Joshua Black Wilkins
Joshua Hedley has become somewhat of a country chameleon, inhabiting styles with such a reverent authenticity that he seems torn between decades. Yet even the classic crooning country of debut Mr. Jukebox and the Nineties-inspired kickers on 2022’s Neon Blue didn’t quite prepare for the hard turn into Western swing on last year’s All Hat. With the Nashville mainstay wrangling Ray Benson to produce the album in Austin, Hedley sweeps through dance hall polkas and swinging boogies like a long lost Texas Playboy. Missy Beth and the Morning Afters and Garrett T. Capps set him up. – Doug Freeman
