The latest single from Rodney Crowell is a co-write with Ashley McBryde, who also delivers a powerful vocal performance alongside the legendary singer-songwriter. One of the song’s highlights is a superb, dynamic guitar solo from Tyler Bryant, a producer and guitarist with The Shakedown, who has toured with the likes of Black Crowes and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Crowell says of meeting Bryant: “He’s one of the most impressive young men I’ve met in a long time. As soon as I met him, I thought, ‘Let’s go!’ We immediately started going back and forth between my home studio and his, making demos and talking about what we wanted to do.”
‘Taking Flight‘ is a song about the distance that grows between old lovers. The moody black-and-white visual, directed and edited by Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard, matches the feel of the song, which benefits from the interplay between Crowell’s and McBryde’s voices. Crowell has a great voice for storytelling, almost spoken at times in this song, and he draws us in effectively. Crowell says, “Ashley came over to the house to take a swing at writing a song together. ‘Flight’ is a fictional account of a discussion we had about stardom and driving at night in the South. With the exception of the Allman Brothers, I can’t say I was ever a fan of ‘Southern Rock.’ Tyler Bryant’s off-the-cuff solo at the end of the song made me reconsider.”
This is the first single from “Airline Highway”, the upcoming album due to be released on 29th August 2025 via New West Records. Remarkably, this will be Crowell’s 21st album and yet he remains impressively consistent. Produced by Tyler Bryant, the new material is highly anticipated after 2023’s GRAMMY Award-nominated “The Chicago Sessions”. The album features a host of talented musicians, including Tyler Bryant, Ashley McBryde, Lukas Nelson and Larkin Poe. Crowell shares: “This record is a document of me falling in love with these musicians. That’s one of the great perks of this job—falling in love with the people you’re playing with. And we caught that on tape.” With collaborations like these, the album is destined for acclaim and success – look out for it towards the end of summer. In the meantime, check this out.
