Blue Water Highway is an Austin-based Americana/folk rock band. Their signature is considered songwriting across a variety of styles, but always melodic, with fantastic harmony singing. Musically timeless, there are elements of Laurel Canyon songwriting, focussing on lyrics, which can tell stories or set a mood. Fans of Jackson Browne, Counting Crows, and with the female vocal harmonies, Fleetwood Mac, will find much to enjoy.
Active since 2013, their first release was the Blue Water Highway Band EP, six tracks of country tinged folk rock, which whilst not yet fully formed, set the template for the kind of music that would develop. Blue Water Highway as a band was formed around the core of Zack Kibodeaux and Greg Essington, childhood friends who named the group after their local highway that ran from the mouth of the Brazos River to Galveston. Whilst Kibodeaux and Essington were and remain the main songwriters, 2013 also saw Catherine Clarke and Kyle Smith join the band, and these four have been the constants in the band ever since. Kibodeaux and Clarke had both studied opera, which whilst not a direct influence on their style, goes some way to explain the musicality that is brought to the arrangements.
2015 saw the release of their first full-length album, Things We Carry. This album saw the continued development of their sound, whilst broadening the lyrical content to cover depression from the loss of a child to the more familiar positive songs of romance and love. This is the album that brought them to my attention, albeit later than intended. It was made available for free or a donation on Noisetrade when that was at its height. I got hooked on Noisetrade and downloaded a range of tracks, EP’s and LP’s from new bands recommended to me, forgetting the basic challenge that I rarely find time to listen to downloads, much preferring physical product. I eventually made that time and listened to the album and (mimes face palming) discovered a gem in this album. I immediately started looking to see what else was available by them. To give some idea as to the depth of my embarrassment (and my sincere apologies to the band who deserved better), the next full-length album HeartBreak City (2018) was already available when I started looking.
Heartbreak City is where the recognisable sound of Blue Water Highway really began to come together. The opener Groovin’ set the standard for the vocal harmonies and instrumental hooklines. North of LA, developed that style and is one I sing along to every time. Heartbreak City is an album dripping in class and a CD that I played over and again. Some sources quote this as the definitive Blue Water Highway album ( although I think better was to come) and the band followed it up with a download only all acoustic version of the album in 2019 – which demonstrates ably the strength of the material was in the songwriting not the arrangement or production.
To the band this may have felt like an early peak, as when they began to plan and write their next album they found themselves bereft of inspiration; what did they want to write about, and how did they want to sound? The way forward was suggested when Kibodeaux found the lyrics of an earlier song Paper Airplanes, which contrasted adult realities and childhood dreams and he felt summarized the growing pains of the band at that time. A succession of songs quickly followed and they headed to Nashville to record with Cason Cooley. The producer helped them build and flesh out soundscapes, including swathes of acoustic guitar and synths, which modernised their sound. The album, named Paper Airplanes after that inspirational track, was released in 2021. Every track on this album is a fully realised classic. Favourites include the title track, the emotion charged Funny Man written the day after the death of Robin Williams had been on the news and the final track, All Will be Well, which attempted to bring balanced optimism to a challenging world. Self released as Heartbreak City had been, I ordered my copy direct from the band’s website and received it signed by the key four members of the band. This attention to detail and support of the fanbase has continued to resonate from the band with regular email updates and access to unique covers and tracks on streaming.
Year of the Dragon followed in 2023 and is a noticeably darker album lyrically, picking up the southern gothic tropes of fast cars, rock and roll, chain gangs and delta blues, adding some welcome grit to their signature soulful style. Kibodeaux explains gnomically, “It’s an album about what happens when a dragon comes to town”, going on to say that it melds the southern gothic world with the fairytale world of Knights, Queens and Dragons. Natural Man, serving as the villains theme tune is contrasted by Old School, the hero song about Kibodeaux’s policeman father. The Appalachian influenced A Gun is a Killing Tool served notice of their grittier direction along with the heavier blues rock of Tears on a Hardwood Floor.
Their most recent album, released in 2025, is Waiting on a Wonder. This is a beautiful, quite mellow album in direct contrast to Year of the Dragon. Kibodeaux has spoken openly about his wife’s cancer battle (thankfully now reported as being in remission) and this may have had an impact on the songs he was writing and the style and sound of the band.
Whilst they tour the states regularly both headlining and in support to the likes of Bob Seger, Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Johnny Lang, to my knowledge they have not crossed to the UK. Their albums are difficult to get hold of if you want physical copies, and even those that were available as download through bandcamp are not still there, but they are on streaming and absolutely reward the search. To paraphrase the title of the article, this is a band you really should know about if you love melody, harmonies, stylistically diverse articulate songwriting, fantastic musicianship and vocals.
