Outriders

The term 'keeping it real' is a comfortable fit for Whiskey Myers. Unimpressed by and distancing themselves from the trappings and demands of the music business, they are for themselves and their fans. As singer Cody Cannon says: “I don’t really think about status. We just do what we do.”

- David Sinclair

Cody Cannon sits outside his workshop in Palestine, Texas, talking down the line from a phone propped on his porch.

Behind him lies the flat expanse of East Texas, where hunting, fishing and small-town family life have shaped his every move. He holds a jug at his side. He is polite, measured, even friendly, but sparing with his words. You sense he would much rather be working on his Toad Thumper fishing lure business or tackling a job around the house than explaining himself to the music press.

We hooked up to talk about the new Whiskey Myers album, Whomp Whack Thunder, on which all 11 songs bear a single songwriting credit - in Cannon's name. The singer is quick to insist that this is not some new grand strategy. “Man, you know, John [Jeffers, guitar] writes, and Cody [Tate, guitar] writes,” he says. “And we all get together and we have a lot of songs. And it just kind of worked out that way. It wasn't a plan or anything. It's just how it happened. No matter whose song it is, we always work together as a band. We're very democratic when it comes to the music and the art. If we have a disagreement, we always will play it each person's way. It's never dismissive. As far as the artistic vision is concerned, it's been real easy, man. We all kind of dig pretty much the same stuff. And it just works.”

Although thrust into the spotlight, he seems a reluctant spokesman and you get the impression that a Cody Cannon solo album is an unlikely prospect. What has emerged instead is Whiskey Myers' most ambitious record yet - rich with layered guitars, Southern swagger, country-boy honesty and rock'n'roll conceits. The band performance is everything, and Cannon shrugs off talk of songwriting craft. “I try not to think too much and just channel it,” he says.