Todd Grebe & Cold Country Shine on New Album Citizen

Johnny Horton’s Gone to Alaska is one of my favorite songs, and was used in one of Duke’s most entertaining movies, but Alaska is not where I’d first look for classic country music, but from the last frontier Todd Grebe & Cold Country bring us a throwback to the stylings of traditional Country music, built on a foundation of bluegrass reminiscent of the great Bill Monroe. With a mix of humourous songs along with heartbreak and loss, this is the kind of music for sawdust dance floor sashaying, boot slapping, and beer drinking.

In these declining days of Country music, it is so refreshing to hear real country music in my ears. If the legends are watching from above they’re well pleased, Todd Grebe & the talented musicians that comprise Cold Country are the real deal and Citizen should be an album everyone’s talking about.

Recorded at The Butcher Shoppe studio in Nashville with Grammy-award winning recording engineer David Ferguson, famous for his work with Johnny Cash, maybe we can hope we’ve crossed the rubicon and Country music moves toward this direction and Todd Grebe & Cold Country will be our North star.

Track List
01 Criminal Style
02 Box Of Wine
03 Luckiest Man Here On Earth
04 More Than A Love Song
05 Citizen
06 Brown Hair
07 Ain’t That Fine<
08 Living A Lie
09 Nothing Left To Lose
10 Let’s Make Love For Christmas
11 Here’s Wishing To You
12 You’ll Never Find Me

Todd Grebe & Cold Country are based out of the wilds of Alaska, where for years they ruled the bluegrass scene in this state. Todd’s wife and musical partner, Angela Oudean, was a key member of famed Alaska bluegrass band Bearfoot for years (Todd joined Bearfoot as well), and though it may be a surprise to some that the music they make now is hard-driving, electrified honky-tonk at its core, the truth is that there’s a strong current that unites bluegrass and country. As a songwriter, Grebe crafts songs that stick with you, and though his clever wordplay as a songwriter is a key element, it’s the rough sheen to his voice that makes this music so country and so beautiful. Grebe’s got a voice tinged with the dust of the American West and the grit of Southern living, the kind of voice that first made country music great.

After a sucessful kickstarter campaign, Todd Grebe & Cold Country rolled into The Butcher Shoppe studio in Nashville to work with Grammy-award winning recording engineer David Ferguson, famous for his work with Johnny Cash, and dove deep into a more electrified country sound. Cold Country alum Nate May traded in his mandolin for a telecaster, and Larry Atamanuik (Alison Krauss) jumped on the drums. Bassist Mike Bub (Del McCoury, Ashley Monroe) came on to co-produce the album and play bass, and special guests were invited, like pedal steel wizard Steve Hinson (George Jones), renowned Nashville session pianist Jimmy Wallace, and guitarist Megan McCormick (Jenny Lewis). Todd and Angela led the parade, trading off harmonies on the songs, and bringing Angela’s hard-driving fiddle to the fore.