A1Great High Mountain
A2The Devil’s Voice
A3The Brim
A4Hollywood Ending
A5Sweet Critters
A6The Garage
B1Heaven Sometimes
B2River Of Fire
B3Knee Deep Blues
B4Kentucky When You Called
B5Mountain Laurel
B6Where We Left Off

Just as the marbled salamanders emerge from under damp logs and leaves, the mushrooms smooth, pearlescent ones and spongy morelsturn on like night lights glowing in the dark, and the long-horned beetles and regal moths begin buzzing. The fiddlehead ferns and trout lilies curl inward, a copperhead slowly swerves, and a fox steps into the moonlight looking for prey. It is here, in that restless middle of the night, under cover of darkness, where Caleb Caudles sixth studio LP Sweet Critters is nestled. Through sometimes shadowy arrangements that creep and lurk, Caudle continues to mine both the brightest and murkiest corners of his imagination, finding that purest of points where tenderness and grit collide, inspired by musical heroes like Buddy Miller and Guy Clark, and mentors like Elizabeth Cook and John Paul White. It was White who Caudle tapped to produce Sweet Critters, along with Ben Tanner, at the duos Florence, Alabama studio Sun Drop Sound. “I was very excited to work with Caleb on this record. I’ve been a fan for years and count him as a friend, White says of working with Caudle. He’s a stellar songwriter, so I knew he’d bring the goods. And he did. The album features Allison Russell, Aoife O’Donovan, John Paul White, and Caudle’s own touring band. These songs are a showcase of Caudles singular command of language. He sees the world through a hyperreal lens wholly unique to him, one that renders dank humidity horsefly heat, a moody sky cast iron skillet dark, or a loved ones wind chime of a smile. For Caudle, details are the last frontier in a world where thousands of new songs are created every day. As such, he weaves his intricate tales of redemption, sacrifice, forgiveness, and loss with the colorful threads of living, breathing characters and all the rich idiosyncrasies and ephemera that fill out their worlds. Caudle and his band have played Stagecoach, Cayamo, Luck Reunion, Mountain Stage, Merlefest, Americanafest, The Long Road (UK), AMAUK (UK), and recently supported Marty Stuart, Steve Earle, Hayes Carll, Elizabeth Cook, Brent Cobb, Charles Wesley Godwin, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and many more.
AFFINITY ARTISTS/RIYL: John Paul White, Aoife ODonovan, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price, Andrew Combs, Tyler Childers.