Kashus Culpepper Announces Debut Album
Well it’s about time. Since the summer of 2024, Big Loud Records has been releasing singles on Kashus Culpepper until there’s now about a dozen of them out there, building an appetite for his tunes that find a sweet spot between country, soul, blues, folk and rock, all served with smart songwriting and a soulful voice. Kashus is like a heavyweight champion, throwing out songs like haymakers.
But we’ve been wondering for a while now when a proper album from Kashus would hit shelves as opposed to just a trickle of singles. That will finally happen on January 23rd, 2026 when Big Loud releases Act I—Culpepper’s official debut album. “Creating music has been the greatest joy of my life,” says Kashus. “What a magical thing it is. My debut album ‘Act I’ serves as a beginning of that journey.”
Those dozen already-released singles will make up the lion’s share of the album, including Culpepper’s collaborations with Sierra Ferrell on the Willie Nelson-sounding “Broken Wing Bird,” and the Muscle Shoals-inspired “Southern Man” with Marcus King. But there will be six new songs on the albums as well. Everything is co-written by Culpepper himself.
Speaking of Muscle Shoals, that’s where these songs were recorded with producer Brian Elmquist, known best for being a member of The Lone Bellow. Notable co-writers on the album include Elmquist, Brent Cobb, Natalie Hemby, and Anderson East. You can expect a lot of soul and vintage R&B influences on this album, but there will also be enough country elements to endear it to a redneck’s heart, with appearances by banjo, steel guitar, and fiddle.
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.
TRACK LIST:
1. Intro (Kashus Culpepper, Jordan Dozzi, Jacob Durrett)
2. Southern Man (feat. Marcus King) (Kashus Culpepper, Bear Rinehart)
3. Alabama Beauty Queen (Kashus Culpepper, Luke Preston, Diego Urias)
4. Woman (Kashus Culpepper, Anderson East)
5. Break Me Like (Kashus Culpepper, Grady Block, Hank Compton)
6. Believe(Kashus Culpepper, Foy Vance)
7. Stay (Kashus Culpepper, Jordan Dozzi, Jacob Durrett)
8. Mean To Me (Kashus Culpepper, Oscar Charles, Diego Urias, Matt Warren)
9. Broken Wing Bird (feat. Sierra Ferrell) (Kashus Culpepper, Brian Elmquist)
10. Better Weather (Kashus Culpepper, Luke Preston)
11. That’s The Feeling (Kashus Culpepper, Brian Elmquist)
12. Man Of His Word (Kashus Culpepper, Natalie Hemby)
13. In Her Eyes (Kashus Culpepper, Brent Cobb, Oscar Charles)
14. Is It True (Kashus Culpepper, Rhett Akins, Rocky Block)
15. After Me? (Kashus Culpepper, Mark Addison Chandler)
16. Out Of My Mind (Kashus Culpepper, Brian Elmquist)
17. House On A Hill (Kashus Culpepper, Rhett Akins, Jimi Bell)
18. Cherry Rose (Kashus Culpepper, Mikky Ekko, Brian Elmquist)
October 25, 2025 @ 9:16 am
I saw him open for Whiskey Myers this summer. He was incredible! He did a cover of Can’t You See that blew me away!
October 25, 2025 @ 9:21 am
Of the very few sets I didn’t catch at Windy City smokeout, this is the one I regret missing (didn’t regret skipping Bailey Zimmerman). It was just too early in the day to get there (by public bus).
October 25, 2025 @ 9:41 am
Love that Elton John quote. Can’t wait for this album!
October 25, 2025 @ 2:29 pm
I’d never heard of this artist, but while reading this post thought of Bill Withers. Bill Withers also served in the Navy for nine years before getting into the music biz. This sounds really interesting.
October 25, 2025 @ 10:31 am
If that’s not a Mt. Rushmore of influences then I don’t know what is.
October 25, 2025 @ 11:06 am
Wonderful news! Every single that Kashus has released since the summer of 2024 is a gem. Can’t wait for this one!
October 25, 2025 @ 12:04 pm
Finally! For me he is one of the most outstanding artists who emerged around 2024. The songs he has released so far are really excellent and he already has his own unique style.
Of the outstanding new artists, the only missing debut albums left are the ones by Noeline Hofmann and the Castellows. Hopefully they’ll release their proper full length debuts in the foreseeable future.
October 25, 2025 @ 2:33 pm
OMG, this duet with Sierra is off the chain!
October 25, 2025 @ 3:32 pm
Saw him open for Charley Crockett at his second Ryman show. He’s fantastic. This is great news.
October 26, 2025 @ 7:44 am
I saw him open for Charley Crockett too, looking forward to this album. New video for Mean To Me on YouTube dropped yesterday.
October 25, 2025 @ 4:17 pm
Just curious, who else is annoyed when artists release albums with the same name as other albums. Especially now when its a few seconds work to check if its already been used.
It plays hell with offline music players who often mix all the tracks together.
Thinking of Act 1 by Seldom Scene.
October 25, 2025 @ 6:15 pm
Last country song featuring that name that I know of is this hilariously dated period piece from Skeeter Davis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AOFvV5R6mE
October 25, 2025 @ 7:46 pm
“Peter Gabriel has joined the chat.”
October 27, 2025 @ 4:51 am
Rename the album in your library. (i.e., Rumor Has it (Reba McEntire) and Rumor Has It (Clay Walker).
Will keep the code from mixing them as it selects from database.
Very effective as well for not mixing the plethora of albums titled Greatest Hits
October 25, 2025 @ 7:26 pm
A co-write with Foy Vance? Count me in!
October 25, 2025 @ 7:29 pm
Edit: I waa thinking of Vance Joy, not Foy Vance. Oops.
October 26, 2025 @ 5:50 am
I’ve been throwing Culpepper songs in playlists all summer. He’s listed as country, and seems to have been accepted by country fans, but I find it hard to call his music country despite some obvious influences here and there. This is more blues rock and soul to me, but being a guy who also loves listening to blues, I like Culpepper’s stuff.
I do have one big complaint though, even though Culpepper himself probably didn’t have much say in it. I really hate this releasing a majority of songs on an album as singles before an album release. I saw the album yesterday on Apple Music and was immediately disappointed upon looking at the track list. I’ve already heard most of the songs, and another single was released with the album. It really takes the joy of listening to a new album away.
Maybe I’m an old fart in a digital world where single streams are more important than album releases, but I miss the days of getting a new album and enjoying the experience of it in it’s entirety.
October 26, 2025 @ 2:52 pm
I think the strategy now for developing artists is they release these singles over a year or two years while touring to justify the album. Waylon Wyatt is in the same boat. He’s released a ton of singles – some performing well – with no album. No doubt when he officially releases an album, 3/4 will be previously released singles.
Sam Barber was the same.
These albums no doubt feel more like greatest hits compilations by the time they are released.
October 27, 2025 @ 12:26 pm
Or artists release albums that are far too long and contain too many songs to avoid the accusation that the debut album is just a collection of hits. I think that’s the case with “Restless Mind” by Sam Barber. And Dylan Gossett’s “American Trail” too, although not as extreme as “Restless Mind”. Much of Kashus Culpepper’s debut will depend on how strong the unreleased songs will be. In this regard I have high hopes for Kashus Culpepper, because the songs released so far have been so strong. And a lot will depend on how the songs that have already been released work in the overall concept of the album. The songs that have been released individually so far can have a completely different effect and unfold new in a complete album.
October 29, 2025 @ 6:18 am
I guess it could make some sense to try and build up an artist before a debut release. But c’mon, Culpepper has released like 10 singles now, and the album is going to have 18 songs. It’s a bit of overkill. They could have released 2-3 singles and then an EP to justify his touring, and still had more than enough songs leftover for a new album.
The worst part though is it’s not just new artists, it’s become the standard for all artists on record labels. You get multiple singles, then an EP, then more singles before an album consisting of the singles and EP plus a few more songs. Then of course there is the re-release with bonus tracks, and sometimes a super duper release with live, acoustic, and demo tracks. It all seems like some big marketing hustle to get every last drop of fan attention before they get sick of hearing them. Then off to the next one.
Again, I doubt Culppeper has much say in all this, and I’m not directing this against him. Just a observation of the mainstream music industry as a whole.
October 26, 2025 @ 6:08 am
Loved Southern Man, saw Co-write with Bear Rinehart of NeedtoBreathe . Did not know that. Looking forward to full project.
October 27, 2025 @ 5:09 pm
Damn my man is going to release the album of the year in the first month. In all seriousness if you havent seen him live yet do it. His covers are amazing and dude can just flat out sing.