Lillie Mae – Gary Hayes Country

By Joshua Wallace

Aubrie Sellers is back with the follow up to her 2016 debut record called New City Blues. This new record is called Far From Home and it amps up the garage country style Aubrie introduced in her debut. It goes into more space rock and psychedelic country and fleshes out the style she started with on her debut. I particularly dig this brand of country music and this album has quickly become my favorite of 2020 so far.

The album kicks off with the title track which is a spacey ballad about how we wander aimlessly into loneliness. The melody is the kind of thing you’d normally hear with a fiddle and smooth guitar playing in the background, or in some cases A Capella. However, I really dig the spacey guitar sounds as it creates a feeling of loneliness that echoes the sentiment of the track. Up next is “My Love Will Not Change” which features Steve Earle on a banger of a track that would see lots of radio play if things were right in the current landscape of country music. It has a groovy fuzzy guitar riff and a foot stomping back beat. Steve Earle is a nice feature on the track as trades lines with Aubrie on the second verse. Definitely check this one out when you get a chance.

One of my personal favorites on this album is the track “Glad”. It leans into the fuzzy country rock vibe with heavily distorted guitars and a thick groove that screams cool. It’s a catchy revenge song where Aubrie is glad that an ex broke her heart. The thick riffs and groovy back-beat make for a really good dance-able track with this one. “Troublemaker” leans further into the fuzzy space rock country sound Aubrie is creating on this record. This track has my favorite riff on the album and that creates a fun vibe especially when paired with over cuts like “Glad”. I particularly dig the psychedelic solo work on here and I love the transition back into the next verse. I can’t wait to hear that live. Finally, “Under The Sun” is a great smooth ballad in the later half of the album. It’s still somewhat spacey guitar rock that leans into pop rock and country rock territory. This is another song that should get lots of radio play from this album. I particularly dig the hook in this one and it still has the smooth groovy vibe you get in the rest of the album.

Aubrie Sellers has released a sophomore LP that improves every bit on her debut release which was already a great album in itself. Here, she’s further defining her brand of “garage country” by leaning further into the elements of that sound that made her first album special. This has me looking forward to seeing her band live. I think I will get that chance very soon as she just announced a co-headlining tour with Lillie Mae which kicks off very soon. You can find more info on that at her website. Far From Home is available everywhere as of Friday February 7th, 2020.