Erik Vincent Huey
“All Out of Angels”
A Music Video Premiere
Appalachian AF Records
Roots Americana singer-songwriter Erik Vincent Huey unveils the music video for “All Out of Angels,” a track from this year’s sophomore album, Fort Defiance, produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, the renowned rock ‘n’ roll guitarist (Joan Jett, Del-Lords, Steve Earle & The Dukes) and producer (Bottle Rockets, Jimbo Mathus, Yayhoos, Sarah Borges).
Talking about “All Out of Angels,” Huey shares, “I always loved the ‘Cocaine Country’ sounds of late ‘70s era Waylon Jennings and Don ‘Livin on Tulsa Time’ Williams. My producer and co-writer Eric ‘Roscoe’ Ambel and I came up with a great Outlaw Twang melody to fit the lyrics, and then in the studio (as things often do with Roscoe), it took a turn toward Neil Young territory.”
A fourth-generation coal country kid, Erik grew up on the muddy edges of the Monongahela River, running between West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. Punk was his first stimulus—The Clash, X, the Sex Pistols — yet he could not shake off his Appalachian pedigree. He hit the cowpunk on-ramp with The Blasters, The Beat Farmers, Jason & the Scorchers, and Dwight Yoakam, then followed the Hillbilly Highway back to the voices he’d known all along: Johnny Cash and George Jones, artists he listened to while riding in the cab of his Uncle Jack’s 18-wheeler.
Huey, under the pseudonym Cletus McCoy, also leads The Surreal McCoys as its longtime frontman. The Surreal McCoys is a cowpunk outfit that Mojo Nixon referred to as a “hipster doofus band.” With two albums out, the group received lots of attention for “Whole Lotta Folsom,” their mashup single that’s landed spins on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country. The numbers tell the story: roughly 50K monthly listeners and more than 3.5 million Spotify plays.
The brief intro of “All Out of Angels” conjures up a Gregorian chant, and then suddenly changes gears, shifting into a tremolo-laced, twang-filled melody riding tight, popping percussion. Gritty, drawling guitars infuse the tune with tangs of outlaw country flavored by hints of psychedelia. Huey’s deliciously weathered vocals imbue the lyrics with the aching loneliness of his roving way of life.
“And I can’t drink away these memories / In this motel room tonight / Or find someone to blame / That isn’t me / I’m all out of angels / And so far from home.”
Drenched in tasty Blue Collar Country textures, with “All Out of Angels,” Erik Vincent Huey delivers a rootsy, soul-stirring song.
