I used to run into Joel King, bassist/vocalist for The Wild Feathers, and his wife Heather at the Kroger where I shop. Now I don’t even get out of my car when I go there so, no more casual catch-up chats. I’ve been wondering what the band has been up to during the pandemic after their tour with Blackberry Smoke was canceled in March. I remember seeing them play backstage at 3rd and Lindsley, then headline and sell out that venue and onto their sold out Ryman Auditorium show in June of 2016. They recorded that show and released Live at The Ryman in November of the same year. I’ve been a fan since the first time I heard “The Ceiling” from their self-titled debut, so I was thrilled to learn about a new full length album coming November 20th, called Medium Rarities.
With this new found time on their hands, The Wild Feathers - Ricky Young, Joel King, Taylor Burns, Ben Dumas, and Brett Moore starting forming the idea of a compilation.
Medium Rarities is sequenced chronologically and the lead off track, a Dave Cobb produced cover of The Jayhawks classic, “Blue” is also the first to be released. It’s a song they performed early on in their decade-long career and according to Young, recorded it specifically with those vocal harmonies in mind; “Interscope wanted to hear what we could do harmony wise and we thought that song would be the perfect example of what we thought we were capable of.” In addition to B-sides, covers, demos and other gems, the eleven-track album includes three new songs, "Fire," "Goodnight," and "My Truth," produced by The Wild Feathers together as a band.The Wild Feathers have some live streaming headline shows coming as well as a few with Blackberry Smoke. They’re working on more new material and hope to release a full-length album in early 2021. I’ll chat with the band in an upcoming episode of The Local Brew Hour the week before the album release. Pre-orders are open now and a vinyl pressing of Medium Rarities is available exclusively through Magnolia Records Club, “Blue” is out now.
The Wild Feathers, “Blue”
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