There's something about the Texas Panhandle that inspires great country music. From the Flatlanders to Pat Green, there's a long line of artists who've used music to fill the vast, sometimes lonely spaces of west Texas. The Panhandle-based country duo Shotgun Rider, made up of Logan Samford and Anthony Enriquez, follows in that great tradition.
Shotgun Rider has spent the past few years paying their dues in Texas and Oklahoma dive bars and building a steady following of Red Dirt country fans. Now signed to Thirty Tigers, the duo is gearing up to release their debut album Palo Duro (out March 30).
Ahead of the release, Shotgun Rider shared "Steady As She Goes," an infectious, sweeping country love song made for two-stepping around a Texas dance floor. The song is a perfect introduction to the duo who grew up on a steady diet of '90s country radio and country-fried southern rock and cite George Strait and Kings of Leon as their greatest influences.
"I love the feel good vibe of it. I wanted to write a two-step 'let's fall in love' song, but lyrically paint that idea against a West Texas sunset — like metaphors for each other," Anthony Enriquez tells Wide Open Country. "It's one of those rare songs that only took a couple hours to write and was finished in a couple takes in the studio. It felt like it just fell into place on its own."
"This is a very laid back tune and mentions a lot of characteristics associated with the panhandle of Texas. Singing this song really strikes home with me," Logan Samford adds. "Definitely it's one of the more traditional sounding songs on this record and growing up listening to '90s country influenced me on what direction I wanted to take on vocally."
Shotgun Rider is currently on tour across Texas and Oklahoma.
