For the Virginia country rock band, sometimes the plan goes as intended, and sometimes it doesn’t.
The Castlewood, Virginia-based six-piece band 49 Winchester’s sixth album and first under its new deal with MCA Records isn’t embarrassing or anything. The 10-track effort is just sort of there. You could pick out the signs as the album ground on. Hitting rock bottom? Check. Three songs about pining for a girl? Check. Coal mines? Broken families, broken hearts, Another day, another dollar, Another trip down in the dark. That’s a check. Going through the changes? Sure enough. Quitting drinking? Check again. Trying to make it picking guitar? Check please.
49 Winchester really only loosened up on Bringin’ Home the Bacon (co-written by lead vocalist Isaac Blaine Gibson and Aaron Raitiere), breaking out some broad accent work and a little comic confidence on running drugs (the bacon), hitting it up Little Feat style, Mexico to Macon, Tullahoma back to Timbuktu. Here, the band breaks free of what is assumed to be the time-honoured game plan of song topics for southern rockers and taps into a tune that is more fun and interesting than the rest. But the otherwise uniformly and unremarkable choices leave you yawning like a heavy metal rocker stranded in Cottonwood, Kansas (a lovely town). After all, one of the tracks is a cover of Black Sabbath’s Changes.
They could literally be any one of a thousand bands, but come across as sort of a Black Crowes lite on tracks like All Over Again and Pardon Me, or leaning toward Muscadine Bloodline on the simplistic heartbreakers, Bluebird and Oh Savannah, where falling in love is like falling off a cliff.
There is no doubt they are very good instrumentally, and Gibson’s vocals are seriously soulful, but the band is so committed to bland competence, they have really robbed themselves and listeners of the spectacle of truly nailing it on record. It continues here, as I found myself casting back through lyrics in search of details of songs I’d just heard but could barely recall.
Change of Plans was helmed by GRAMMY-winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson) at his recording studio in Savannah, GA. It follows the usual “critically acclaimed” previous releases, shaped by years on the road and an unwavering commitment to authenticity with their signature Appalachian grit. The band is known for their electrifying live shows and a dedicated fanbase. All well and good. And maybe that is good enough. It obviously prompted the execs at MCA to sign them to a contract.
This year, 49 Winchester kicked off their US headline tour on February 5 (2026) in Oxford, MS. Along with headlining dates, the band will be supporting Eric Church and Tim McGraw throughout 2026 across the country. Opening for those singers puts them squarely in the Nashville country spotlight and perhaps will bring them a wider audience.
Whatever juice this band has was squeezed out before this album. It’s a rare record indeed that can endure repetition when robbed of the element of surprise, and this one ain’t one. You know what you’re getting by this point, and if you’re a fan, get eager for more hard-hitting future instalments. They probably haven’t kamikazed their career, and maybe even enhanced it, but that doesn’t mean it’s anything to write home to Virginia about.
It isn’t necessary to trot out all these cynical equivocations when you are spurred to write something critical. It’s not that this music is not good, or what pre-PC was called bad. I think with as much certainty as can be brought to these types of judgments, that after one listen, you might stop nodding off and return to your Sudoku puzzle.
