Charleston-based country-rockers Blue Dogs celebrate good friends and good vibes on "The Good Ones," the latest release from the band's forthcoming album Big Dreamers (out June 3), produced by Sadler Vaden.
Band member Bobby Houck said he immediately connected with the song's message and groove.
"This was a song that Phillip Lammonds introduced to the band before our annual Charleston Music Hall show in 2018. He wrote it with an amazing and successful Nashville songwriter Casey Beathard," Houck tells Wide Open Country. "Phillip always has a few new tunes in his pocket, and I guess we were just lucky that this song was in the pile of songs he was considering for his guest spot at our show. I immediately fell in love with the sound, the groove, and the message. It felt very "Blue Dogs" right away, and when we rehearsed it the day of the show, it already felt like it had a bit of the stamp that Phillip, Hank and I had from back when we started playing together in 1990. Since we started playing it live ourselves, I noticed right away that the audience starts smiling and nodding within the first 10 seconds of the song. It hits a lot of buttons for us and our fans. It's got a touch of nostalgia mixed in as it celebrates the good things and people in life that you don't or won't forget."
Watch the video for "The Good Ones" below.
Big Dreamers, the band's first album in 16 years, features appearances by Jerry Douglas and Radney Foster.
"We still have something to say. We can write good songs that we like, knowing other people will like them too," Houck says in a press statement. "We've got a lot more to do, more places to play, and maybe bigger places to play. Because of this album, we get to live this dream longer than we thought."
For Vaden, producing the Blue Dogs' album is a full-circle moment. The producer and guitarist used to play with the band as a teenager.
"Any time I hear the Blue Dogs, it takes me home to the Carolinas," Vaden says in a statement. "I feel like they have never gotten the recognition outside of South Carolina and the Southeast circuit. So, I hope this album can get them out there a bit more and gain some new fans who will look back at their legacy as well. These guys deserve the type of record we made."
