Liz Cooper & the Stampede + Futurebirds

There is a collective energy in Nashville, one that Liz Cooper has poured herself into for the past six years. Liz remarks that the energy in Nashville today is akin to that of Greenwich Village in 1960s New York or the Laurel Canyon days in the 1960s and 1970s and is a product of a collaborative approach to music and art. This community has allowed Liz to be a part of many magically haphazard nights, where the movers and shakers of the Nashville music world, such as Okey Dokey, Becca Mancari, Rayland Baxter, Desert Noises, Morning Teleportation, Erin Rae, Brittany Howard, Cage the Elephant, Michael Nau and many more converge to make music and art and lose track of time. Her latest album is a product of that pulsating energy in Nashville that has had some of the greatest influence in her work.

Window Flowers is the culmination of a year where Liz made a purposeful effort to do something creative every day. Whether it was directly related to music or not, this creative process challenged and inspired her to continually put herself in new situations and pushed her to become a better songwriter and guitar player. The tentative newcomer that is present in her early recordings was all but gone in the making of the album. Her absorption into the collaborative community is evidenced by guest appearances on Window Flowers including Will Brown (Michael Nau) on the keys, Michael and Ben Ford (Airpark) bgv’s/ guitar and songwriting, Gianni Gibson (Future Thieves) percussion, Leah Blevins on BGV’s, Emily Kohavi (Kacey Musgraves, Eminem etc.) on violin and Steve Dawson on pedal steel. Liz Cooper & The Stampede and their guests spent five days tracking Window Flowers at Welcome to 1979 in Nashville, Tennessee. TJ Elias, who co-produced the album with the band, sparked the relationship by approaching Liz one night backstage at The Ryman Auditorium after hearing her songs through a mutual friend and musician, Cody Huggins.

Window Flowers is a collection of music that deals with the weight of mundanity, and politely tells it to fuck off. When listening to “Sleepyhead” you hear remembrances of her early Nashville recordings, mixed with the powerful assertion that this is Liz Cooper, a force that will continue to shape and mold her own course of creating music. Whether you see Liz Cooper & The Stampede in a dive bar or a theater venue, you feel like you are being transported to another time and place. People often remark that her music takes them back to the 60s and 70s, when rock-n-roll felt alive, and bigger than oneself. The album will be released on Sleepyhead Records via Thirty Tigers (Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell) August 10, 2018.

Coming off their busiest year to-date, including playing Austin City Limits Festival for the first time in 2017, Liz Cooper & The Stampede have spent the first few months of 2018 touring with Lord Huron, Deer Tick, Rayland Baxter, Ron Gallo and Blitzen Trapper. The band will continue touring this year with Houndmouth, Tyler Childers and will play Firefly Festival and LouFest.

As Liz shakes her tambourine, hair falling in her face, donning a floral jumpsuit, it is hard to believe she identifies as a shy person. “I wanted to grow as a human and a musician so I had to quickly get over being painfully shy. I moved to Nashville as a scared and unconfident 19 year-old so I had to continually challenge myself and put myself out there. Now, as a 25 year-old I feel like I’ve grown so much confidence. Of course I will always be awkward, but I’m learning to love that. What a journey it’s been and will continue to be; definitely a hot puzzle. As I grow, my music will grow. Music is helping me figure out who I am and what the hell my life is all about and at the end of the day it just makes me happy. Isn’t that what everyone is trying to figure out how to be?”

Rock juggernaut Futurebirds' newest EP, Bloomin' Too, is a benchmark that not only celebrates 13 years together, it's also a testament to the sheer iron will of a group of musicians hungry for the fruits of its labor.

"Futurebirds is the best it's been right now, far and away," says singer/guitarist Carter King. "We've been unintentionally carving out our own space since the beginning, since we never exactly fit in anywhere else musically. We were always too indie rock for the jam festival, too country for the indie scene, a little too psych-rock to feel like we were Americana. The music over the years just kind of created its own weird little ecosystem -- it's thriving and it feels great."

The Athens, Georgia-based group once again tapped storied My Morning Jacket guitarist/producer Carl Broemel in the latest chapter of this seamless, bountiful partnership that initially came to fruition with the 2021 EP, Bloomin.'

"Carl is extremely perceptive and an all-around smart dude. He's really in tune with what the band is and what it strives to be. He's engaged and understands our vision," King says. "He's a longtime hero of ours, and now is a friend and collaborator. It's wild. And it's great to be able to defer to someone you respect so much with creative decisions in the studio -- we don't just give that trust to just anybody."

Captured this past spring at the legendary Ronnie's Place in Nashville, Tennessee, the seven-song Bloomin' Too is a vortex of sonic textures. The album ricochets from cosmic space, rock to rough around the edges, alt-country dreamscapes, sandy beach bum odes to kick in your step pop ballads -- all signature tones and musical avenues at the core of the Birds' wide musical palette.

"This is probably the quickest turnaround we've ever had for a record -- we felt confident right when we got into the studio and just cranked it out," says singer/guitarist Daniel Womack. "All of our frequencies are aligned as a band, where we've got this free-flow of ideas happening. We're all on the same page right now and we have a lot of momentum going."

For Broemel, he finds a sincere kinship and solidarity with Futurebirds. Witnessing first-hand the band's blue-collar work ethic in the studio, Broemel was impressed and inspired by the 'Birds' democratic ways and means in how music is created and cultivated in the studio.

"Futurebirds have this unique vibe with three singer-songwriters in the band, where everyone is constantly shifting their function depending on the song," Broemel says. "Everyone just kind of falls into place and finds something to contribute. Someone will lead the charge on one song, then fall back and let another take charge on the next -- it's something rare to see and behold in rock music, where normally there's just one songwriter and one leader."

That camaraderie between founding members King, Womack, singer/guitarist Thomas Johnson and bassist Brannen Miles began when they were college students at the University of Georgia. In recent years, the quartet has added pedal steel player Kiffy Myers, keyboardist Spencer Thomas and drummer Tom Myers.

"It's the best feeling in the world to be up there onstage, to look across and see these other super talented dudes all stoked to be there," King says. "We're brothers and family and all that, but what's truly most impressive is that we've remained good friends on top of that. At the end of the day, for us, it's always been about having a good time. That's what keeps this thing moving."

From there, it's been endless miles on that old lost highway. It's this rollercoaster of emotions, thoughts and actions -- gig after gig, year after year -- where now the band will be making its debut at Red Rocks Amphitheatre for a highly-anticipated two-night run (Oct. 3-4) alongside indie-rock darlings Caamp.

"It was pure elation when we were offered Red Rocks," Womack says. "Everything we've been working towards has always included being able to play Red Rocks someday -- it's a big win for us and such a gratifying feeling."

And though Futurebirds have offered up another instant classic release with Bloomin' Too, the foundation of the group's ethos, attitude, and rabid fan base remains its live shows -- these undulating waves of sound, energy and passion spilling out onto the audience in this two-way street of respect and admiration.

"The line between the stage and the audience has always been blurred, and we've definitely carried ourselves that way since the beginning," Womack says. "The early days of rock-n-roll were about the mysticism surrounding musicians and bands. That's never been us. We want to embrace our fans, to actually hang out and get to know them -- they're all part of the BirdFam.'"

Reflecting on the last 13 years, King can only shake his head in awe of what has transpired over that time period for Futurebirds, personally and professionally. From playing empty dive bars to selling out theaters coast to coast, from college kids to now husbands and fathers -- the sacred flame of music, creativity and performance continually cradling and nurturing deeply-held dreams.

"You start out doing this solely because it's fun and you have no preconceived notion of what's going to happen or what it should be. And then, you get a taste of this possibly being your actual life," King says. "Maybe you get too serious about it, or too wrapped up in how you are being received, or the industry watermarks of success. But, life's just a perception game. It's about having fun and aligning yourself with the right people. The community that's built up around us has made it real easy to peel back all that brush and noise and see this thing for what it really is."