Stream: Sam Outlaw, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’

Daiana Feuer on June 10th, 2015

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California has a rich country music history. While it may not always or ever be at the forefront of the hip and cool, it’s been rumbling at the fringes of L.A. life for as long as there’s been booze, broken hearts and sunsets to sing about. Every once in a while someone announces a country revival, but ask anyone who has been hanging around Grand Ole Echo over the last 10 years and they’ll agree, how can you revive something that never dies? It’s always there, in the minds and ten-gallon hats of part-time cowboys lurking in the corners, waiting for everyone else to catch on. All that aside, there seems to be a bubbling to the mainstream surface for Sam Outlaw lately, and he might be able to usher in some attention to other great local country players. Having lived in California most his life, Sam Outlaw’s love for West Coast roots music oozes out of every song on his new album, “Angeleno” (out June 9 on Six Shooter Records). Recorded in Los Angeles, the album features Bo Koster (My Morning Jacket), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers), Chuy Guzmán (Linda Ronstadt), and legendary guitarist Ry Cooder, who produced the whole thing. It’s an album with a strong California theme running through it. The mariachis on lead track “Who Do you Think You Are” affirm a privileged position SoCal music heritage maintains. Our country music isn’t just from Bakersfield or Laurel Canyon, etc. Our roots stretch to the tequila soaked cantinas and ranches of Mexico and Baja. The song is about falling in love with a sexy woman on a night out in Mexico and getting rejected. Ouch. But the best country songs are always served with a side of heartache.

||| Stream: ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’