Album Review – Kashus Culpepper’s “Act 1”

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Country Soul (#577) and Americana (#570) on the Country DDS.

They call him Kashus, and he’s the latest to tap into the inviting and lucrative sound that infuses influences of vintage soul and country together, making something that’s distinctly neither, but unavoidably Southern and soulful, activating receptors tied to emotional responses and positive sentiments in the audience. Whether nursing a broken heart or setting the mood for baby making, Kashus Culpepper and his debut album Act 1 are more than accommodating.

Elton John might have said it best when he claimed that Culpepper sounds like “if Bill Withers made country music.” Kashus grew up singing Gospel in his local church since he was five. He then worked as a firefighter before joining the United States Navy where he picked up the guitar during the pandemic while stationed in Spain, and started writing songs to make it through tough times. He cites Leadbelly, Hank Williams, Brenda Lee, Etta James, Chris Stapleton, and Otis Redding as influences.

Kashus Culpepper isn’t entirely novel in this country soul approach. Yola did this previously under the producership of Dan Auerbach. The War and Treaty also reside comfortably in this space, as do others. Some of Charley Crockett’s material can be characterized as country soul. It is a little frustrating as a country fan to continue to search for the Charley Pride of our era, only to find Kane Brown and these kinds of country soul musicians. But that’s not to decry what Culpepper is doing here.

At 18 tracks, there’s probably something for everyone here, even if you have to dig a little to find it. Brian Elmquist, known best for being a member of The Lone Bellow, produced the album, while notable co-writers include Elmquist, Brent Cobb, Natalie Hemby, and Anderson East. Kashus co-writes every song of the set. Even though this album emanates from the same label as Morgan Wallen (Big Loud) and feels like it has big mainstream implications, the approach and contributors are very much of the Americana realm.


Sometimes leaning into the vintage soul motif gets a little too rich. We often love to harp on cliches when it comes to lyrics. But you can have cliches in sounds too like you hear in the production of songs such as “Woman,” Break Me Like,” and “Stay.” Instead of synthesizing old school influences to more contemporary or original expressions, these songs feel more like imitation, even if thanks to Culpepper’s passion, they still can be very entertaining.

This complaint about sonic cliches has been levied at some of the Dan Auerbach-produced country soul albums on his Easy Eye Sound label too. But Kashus brings a level of credibility and authenticity to his music that some of the blue-eyed soul crowd in Americana can only hope to emulate at best.

Where Culpepper finds his sweet spot is when he uses classic sounds and music modes to spice up more modern expressions. He starts the album off complimented by Marcus King on the killer track “Southern Man.” The song “Believe” is also an excellent specimen of Kashus at his impassioned best. He’s a good singer, but not a great one in the vein of Luther Vandross or even Chris Stapleton. This means the strength of the material is important to the success of each song.

Those seeking out the more country moments on the record should start with the song “Broken Wing Bird” featuring Sierra Ferrell. It’s a great song, though not really representative of the rest of the work. The heartbreaking “House on the Hill” is where the country soul fusion is really exploited to its best results, with the fiddle helping to expose the emotion of the story. The unexpected banjo breakdown in the middle of “Out Of My Mind” is the exact kind of moment you want from an album like this.

There are some really big songs on this album. There’s also some pedestrian filler in the form of cliche-sounding soul tracks. But as the title states, this is just Act 1, and Kashus is finding his way through the complex realm between country and soul to find his own sound. What he’s got going on here is more than enough to keep you hanging around for act 2.

7.9/10

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Stream/Purchase Act 1

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