Taylor Hunnicutt makes old-school southern music for the modern world. She’s a proud daughter of Alabama, writing songs that nod to the state’s tradition of country storytelling, rock ‘n’ roll rebellion, and guitar-driven grit. Sharpened by a touring schedule that’s kept her on the road for roughly 200 days a year, she makes her full-length debut with Alabama Sound — an album that unfolds like a love letter to the American South, written by a road warrior who’s spent most of the decade far away from home. “It’s a little country, a little singer/songwriter, a little Americana, and a lot of soulful southern rock,” says Hunnicutt, an opera-trained vocalist who began writing songs after dropping out of music school, landing a waitressing job at a blues juke joint, and sitting in with the bands that came through town. She’s no longer the guest artist, though — she’s the main act, and Alabama Sound showcases her high-energy, hellraising brand of southern stomp, country-rock twang, and amplified attitude.

Johnny Mullenax, a Tulsa native, grew up in a musical family. He started playing the guitar at age 5. In his teens, he followed his family to the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. In typical Johnny fashion, he showed up with just a guitar and ended up sleeping in a standup base case. At 18, he used a friend’s ID to get into a club where he was part of a live hip hop band backing rappers. According to Johnny, “Life is too short to play one style of music, and if you have an opportunity to try something different then you should give it a shot.”

Claiming wide-ranging influences from AC/DC and The Ramones to John Coltrane and Parliament, Johnny calls his genre bending sound a funky country bluegrass good time for working folks.