Nashville, TN-based/Haynesville, LA-born country-roots artist Chris Canterbury released a new song “Sweet Maria” from his forthcoming album Quaalude Lullabies. Listen to the new single HERE.
“’Sweet Maria’ is the only ‘love song’ on the album,” Canterbury says. “I felt like the record needed a break from the rain. It’s a song about driving. But it’s more about finding.”
The lush ballad was co-written with Vinnie Paolizzi, features gorgeous duet harmonies with Meg McRee, and is exemplary of Canterbury’s craft with lyrics and sentiment: “Blacktop rhythm, billboard signs / See Rock City every fifteen miles / Hand in hand through highs and lows / Keepin time with the radio.” The song pairs nicely with previously released singles from the album: the electrified groove of “Heartache For Hire” (LISTEN) and the stripped-down soul of the lead single, “The Devil, The Dealer & Me” (LISTEN). Quaalude Lullabies – released via Rancho Deluxe Records, distributed by BFD/The Orchard – is a collection of nine beautifully told narratives blending Canterbury’s distinct and raw country-soul sound, a deft attention to lyrical detail, and Chris’s big ol’ voice.
Born and raised in the piney woods outside of Haynesville, Louisiana, Chris Canterbury comes from the grimy remnants of a small oil patch town, a way of life that is slowly fading but still lingers in the songs he sings. Born to a working-class blue-collar family, Canterbury struggled to find the middle ground between his grandfather’s Southern Baptist sermons and the honky-tonk mystics that he discovered on old vinyl records in high school. Armed with an old thrift shop guitar, he began playing and writing stories about life from a unique but oddly familiar point of view. Songs about liquor stores, truck stops, low-rent motels, and the grifters and transients that frequent them. It doesn’t matter if it’s a pool hall or a theater, a festival or a front porch, Chris’s live sound is the whiskey-laden prospectus that anyone with a struggle can relate to.
Chris Canterbury 2022 Tour Dates
September 28 – Nashville, TN – The Basement – ALBUM RELEASE SHOW
September 29 – Knoxville, TN – Blue Plate Special
September 30 – Cayce, SC – Steelhands Brewing
October 2 – Charlotte, NC – The Evening Muse