Vowing to keep the Bakersfield, Calif., country sound alive, Ruby Parris has released his first album since appearing on Season 3 of The Voice.
The 14-track album is called “Makin’ My Way” and features 14 tracks, including a pair of spoken-word pieces by actor Michael Madsen.
And if you’re a fan of rollicking, traditional country music, you’ll want to check it out.
Rudy’s appreciation of what he calls California Country came from spending eight years performing at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield.
Today, Rudy still points to Owens and Merle Haggard as his greatest influences.
“I learned from Buck that I just need to be me,” Parris says in a press release announcing the new album. “Buck played his music, had fun, and joked around. He instilled in me a sense of freedom to be myself.”
As for his sound … in a recent Facebook chat, Rudy says the new album features “traditional country stuff.”
“Pop-country? Great. If that’s what you like, go for it,” he adds in a video on his YouTube channel called California Country. “But country music is country music. And there’s fiddles and steel guitars. And there’s beautiful story lines. That’s the country music I fell in love with.”
Album highlights include the toe-tapping lead single and title track “Makin’ My Way,” a rocker called “Swamp Cooler,” the fun “Mini Van” and a ballad called “If I Could Only Have You.”
There’s also a track called “Zombies Dressed in Abercrombie” inspired by — you guessed it — a movie Rudy watched in which a zombie was running around in an Abercrombie sweater.
Rudy released the new album through Warrior Records; it was produced by the label’s president Jim Erwin and recorded in Capitol Records “Studio B,” the same room where Owens and Haggard recorded some of their biggest hits.
You can follow Rudy through his Facebook page and website. On Twitter, he’s @rudyparris.
At right, check out “Makin’ My Way,” featuring vocal contributions by Little Joe, Hank Williams III and Madsen.
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