedly contemporary-sounding recording that looks at issues facing all of us today. While she says Keith Whitley, Ricky Skaggs, and Patty Loveless are major inspirations for the record, Land of the Forgotten establishes her as an artist with a singular vision—and a sound all her own. She’s achieved that by deciding to be herself.

“I think all female singers are different from one another at first but then we’re told to conform and fit into this neat little perfect box if we want to be successful. Sadly, most of us do just that,” Taylor says. “At this point in my life I am so over it and refuse to water myself down to fit any sort of narrative. I’m no longer sugar-coating my life experiences to make a softer, more commercial lyric. I think there’s so many women out there who need fearlessly honest songs again.”

Taylor has provided them with Land of the Forgotten. She’s also provided one of the best albums of the year.   

With the upcoming release of his newest EP Trailer Trash, Nashville-by-way-of-Kentucky crooner Adam Chaffins not only pulls listeners into the raw, unvarnished reality of everyday American life, he also offers a uniquely personal Appalachian perspective that is equal parts poetic and unflinching. It’s the kind of music that doesn’t only demand to be heard; it insists on being felt.

Growing up along the famed US23 County Music Highway, music was as much a part of Chaffins’ youth as the mountains, where country music, top 40 radio and singing in church was his early training. Spending his childhood in a double-wide trailer was the inspiration behind the project’s title track. “Would you wanna get taken out by trailer trash... What would your daddy say” is offset by “But underneath that double-wide siding lives a heart of gold that’s beating” – an invitation to look beyond the surface to see the truth and value of other human beings.

“Whether a person grew up in a double-wide, a shack or a project, they don’t deserve to be defined by some pre-conceived notion of who they are,” Chaffins said. “Every person has worth, and I hope this song is an encouragement – or even an anthem – to encourage them to be confident in who they are and what they want to accomplish in life.”

Chaffins is living proof of this, moving to Nashville immediately after he graduated armed with a flatbed trailer that contained all of his belongings. He quickly became a highly sought after session musician, lending his talents to an array of boundary-pushing projects. He was a member of the renegade bluegrass band Town Mountain, shared the stage with icons like Billy Strings and Lee Ann Womack and earned a coveted SESAC songwriting achievement award for his work with the GRAMMY-winning group The Infamous Stringdusters. He performed multiple times on the Grand Ole Opry, late night TV and at major music festivals around the world. But as much as he thrived supporting others, Chaffins knew he needed to tell his own story.

His February 2020 debut solo album, Some Things Won’t Last, was born from the constant advancement of his music and a lifetime of writing songs. Life, however, isn’t predictable and neither is a COVID pandemic.

“In February, I was excited to be planning my tour, but by March, the world had shut down,” Chaffins recalls. “By November, I was working in the mud with a stranger under another stranger’s deck, trying to shore up a sinking foundation. With only a couple pieces of wood and a few inches between my head and the sagging deck, my cohort said, ‘It’s days like today that make me rethink my life choices.’ I couldn’t have agreed more.”

The pandemic might have derailed his album, but it sharpened his personal resolve. Out of the uncertainty, Chaffins found a new road and new music. Collaborating with fellow artists, Chaffins penned the five songs of Trailer Trash, sharing his new-found perspectives and directions.

“Little Bit At A Time” became both his personal mantra and a testament to perseverance. “That mountain was never coming down to me. I had to get up and climb. Me, I’m fine getting all I need, A little bit at a time”, words carrying the weight of 15 years spent grinding it out in an industry that rarely gives out handouts. When Chaffins had his first meeting with Spirit Music, he played a couple songs on an acoustic guitar while sitting on a piano bench and recalls how he expected Music Row’s typical “Thanks, we’ll call you,” which generally fizzles. But the legendary producer and CEO Frank Rogers offered Chaffins a deal on the spot, telling Chaffins, “I think I’ve only offered a deal to someone I just met three times.” He went on to add that the other two were Chris Stapleton and Josh Turner. With Rogers at the helm and sessions unfolding at the storied Sound Emporium, Trailer Trash took shape as something more than a record – it became a statement. “Living ’Til My Dying Day”, a candid reckoning with recklessness and the shifting priorities of maturity, confronts his past and embraces his future, offering a mix of introspection, grit, hope and realism. It is joined by “Dive Bar Moses”, which features a groove that rivals the timeless cool of classic Steve Miller band tracks. And then there’s ”Kentucky Girl,” a love letter to the tough, radiant women from the mountains back home and one in particular – Brit Taylor, his fellow Kentuckian, songwriting partner, collaborator and wife.

“I left home to chase my dreams of making music and seeing the world,” Chaffins said. “I figured if I ever found a partner, she’d be from somewhere besides the hills where I grew up. But a friend from Alaska introduced me to his friend from Kentucky, and I met my future wife in Nashville, although we grew up just miles apart.” With “Kentucky Girl”, Chaffins said, “I wanted to take the listener by the banks of the Big Sandy River – through hills and hollers – where the earth grows the best green beans, people and the kind of love that the rest of the world could never offer.”

Music is the language that the multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter Adam Chaffins uses to tell his story. He is an alchemist who takes personal experiences, heartbreaks and triumphs and turns them into something deeply personal. In Trailer Trash, he just doesn’t write about the American dream – he dissects it, reclaims it and redefines it on his own terms.