Rayland Baxter Evolves and Elevates

All of those sublime breadcrumbs of pop Rayland Baxter has dropped for us within his last few records have finally led us to the dreamy, Technicolor world of his latest release, Wide Awake. A nod to the kind of classic melodic pop rock of the Beatles and Nilsson, Wide Awake is Baxter fully blossoming from the folk singer bud we’ve come to know into a full-blown master of pop music. There were always hints of this sensibility – we saw his gift for catchy choruses on past songs like “The Mtn Song,” “All in My Head” and “Freakin’ Me Out” – but Wide Awake leans into this sound with bigger, lush arrangements.  

Baxter has been a Nashville fixture for years, putting out two solid records: his folksy debut Feathers & Fishhooks and 2015’s follow-up, Imaginary Man. On the latter, we heard him continuing to explore, polish, and evolve his sound, particularly moving from acoustic to electric. With Wide Awake, the transformation is even more apparent. Thanks in large part to a three-month stint holed up in an old rubber band factory in Kentucky, Baxter was able to focus intensely on his songwriting. He emerged more fully realized, and that self-assurance comes through in every single note on Wide Awake.

Baxter has always laid out vibrant, whimsical narratives in his songs, creating fantastical characters and injecting his own wonderful oddball sense of humor into their stories. Wide Awake is no exception, with its focus on our inner dialogues and how they push us to act, or to stay hidden away. The melodies sparkle on songs like the moseying, piano-laden “Hey Larocco” and the soaring, sun-drenched “Everything To Me.” Baxter channels the dystopian experience on “Strange American Dream” and “79 Shiny Revolvers,” and then strips it all away on the quieter troubadour moment “Let It All Go Man.” Baxter’s clear, bright vocals and his passion for humanity are more elevated than ever by the shimmering production of Wide Awake.