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King Calaway Midnight EP Review
BBR’s Stoney Creek Records’ popular country music group King Calaway was formed in 2018 and is made up of Chris Deaton, Simon Dumas, Chad Michael Jervis, Austin Luther, and Caleb Miller. King Calaway released a self-titled 5-track EP in January 2019 that was later expanded into a full, hit album Rivers.
The group has charted on Hot Country Songs and they opened for Garth Brooks’ stadium tour in 2019. Midnight is their first 4-track EP release since Jordan Harvey left the group in 2020 and it drops today!
The first track on Midnight “Homegrown” is a busy song to mimic the craziness of life out on the road. This track stays true to King Calaway’s country boy band sound with a strong pop tendency balanced by long, energetic guitar solos. “Homegrown” points to the fun that happens out on the road but highlights and underlines that nothing new could ever be as good as the company of a woman homegrown in a small town.
“Yeah, I been gone for a while seen a lot of different styles but it already tells me what I already know. Tripped out on the New York skyline, knocked ‘em back at a Malibu bonfire. Now I need a little local honey to go. Yeah, it’s been a long road need a little homegrown, little bit of you is all I really need. Some of that small-town company […] You’ve got the moves. You’re kidding me. […] Let’s make a little homegrown.”
“More People” is the second song on the EP and it shifts gears to a slower pace with the careful intention of delivering a pleading message that the world needs more genuinely good people. The chorus is catchy and the vocals harmonize brilliantly to produce a heartfelt song with a worthwhile moral to the story.
“We need more people, more people like that, more people. We need more people, more people like that. More people. […] Your smile could be the reason somebody in the dark starts believing.”
The fourth and final song on Midnight is “Good Time to Me” featuring rising country dynamite Lainey Wilson. This track starts off as country-rock and turns into a super fun party song with some edge to it. The lyrics are all about the sounds heard at a honky-tonk bar that signal the start to a perfect party night.
“And it sounds like a good time like music to my beers, like the soundtrack to a good night that’s all I wanna hear. And I love the sound of neon buzzin’. Whiskey pourin’ in my drink. If it sounds a bit like that it sounds like a damn good time to me. Good time to me. Sounds like a good time to me, sounds like a good time to me. Sounds like a good time to me, sounds like a good time to me.”
The feminine twangy timbre to Wilson’s vocals delightfully contrasts the boy’s fresh, modern sound creating an evolutionary King Calaway vibe.
“Nothing beats the sounds of hands a-clappin’, people packed in a honky-tonk. That’s a party worth a-crashin’ and my ears don’t steer me wrong.”
Midnight is a small but mighty EP with well-crafted lyrics that show off King Calaway’s growth as a country band. As they experiment with their sound and still deliver quality music to their fans, King Calaway is cementing their place as King of country boy bands.
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