Blue Water Highway’s anticipated new album is set for release on March 12. This will be the third record from the Texas quartet, which came together in 2013 after longtime friends Zack Kibodeaux and Greg Essington enlisted Catherine Clarke to realize the three-part harmonies they envisioned. The quartet, which also features bassist Kyle Smith, decamped from the Lone Star State to Nashville, while recording Paper Airplanes with producer Cason Cooley (Ingrid Michaelson, American Authors, Ben Rector). The results build on the rich, absorbing Americana of 2015’s Things We Carry and 2018’s Heartbreak City.

Today we premiere “”Council Grove” from the forthcoming record. Kibodeaux tells Relix, “I read somewhere that, “Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson, present tense, past perfect.” As someone who loves history, and is a bit of an old soul, I often feel like I was born in the wrong time, as if somehow that would be better. Truth is, I’m probably right where I need to be. Each time period is worse in some ways, and better in some ways, and I believe we are suited for a purpose unique to our own time. This song explores that theme, while taking a scenic drive through the heartland of America, the beautiful flint hills around Council Grove, Kansas. 

“Greg, our lead guitar player, and I visited there once on tour, it’s his father’s hometown. I felt transported back in time to an almost magical, perfect place in the middle of nowhere. Then Greg showed me this bell in the center of town that was historically used as an alarm for imminent danger. That was the moment of realization, and inspired this song that Greg and I wrote together.”