Colby Acuff

A fifth-generation Idahoan, Acuff grew up watching his hometown Coeur d’Alene transform before his eyes. One by one, the lumber mills closed down as a blue-collar town turned into a ritzy resort escape for elites from around the country. Acuff’s childhood was full of music — Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, bluegrass — that situated all the changes he witnessed in a long lineage of working-class American struggle, and soundtracked the nostalgia felt by watching a way of life become bygone. By the time Acuff released his 2020 debut Life Of A Rolling Stone, his perspective and concerns as an artist were already fully-formed. He’d make two more albums while living in Idaho, 2021’s If I Were The Devil and 2022’s Honky Tonk Heaven before moving to Nashville to record 2023’s Western White Pines and 2024’s American Son with producer Eddie Spear.

After the release of American Son, Acuff sat down with his right-hand man, producer Eddie Spear, and they puzzled over a new approach to the next project. They decided to go out and talk to people, take the temperature, see what listeners wanted to hear. The resulting work still boasts the thoughtful reflections on American life that Acuff has made his name on, but refuses to simply stare into the void. Instead, the throughlines of the project became resilience and optimism even in the bleakest times. New single “Average American” encapsulates the powerful truth: for many, just getting by has become the new American dream.