Ryan Culwell Releases New Single 'Colorado Blues'

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Ryan Culwell released his new single "Colorado Blues," the opening track off his forthcoming new album Run Like A Bull (out January 28th on Missing Piece Records). It sents the tone of the record right from the outset, a tightrope walk and an emotional tug-of-war from a protagonist who oscillates between regret for his mistakes and gratitude for the man they've made him. Pre-order the new album here.

The track debuted on Apple Music's Record Bin Radio with Kelly McCartney, who stated "I am a big fan of everything Ryan does, so mark your calendars for that [album]."

"Colorado Blues" follows the release of the slow-burning track "Let's Go Crazy," which The Boot called "expertly-penned." Lead single "All I Got" is also out now, a grizzled song that finds satisfaction in burning out rather than fading away.

Recorded with longtime friend and collaborator Neilson Hubbard (Mary Gauthier, Kim Richey), Run Like A Bull is raw and magnetic, channeling Neil Young and Billy Joe Shaver as it searches for a middle ground between release and restraint, impulse and inhibition, recklessness and responsibility. Culwell faces down his own worst instincts, grappling with weighty, existential notions the way Flannery O'Connor might, conjuring up images of alternating beauty and brutality.

In stark contrast to his approach to his previous album The Last American, which was recorded piecemeal over the course of more than a year of deliberate layering and experimentation, Culwell cut the entirety of Run Like A Bull in just four days. He relied on honest, intuitive performances from his all-star bandmates, including Juan Solorzano (Devon Gilfillian, Becca Mancari), Kris Donegan (Rhett Walker, Brett Eldredge) and Will Kimbrough (Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider) along with spare, unfussy production from Hubbard.

Guest vocalists also include Natalie Schlabs, Betsy Phillips, and Caroline Spence. The intimacy is palpable from the outset, but heavy as it may seem at times, Run Like A Bull is at its core a deeply optimistic record. For all the brooding guitars and gut-punch delivery, it's ultimately a testament to the power of human connection and resilience that find hope and gratitude in quiet moments and subtle gestures.

Earlier this year, Ryan Culwell and Aubrie Sellers released a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like A Hole," which Rolling Stone called a "somber, haunted duet." Run Like A Bull follows Culwell's critically acclaimed 2018 LP The Last American, which was embraced by BrooklynVegan, The Boot, NPR's Weekend Edition and many more. Wide Open Country called the album a "poignant masterpiece" and Rolling Stone said, "It took three years for this Texas-born singer-songwriter to follow up his bleak but marvelous LP Flatlands - and this 180 from that 2015 release's spare sound was worth the wait."

Listen to the new single here: