When A Thousand Horses were touring behind their 2015 Number One country single “Smoke,” the band brought along a drummer, a keyboardist, and three female backup singers to every show, somehow managing to squeeze nine people onstage. At the time, Rolling Stone likened them to a country Lynyrd Skynyrd, but it’s a much different and leaner Horses that released the new album The Outside last week.
Their deal with a Nashville major label is ancient history, the backup singers are long gone, and, most notably, original guitarist Zach Brown exited the group last year to be closer to family, leaving singer Michael Hobby, guitarist Bill Satcher, and bassist Graham DeLoach to ride on. You could say the band is a few horses shy of their name.
But there’s nothing lacking on The Outside, a sturdy, melodic country-rock record that shows what’s possible when a band is brave enough to make music not from the POV of where they were, but where they are now: on the outside looking in. Over 11 tracks, A Thousand Horses write and sing about letting go, perseverance, and heartbreak in a vulnerable way that often escaped the group when they were chasing country radio hits.
Which isn’t to say none exist here. Produced by Jon Randall, who’s overseen albums by equally gritty artists like Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley, The Outside, released on the band’s own Highway Sound Records, has a few tunes that would fit nicely on a “cool country” playlist.
“Roll On” is a plea for a lover to ghost their current relationship and start fresh like “we always talked about.” Satcher’s slide playing is especially emotive here, matching the hope in Hobby’s voice that he just might — finally — reunite with the one that got away. Perhaps it’s the same girl he pines for in “Summer,” a hooky “na-na-na” singalong that flips the title to be about a name and, thankfully, not about the season.
“Goin’ Down,” meanwhile, is an easygoing party ballad in the vein of Zac Brown Band, with lyrics about whiskey, hangouts in the woods, and shout-outs to solid country gold on the speakers. It’s a little thin, but Hobby succeeds in selling the nostalgia. The frontman is singing more naturally than ever, in stark contrast to the compressed whine he sometimes used circa “Smoke.”
But two songs in particular embody this latest chapter of A Thousand Horses. “Room Full of Strangers,” a drinking song written by Hobby and Chris Stapleton, suggests the dark days of the band, when the future was uncertain and they had few in their corner. “That’s how you find out/you’re really alone,” Hobby sings, “when a room full of strangers/starts feeling like home.”
The title track has shades of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers heartland rock, and captures the group at their most self-assured and defiant. “I’m done keeping it between the lines/ain’t trying to be anything I ain’t,” goes the chorus. It’s their own “I Won’t Back Down” declaration.
