Kentucky has always been a hot bed for great music artists going back to the beginning of country’s roots. Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, Tom T Hall, and Dwight Yoakam are the roots of where country has been, and help lay the foundation on which some of the best music has been built. Luckily for us fans of true country, a new breed of music has been fighting it’s way out of Kentucky and back to the mainstream with big names like Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and Tyler Childers on the country front and bands like Magnolia Boulevard and The Watson Twins making waves in their own respective genres.
Tony Logue is another up and coming country singer out of Benton, Kentucky with a gift for storytelling and a name that may one day soon be among the ones listed above. He brings his life experiences and ability to tell a story from his heart to his music. Luckily, he saw my article about another Kentucky powerhouse, Magnolia Boulevard, and sent me a link to his music.
Tony’s latest album is titled Serpent’s & Saviors and he made the trip to Nashvile’s House of David to work on the album with producer Brandon Henegar. Tony says “I actually just went in to do a hand full of songs with just me a a guitar. I’m a huge Springsteen fan, so like Springsteen’s Nebraska is my favorite record. We just added a few hand full of things and that’s basically how it went down.”
The album is 11 tracks and Tony pours his Kentucky roots all over each song. It’s hard to pick one but, a few favorites are “Jenny Ridge”, with classic storytelling reminiscent of the classic “Long Black Veil”. “The Girl From Dead Horse Hollow” is a love story which dives head on into a couple fighting the battle against breast cancer. While each song is not directly autobiographical, a song like “Earnhardt” is loosely based around his father in law but written from a father/son perspective.
The themes of hard work and struggle are both present in songs like “The Storm” and “Hanging by a Thread” without being dramatically overwritten. With Tony’s blend of country music you get a story that could have been pulled from the headlines of the local paper, and none of the trappings of “hit country”. He’s not putting in elements to sound good in a country song, he’s writing honest songs that in turn, sound good and resonate with fans of country music.
When I spoke to Tony on the phone, I could hear in his voice that he’s excited about the prospects that he’s working on, but being a musician is a long hard road. Of his album he says “It’s kind of hard to, just being kind of acoustic it’s kind of hard to market. I don’t know if folks take it very seriously because it’s kind of not a full band or record. I don’t know if folks are going to play it much. It’s been pretty well received and as far as sales… but it’s kind of hard to market. You know it’s a neat project and showcases my songwriting.”
I think that once Tony gets the album out into a few more hands, a lot more people will be playing, and talking about the album. It’s not heavy on instruments but it does showcase Tony, and in my opinion, that’s what this album should be doing for him. He’s not hiding behind layers of instruments or overly produced songs that just offer a beat and a hook to grab your attention. It’s the album that he needs to push into some new areas.
Not yet signed to a label Tony is handling all aspects of his career. He’s married with a family, and still working a regular 9-5, all while pushing hard to get his music off the ground. Luckily he’s got a good partner in his wife Sara and says “My wife is very supportive of what I do and she tries to help me keep rolling, but yeah it’s tough.”
Tony has a few more dates before the end of the year and one really exciting gig is coming up in January. He’s playing Red Barn radio on 1/23/2019 and said “The red barn thing has really grown since Tyler Childer came through there and put out that record. (Live on Red Barn Radio) So I do have that coming up so yeah that’s cool. It’s kind of a right of passage for Kentucky, anybody that’s anybody has played there.”
It will be streamed live the night of the show so luckily, although I’ll be in Iowa, I’ll still get to listen in and hear him make his mark. It’s another in a number of steps to fulfill his goals and I’m anxious to see what next year brings for Tony Logue.
I’ve listed below a number of ways to get to Tony and his music. Check out the new album via soundcloud but also, help support him by grabbing an album or a download through iTunes, Amazon, or any other way you find his music. Shoot him a message and I’m sure he has some CD’s in stock to send out as well.
Red Barn Radio Streaming Stations
Jeremy Glazier 
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