<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603393873446.jpeg" alt="Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By JAMES BELL Hays PostAn unexpected overnight stop in Hays left an indelible mark
on 49 Winchester frontman Isaac Gibson.The up-and-coming Virginia-based band with a unique sound
that incorporates rock 'n' roll, country, blues, bluegrass and soul, plays
tribute to that stop on their new album, "III," released earlier this month.The band formed in 2013, right after Gibson, bass player
Chase Chafin and Bus Shelton graduated high school in what Gibson called a “little
bitty town in the coal field in southwest Virginia.”Despite the rural location and lack of area musicians to
choose from he said.“We had enough buddies that we could wrangle together and
jam some," he said.Dillon Cridlin and Noah Patrick currently round out the group on
drums and steel guitar.As time went on, the band began performing more original
songs and released its first album in 2014.“That’s where it all started,” Gibson said. “Here it is just some high-school buddies that got a hankering
to play some music."It wasn’t long before they were touring the East
Coast.Another album was released, and the band began
receiving more attention with 2020 looking to be a big year with yet another album planned and a larger tour in the works.But then COVID-19 put almost everything on hold.“We had plans to branch out big time this spring and had a
lot of stuff on the books,” Gibson said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603393712764.jpeg" alt="Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Despite the setback, the band released its third album on
Oct. 1 and is promoting as much as possible.“The live music industry is pretty severally hindered by
COVID, but we are getting out there as much as we can do responsibly,” Gibson
said. “We’re staying after it.”The new album reflects the efforts of the band to craft
their unique sound.“It was a big range of stuff,” Gibson said. “I think this is
a much more varied series of songs in terms of what they do emotionally for the
listener.”While holding onto the diversity of sound, he said the album has a distinctly more county music feel than their previous ones. This is most noticeable on the
opening track “Long, Hard Life,” with its driving classic country tone set on
top of an almost funky drum beat and with an even more classic county song, “Why Else
Would I Call You?” But other tracks, like “The Road Home” and “You Never Did
Love Me” slow down and relish in long and slow steel guitar riffs that almost seem
to reflect the process of songwriting for Gibson.“There is nothing that we do musically or lyrically either
one that can be rushed,” he said. “It’s not something that is forced it is
always sort of develops out of nowhere.” Outside of his songwriting, he credits the band’s sound to
having a diverse set of musicians that are empowered to incorporate styles of
music they enjoy into the arrangements, creating a bluesy, country rockabilly
mix that is hard to quantify.“This one is definitely more of a country record than either
of the previous two, but somebody threw the term 'Appalachia soul' on us at one
point and that’s the one that stuck, more than anything. It’s not country music
and it’s not blues music and it’s not rock 'n' roll. “It’s not any of those
things and it is all of those things at the same time.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603393862130.jpeg" alt="Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>That eclectic mix Gibson said comes from a diverse
collection of music styles scraped from a youth on the internet and YouTube,
and a desire to not emulate other bands.“We never tried to sound like anybody,” he said. “You take
five guys that like five different sounds, five different types of music and
have five different backgrounds and you give them freedom to write their parts the
way they want to and you wind up with something that doesn’t sound like
(anybody else). I think that has been a big part of our success so far.”He said growing up with the internet that allowed each of
them to discover a wide range of musical styles and led him to dive into old
blues and country music.“That was a whole different level of inspiration that I had
never heard before and been exposed to in my life that really inspired me to
play and to write the way that I do now,” Gibson said.<div><iframe width="350" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QjMcC0T74Jg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> *NOTE: Song is uncensored</div><h2>'Hays, Kansas'</h2>“It’s a bittersweet connection to the town,” Gibson said
about his time in Hays, the namesake of the seventh track on their 49
Winchester’s newest album, III.He said while promoting the album questions about the origins of the track “Hays,
Kansas” often comes up.The slow swing beat with heavy electric and steel guitar backing
reflect his lyrical portrait of a town where one could escape from the tribulations of
life.He said the inspiration for the song started with a road trip
to California in January with his girlfriend at the time and her grandparents.“Halfway there, the van breaks down in this little town
called Hays, Kansas, and I’m like 'What the hell is Hays, Kansas? Where are we
at?' ” Gibson said.Waiting for parts, the group stayed in town for the night,
but despite efforts to reconcile the fight continued into the next day.“I had a train wreck of a night, a terrible night,” he said.
“We just had a terrible, terrible time.”The song, he said, does not reflect exactly what happened but rather
served as the inspiration for the chorus.And while the stop became a miserable experience, Gibson said he thought fondly of the town.“Even though that place — when I think about it —– the first
thing that enters my mind is huge distress and a pretty traumatic couple of
days,” he said. “But, at the same time, it’s that perfect kind of place, tucked away out in the middle of nowhere. That is exactly the kind of place I
would run to, fly to and go towards when I have days like that anyway.”Even half the country away from home, he said the town that
was&nbsp; completely unknown to him, still had an essence
of the familiar.“The biggest part of it, I think, is that it reminded me of these
little towns back home,” he said.It was different than most of the metropolitan cities that
made up the other stops on the trip.“That little town — although I had a terrible night&nbsp;— it just
sort of felt like home,” he said.<a href="https://49winchester.com/home">More about 49 Winchester, including songs from their latest
album III,&nbsp;can be found on their website 49Winchester.com</a>. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/49winchester">The group is also active on facebook.</a>

Impression of Hays captured on new album