Kashus Culpepper knows better than anyone about the range of styles and influences evoked in his music, but he wants to make one thing clear from the start. “No matter what music you’re hearing, I’m just a Southern boy at heart,” Culpepper tells Rolling Stone. “That’s who I am. I was born and raised in Alabama, and there’s nothing I can change about that.”
For fans already invested in the 28-year-old Culpepper’s backstory — a former firefighter and EMT who got his musical start fronting cover bands while enlisted in the Navy — his debut album, Act I, out now, is one of the hotly-anticipated records of the year. For the rest of country music, it will be an introduction to Culpepper’s blend of old-school country, soul, R&B, and Southern rock.
Equally important, in his mind, is that the record is a true-to-life journey through the years leading up to its release, with Culpepper at the helm.
“Act I is a good time stamp for my life,” he says. “It’s a good introduction to myself as an artist, my songwriting, and helping with producing and with the record. That’s what I wanted from this record — to show people that there’s different sides of me, sonically, songwriting-wise, everything.”
The 18-track album — 17 original songs plus an intro track — showcases those sides. Culpepper is front and center, save for a pair of guest appearances from Marcus King and Sierra Ferrell. He co-wrote every song with time-tested and proven cohorts like Natalie Hemby, Brent Cobb, Foy Vance, Anderson East, and Rhett Akins, as well as a few collaborations with Brian Elmquist, who produced the record, splitting the recording between the Garage in Inglewood in Nashville and Ivy Manor Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
That latter location is important to Culpepper. He hails from Alexander City, depending on your perspective, either a small city or large town in east-central Alabama. He grew up singing in children’s choir in church and absorbing as much music as he could, from every genre he could. Early on, he understood the history of Muscle Shoals and its importance to the music in his home state.
“When I got into music, I decided that, if I ever got an opportunity to record in Muscle Shoals, I’m recording in Muscle Shoals,” he says. “Because my biggest idols and influences recorded in Muscle Shoals. Whether that be Aretha Franklin, Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones. I wanted to feel that same energy and same type of spirit that they had.”
Culpepper started writing songs relatively late in life, in 2023. Before that, he says, he was just living. He’d already been a firefighter, serviceman, and cover band leader at that point, catching his first musical break when his cover of Tyler Childers’ “Messed Up Kid” went viral on social media. Label interest followed, and Culpepper eventually landed with Big Loud, with Act I doubling as his debut for the outfit. He also began cowriting.
“Every songwriter that’s on this, they let me just tell my story. They didn’t tell me, ‘You need to do this. You need to do that.’ I came in and said this is what I’m talking about today. They never said, ‘No, Kash, we need to do it this way because that’s what’ll make a hit,’” he says. “They told me to do what I want to do.”
One of the things he wanted to do was draw directly upon the life he led. “Southern Man” — which features King on slide guitar — is as much a declaration of who he is as it is a Southern rock jam. On another tune, “Alabama Beauty Queen,” he explores a one-time infatuation he had with a schoolmate who, in the song at least, left his hometown for New Orleans, “praying that Pontchartrain rain gonna wash her clean.”
“On the outside — like, in high school and middle school — they were the picture-perfect person,” he says of his hometown. “They were cheerleaders. They were basketball stars. They were football stars. They were math geniuses or whatever. But, back home, they had shit going on, and we didn’t figure it out until we left high school.
“Everybody in my class in high school left my hometown. This one particular person that I was writing about, she was on the dance team. She was all this, and she was great. But, back home, it was not great. She wanted to leave. She didn’t go, particularly, to New Orleans, but I had to mask that for her. I couldn’t say exactly where she was going.”
While Culpepper was growing as a writer, he was also building a fanbase. He had turned heads in his cover band in cities like Biloxi, Mississippi, honing his live show. Once he had Big Loud in his corner, though, he suddenly found himself playing original music to crowds of thousands.
It caused some imposter syndrome to set in, until Charles Wesley Godwin, his Big Loud labelmate, set him straight.
“In the back of my head,” Culpepper says, “I was like, ‘I don’t know that I can do this, bro. I’ve been doing this cover band stuff for so long. Yeah, I have friends that tell me that I can make it, but that is not enough for me to truly believe in myself.’
“For me, that happened when I opened up for Charles Wesley Godwin. I’m literally onstage and no one knows who I am, and I get done with the show, and I start talking to Charles, and I ask, ‘Why am I on this stage with you?’ He goes, ‘Man, I just love your music.’ I don’t know, it hit me in a certain type of way. I didn’t feel like I deserved to be there, and every artist I’ve opened up for since then has helped me get to where I’m like, ‘Maybe I can do this.’”
What “this” is, for Culpepper, is still evolving, but the potential is undeniable. He was already named to the OpryNext class of 2025 and listed as one of the artists to watch in the same year from grammy.com. Once Act I is out, he’s going full-bore in support of the LP. He has a slot at Mile 0 Fest in Key West next week, and a February run opening for Wyatt Flores in Australia to go along with U.S. dates supporting Eric Church and Charley Crockett. He also has a headlining tour of clubs on the books for the winter and spring.
He predicts that’ll help address the question of where exactly his eclectic music fits best.
“What is this?” Culpepper says. “I don’t know what it is. I’m going to let my fans describe it.”
Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose book (Almost) Almost Famous will be released April 1 via Back Lounge Publishing.
