Press

While The Cadillac Black might be a brand new band – a little over a year old as of this writing –Jaren Johnston, Neil Mason and Kelby Ray have been friends and musical co-conspirators for as long as anyone can remember. They’ve weathered their wild teenage years and even wilder tours, weathered major label letdowns and major league triumphs, conquered Music Row – Johnston co-wrote Keith Urban’s #1 single “You Gonna Fly” – and crashed on the couches of strangers in far flung cities. These boys have seen more ups and downs than a Smoky Mountain tour guide.

 This is the kind of music I listen to because they don’t sound like someone else.They sound like The Cadillac Black! -Mike Eli (Eli Young Band)

But in spite of all the trials and tribulations – or perhaps because of them – The Cadillac Black have emerged with a sound all of their own, a sound that hovers between radio-ready country anthems, hard-and-heavy rock and traditional Southern folk. You could call it country fuzz, you could call it hipster-billy, you could call it any number of over-hyphenated, adjective-strewn things but when you boil it all down there’s only one way to describe it: damn good music, as pure and refreshing as a country creek.

The Cadillac Black is bad to the bone.” – Bill Gibbons (ZZ Top)

It’s a sound that works as well in front of an amphitheater full of ZZ Top fans or the Dierks Bentley crowd as well as it does in the dive bars and dark corners of the underground music. This the new sound of the New South, bigger and badder than ever.

  • The Cadillac Black is comprised of native Nashvillians singer-guitarist Jaren Johnston, lap steel player Kelby Ray and drummer Neil Mason.
  • Produced by The Cadillac Black, the trio’s self-titled debut album features 11 songs that they penned.
  • Their unique three-piece configuration happened organically. They had finished recording the album and didn’t have a bass player. They were about to have their first show ever, opening up for ZZ Top and figured out a way to make the sound work with just the three of them.
  • Johnston produced Dierks Bentley’s four-song summer EP titled Country & Cold Cans, available now on iTunes.
  • Johnston is one of Country Music’s hot songwriters on the rise with recent cuts by Dierks Bentley, Sara Evans, and Keith Urban. Heco-wrote Keith Urban’s chart-topper “You Gonna Fly” and was nominated for Music Row Magazine’s 2012 Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year.
  • The Cadillac Black’s music is spreading like wildfire on TV shows including the CW’s Vampire Diaries and Hart of Dixie, CBS’ CSI Miami, VH1’s Baseball Wives, MTV’s Wake Brothers and the 2011 trailer for FOX’s House.
  • The Cadillac Black opened for Dierks Bentley on his Back To College Tour in August 2012. The tour visited the SEC campuses of The University of Georgia, The University of South Carolina, and The Grove at The University of Mississippi. This marked the second tour that Dierks has tapped them to open. The hot new trio’s dynamic and captivating live performance has also landed them coveted slots opening for Eric Church, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top and they will be performing on the Lynyrd Skynyrd Simple Man Cruise in late October 2012.