“You grow wiser with age, you grow wiser while you’re working and experiencing life, and I feel like I have a deeper understanding of what my music really is.We're moving into the neon era of country music. The pendulum is swinging, and you’re watching it happen…Now I just hope people get their mind blown.” -- Randall King
In the few short years since he arrived in Nashville, Randall King has made no bones about his honky-tonk
allegiance. In fact, he’s worn it like a badge of honor, growing with pride into a leading voice for today’s
traditional country. But if anyone thought he was stuck in the past, his new album proves otherwise.
A West Texas native and self-described “old soul,” the Warner Music Nashville star has never wavered in his
country-to-the-core style. Amassing over 270 Million streams on a series of singles like “You In A Honky
Tonk,” “Hey Cowgirl” and “Mirror, Mirror,” he’s kept the twang alive in country’s mainstream while also
earning acclaim through deeply personal EPs like Leanna, and flexing his creative muscle with the 2022 concept
album, Shot Glass – all while playing nearly 150 shows a year, honing his craft where it matters most.
But with his sophomore major-label album, Into the Neon, his musical mix of timeless-and-trendsetting reaches
fresh heights. With this one, he’s taking honky tonk somewhere new – a place where “steel guitar and smoke”
meet a modern buzz.
“There’s a side of me that has not been captured yet,” King says, flashing a playful grin and his matter-of-
fact confidence. “One that’s still honky tonk and country, but it’s got an edge to it. That’s where we got to on this
one.”
For a guy known for sticking close to stylistic ground, that’s an intriguing statement, but one that’s not actually
so tough to believe. Raised in Hereford, West Texas, not far from the New Mexico line, King grew up on a
steady diet of country greats, from Keith Whitley and George Strait to Alan Jackson and John Anderson. Singing
in the back of a ‘93 Chevy as it criss-crossed county roads and tractor paths alike, it was there that his love of the
classics took shape – and where he would begin to develop his signature baritone, a rumbling vocal capable of
both booming like thunder across the plains, or whispering with the midnight wind.
Over time, he used that timeless vocal to build a rep all across Texas and beyond, embracing a road-warrior
lifestyle and never waiting on permission to explore his creative vision. Working independently, King produced
and released the defiant 2016 EP, Another Bullet, boldly going against the mainstream grain to proclaim honky
tonk would not go down … at least, not without a fight. With fans flocking to his electrifying live shows – each
one a harrowing mix of rowdy roughnecking, romantic tenderness and breathtaking emotion – he then followed
up with a 2018 self-titled album, and hit Music Row with an all-or-nothing honky-tonk mandate.