Self-described as a Piedmont Appalachian Noise Maker, Chattanooga local Americana and alt-country singer-songwriter, Cody Landress-Gibson, is set to release his new album, Music to Get By On, with a special album release show at Cherry Street Tavern this Friday, September 11th, featuring special guests Cody Bolden & The Roadhands and Dalton Mills.
Landress-Gibson started young, playing guitar at age thirteen before performing in the punk scene in North Georgia, where he grew up. However, with over two decades of performing and writing his own music, he always seems to drift back to roots music.
Cody’s songs carry real emotion, with an emphasis on storytelling. He tackles the realities of getting by in Appalachia, relationships, and everyday life, all drawing from his own personal life experiences while blending elements of alt-country and Americana to create an old-time sound that still feels fresh and different.
His latest album, Music to Get By On, showcases his songwriting prowess and his ability to create an Americana soundscape that is unique to him, full of beautiful instrumentation, including what sounds like lap steel guitar, tender acoustic fingerpicking with delicate pull-offs and hammer-ons that create a warm, fireside vibe.
The nine song record is being released on Coyote Yelp Records on September 11th, and it is an impressive outing for Landress-Gibson, showcasing his evolution since his first EP, Beginner’s Luck, released in 2018. Tracks like “At Least Tomorrow," are quite beautiful, like a warm cup of coffee gazing out at the sunrise in the morning, and are an example of one of the more tender Americana love songs on the record.
Other songs, like “Can’t Sit Still," are more upbeat, with stripped down vocals and an old time feel, incorporating harmonica, with lyrics that dissect themes like anxiety and restlessness, which is what the album does so well. It often possesses very catchy choruses intermixed with lyrics that tackle the harsh realities of everyday life, like dread, anxiety, and heartbreak.
The album ends with one of the best songs on the entire record, "Baptized in the Flood,” featuring a beautiful fiddle and light guitar, before Landress-Gibson tackles how home can feel far away at times for all of us, sifting through memories and, as Cody sings, “decades swept away in less than a day,” dissecting how we pine for the past so often, and how quickly time can sweep away the memories we have of some of our best days.
In speaking with Landress-Gibson about his new album, how his songwriting has grown since his first EP, and what this new album says about him as a songwriter at this point in his career, he detailed trying to stay true to his own life and writing about what he knows, and that right now he feels more free in his songwriting than ever before.
“I’ve always tried to create music that was from me, whether that be observations of things occurring around me or personally happening to me. I don’t want to put out a song on something I hardly know anything about. I try to stay true and real with myself and the listeners. Also, I think the simplicity of punk rock from an early age kept me focused on simpler ways to write and express myself.
Right now I feel more free about writing than I did in the past, and most of that is from personal life experiences that occurred over the course of the year prior to starting to record. Things happened that put life into perspective for me, and alleviated pressure I had put on myself for my art. Fingers crossed, the songs just keep getting better from here.”
When asked what it means to him to be a homespun Chattanooga local musician, he mentioned the city as being a magical place, and that to him it entails putting in hard work, as our scene can often get overlooked with Atlanta and Nashville close by.
“To be a Chattanooga musician to me means to put in hard work. We are so close to Nashville and Atlanta that I think we kinda get glossed over because those are major music cities so close to us. Our independent music community is flourishing, growing, and supportive; it's beautiful. It seems like there is an energy right now behind the folk, country, and Americana scenes in town that can’t be matched. There are tons of great players with good attitudes here, and it makes you want to be involved, and honestly pushes me to be better at my craft.”
In speaking on his plans for the next few years, Cody mentioned playing a few more shows this year while working slowly and diligently on writing a batch of songs for a new record, and that he is especially excited to get back out on the road again in this next chapter of his journey.
“After this release we have some shows coming up for the remainder of the year in and out of town. I’m still dabbling in my metal band and other projects I have going on. I’m hashing out a few runs next year for this solo project as well. I’ve been writing songs to get together a batch for another record, but I’m not forcing it to happen at a certain time. I’m letting the songs come at their own pace, but another record will be in the future. If I had to guess, maybe 2028. I’m hoping to get out on the road and write more in this next chapter.”
Cody Landress-Gibson Album Release Show.
- Friday, September 11.
- Cherry Street Tavern. 719 Cherry St, Chattanooga
- 9 p.m. $10.
- facebook.com/cherrystreettavernchattanooga