Teddy and the Rough Riders Introduce ‘Down Home’ with the Album Highlight “Bullet”

After years of hard work and waiting, Teddy and the Rough Riders are back with their highly-anticipated third studio album Down Home. The album exhibits their mastery of the psychedelic corner of the Americana genre. Along with the album, they shared the album opener and highlight “Bullet” as the latest single from the collection. Check it out below.

Down Home has been slow-cooking like a good pot roast for around four years. Teddy and the Rough Riders—Jack Quiggins and Ryan Jennings—started working on the album in 2020 in the early days of the pandemic.

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“After our Orville Peck opening tour had been canceled, one day before playing Luck Reunion no less, we got together, masked up as reasonably as possible, and started to woodshed songs for not only Teddy but Emily Nenni and Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears,” Jennings recalled in a statement.

The next year, they started recording songs for the album while working on an album for Thompson. “Then, in 2021, we went to our friend’s little studio and actually cut the record at the same time as we cut Sean’s album Weird Ears. We would go back and forth recording one of ours and one of his,” Jennings explained.

Teddy and the Rough Riders Open Down Home with “Bullet”

One can only assume that choosing the first track for an album is a nerve-wracking task. It’s the first impression many listeners will get of the collection for years to come. As a result, it needs to grab ears, build interest, and set the tone for the rest of the record. Teddy and the Rough Riders hit the bullseye when they landed on “Bullet” to open Down Home.

Driven by a Cajun-flavored fiddle and the fuzzy guitar work of Sean Thompson, “Bullet” is a perfect indication of the current state of the band’s sound. Traditional country music sits at the heart of the recording. They laid a layer of rock and roll over that and topped it all off with clever songwriting.

Down Home is available to stream on all digital platforms today.

Featured Image by Mandi Fountain