Mo Pitney Announces New Album “Ain’t Lookin’ Back”
If you think all major label artists are built the same, you don’t know Mo. Before Chris Stapleton blew up unexpectedly, before Jon Pardi hit it big, Mo Pitney was one of the few major label artists that gave us faith in country music’s future. Some fiddling around and foot dragging with his career by Curb Records took a bit of his early momentum away. But Piney remains one of the more promising performers in country music with a great voice, great picking skills, and an ear for songs that lean towards the traditional.
Mo Pitney will release his second record called Ain’t Lookin’ Back on August 14th via Curb Records. The 13-song album will be available for pre-order on May 15th, and is preceded by a host of standalone singles, including the already released “Ain’t Bad For A Good Ol’ Boy,” “Right Now With You,” and the title track (listen below). A new song called “Mattress on the Floor” will premier on May 15th as well.
Produced by Jim “Moose” Brown, Jamey Johnson makes a guest appearance on the opening track. Along with Pitney co-writing seven of the songs himself, the album also features songwriters Paul Overstreet, Tim Nichols, Matt Jenkins, Trevor Rosen, Matt Ramsey, Billy Montana, Jimmy Yeary, Mark Nesler, Tom Douglas, and others.
“I wanted to be completely open-minded while recording this album,” Pitney says. “It was important for me to meld all my influences of the past that represent who I am as an artist today, hopefully to make one complete thought and to make something new. The end goal was to shut out all other voices, close our eyes, and create something that came from the heart. I’m looking forward to taking this body of work that is completely me and sharing it with the world. I’m excited to see people’s reactions.”
Breaking through on radio has been a challenge for Pitney so far, but he’s developed a strong grassroots fan base over the years that will be there to support Ain’t Lookin’ Back from the Illinois native when it is released.
TRACK LIST:
- A Music Man (feat. Jamey Johnson)
- Right Now With You
- Ain’t Bad For A Good Ol’ Boy
- ‘Til I Get Back To You
- Looks Like Rain
- Boy Gets The Girl
- Ain’t Lookin’ Back
- Old Home Place (feat. His All-Star Band)
- Plain and Simple
- Mattress On The Floor
- Local Honey
- Old Stuff Better
- Jonas
May 13, 2020 @ 8:19 am
Truly one of the good guy’s!!!! Thanks Mo for keeping it real!!!! Looking forward to the new music!!
May 13, 2020 @ 8:26 am
Cant’t freaking wait
May 13, 2020 @ 8:30 am
A truly great voice in traditional country music. Hes got the gift. There are some great videos of him and Gene Watson singing that are worth checking out. Also, check out his version of Haggards Misery and Gin.
May 13, 2020 @ 9:26 am
”zach bryan…have a listen to mo”
solid tune here from mo …..nice arrangement …lotsa steel ….tight lyric saying something relatable….no ‘lists’, cliche melodies or noticeable concession to pop trend …no les pauls on eleven ….
and a superb unaffected vocal performance from a guy who knows how to SING …..
i refuse to get my hopes up for anyone’s new record anymore but this could be a good one .
May 14, 2020 @ 4:26 am
Albert, did you like Lamentations? It’s the only thing since Tree of Forgiveness I’ve liked enough to spin more than once.
I think this record is gonna be great. Jim Moose Brown seems like a really good guy. He has this alter ego named Gilbert Donovan that is absolutely hysterical.
May 14, 2020 @ 5:05 am
Yeah. really enjoying Lamentations. Smart . Passionate . Musically fresh-sounding , even though it has a retro vibe … lyrically too. Very “Bruce” in its timeless qualities …. maybe not quite as good as Bruce.. but a welcomed departure from the sameness of so much of what we hear from make artists .
May 14, 2020 @ 5:14 am
male artists
May 13, 2020 @ 10:27 am
Great that he’s releasing “Old Home Place” to an album. He has a few youtube versions and every one of them is fantastic.
May 13, 2020 @ 10:57 am
Well…we will see.
The first released track “Right Now With You” (04/16) sounds like a George Strait b-side.
“Ain’t Lookin’ Back” is better & is released together with a second song: “Ain’t Bad For A Good Ol’ Boy”.
In The Pipeline:
Jordan Davis – Jordan Davis – EP – 05/22
Travis Denning – Beer’s Better Cold – EP – 05/15
Jimmy Buffett – Life On The Flip Side – Album – 05/29
Joshua Ray Walker – Glad You Made It – Album – 07/10
Tracy Killeen – On The Trail Of Patsy Cline – Album – 05/15 (Australia)
Clint Wilson – Another Death In The Family – Album – 07/31 (Australia)
Mickey Lamantia – Honky Tonk Confessions: Chapter Two – EP – 05/29 (Check him out!)
&
New Singles/Tracks by Curtis Grimes – “Little Bit” & Clay Hollis – “Here I Go Again” (both Texas). “Here I Go Again” was previously released by Gabe Garcia.
May 13, 2020 @ 11:34 am
For mainstream artists, I quite like Travis Denning’s output so far. It’s not outstanding by any means, but it is catchy or more well-written than average.
May 15, 2020 @ 2:26 am
For what it’s worth OlaR, I’ve appreciated your posts and have discovered a couple of artists because of them. And I don’t think they are disrespectful either.
Happy to drop you my email if you want to keep sending them over.. 😉
May 13, 2020 @ 11:31 am
Thank you Trigger for a few months ago introducing me to Mo, another artist who is truly gifted and I may not have known about outside of this website! Was just listening to him on the way to the store and wondering when his new stuff would come out. Look forward to it!
May 13, 2020 @ 11:32 am
Great he’s finally got album number 2 coming out. Any news from another traditional artist who broke around the same time in 2016, William Michael Morgan?
May 13, 2020 @ 12:16 pm
William Michael Morgan has been releasing singles randomly, including a new one a couple of weeks ago called “Cowboy Cool.” They’ve been a little hit and miss, but the latest one is pretty good. I keep waiting for some announcement about a signing or a new record to bring him up, but haven’t heard anything so far. I think they’re still trying to figure out what to do with him.
May 16, 2020 @ 8:46 am
I think it’s criminal that WMM is no longer on a major label. At times, it’s seemed like the strength of his convictions hasn’t matched the strength of his voice — such as when he started asking fans to vote on a direction for his career, rather than deciding on it for himself — but his voice, and his ability to deliver a lyric, is undeniable. I feel he could potentially do well as an independent artist, but he’d first need to assemble the right team around him to enable him to again be competitive with release artwork, radio promotion etc.
May 13, 2020 @ 11:32 am
Very excited to hear this news!
A shame, though, that he’s on Curb Records. I don’t know why anyone bothers signing up to them, as Mike Curb seems to immediately thrust the career of any artist into limbo.
May 13, 2020 @ 11:36 am
I’m just hoping it’s not as overly sentimental as the first record. There are some great songs on that album, but then there are songs that are like a Hallmark movie set to a Country arrangement. It says something about a traditional country record when the most modern leaning song (Everywhere) is one of its best offerings. All that being said, he’s young and that’s a perfectly good excuse to not hit it out of the park with record one. I like what Mo stands for, and I love his voice. I’m excited about this one.
May 13, 2020 @ 11:56 am
Looking forward to this. Seems Mo has been around forever, but still getting started. Hopefully this will be successful for him.
May 15, 2020 @ 10:03 pm
I really like Mo, and think he has a great voice. He reminds me of Paul Overstreet in 1988 with the type of material he is recording. I see him moving more to gospel as he progresses. I personally like a bit more of an edge to music I buy. I do wish Mo the best, he is a good dude.
May 13, 2020 @ 12:07 pm
I wonder if they considered”I’m not lookin back “ as the title for the sake of the younger generation?
May 13, 2020 @ 12:30 pm
I really like this song. It feels like country music in 2020! I am glad he didn’t go all Cobb route.
May 13, 2020 @ 1:31 pm
If the rest of the album is like the title track, it’s gonna be kick ass.
May 13, 2020 @ 2:48 pm
This one song sounds alright, but took a second listen to come around to it (my fault – went on a George Jones marathon today and it took a couple hours for any other human voice to sound good after that).
Mo is really quite amazing for today’s “mainstream” world.
May 13, 2020 @ 5:56 pm
I like the western vibe.
May 15, 2020 @ 3:16 am
Some of the songs Mo did on the Country’s Family Reunion shows gave me chills, this guy can sing! His version of Merle Haggard’s “Farmer’s Daughter” and Mel Street’s “Borrowed Angel” are two of the best examples, I get goosebumps every time I watch them. His first album was OK but not outstanding, probably because of Curb’s handing of things, so I hope this new one will be better.
May 15, 2020 @ 3:57 am
I feel like this guy is the true country music artist of our times. No fancy clothes, no outlaw attitude, no vintage pantomime, no rock background, just 110% country music.
May 17, 2020 @ 10:24 pm
I’m convinced that if the powers that be would give Mo a slot on one of these so-called “country” award shows and have him perform one of those old…or one of his new!…traditional sounding country songs, he would set the place on fire! He just needs more exposure to the masses, and hopefully this new album will do that! And I agree, his performance of “Borrowed Angel” is unmatched.
August 13, 2020 @ 4:38 pm
Mo Pitney is the most traditional artist to come around since Randy Travis. Had me hooked since I first seen him on Larry’s Country Dinner singing Barrowed Angel. Mo’s authentic sound resonates with a deep soul beyond his years. I would love to see his version of Barrowed Angel on an album or even released as a single for purchase.
August 14, 2020 @ 3:56 pm
Wow, I’m just getting around to listening to this, three months after the fact. I love it. Listened to it about four times in a row, the whole album.