Redferrin - Old No. 7

Upon hearing that an artist is releasing an EP of Jack Daniels-themed songs, it’s natural to roll your eyes as you assume it’ll be packed with whiskey-soaked tropes. However, Redferrin’s Old No. 7 is the furthest thing from a country cliche. The Tennessee crooner distills his intoxicating blend of country and trap into a potent, fiery collection of earworms.

It’s an enigmatic project. Just when you think you have him figured out as the slick, swaggering protagonist of ‘Jack and Diet Coke’, he strips away the 808s and vulnerably delves into his mental health struggles on ‘Doin’ Life’. Also, few artists have managed to coalesce country with R&B, rap and hip-hop without the end-product feeling trite or gimmicky, but Redferrin’s combination of both worlds feels natural and authentic.

While there’s variety, the singer-songwriter succeeds in keeping each track lyrically and musically cohesive – something that can’t always be said of EPs, which are often designed as loosely connected samplers to suss out what tracks should make an album.

On ‘Miss Summer’, Redferrin’s Southern drawl surfs breezily across a wave of infectious guitar riffs, rattling hi-hats and invigorating drum-patterns. Yet on ‘Champagne in the Morning’, he swaps this sunny ambience for stormy gravitas, deftly using trap-inspired elements to elevate the sense of drama, rather than making the fusing of various genres the sole selling-point.

Arguably, the greatest triumph of Old No. 7 is how Redferrin showcases more depth of character than what he showed on previous light-hearted singles. It’s a persuasive, seven-point manifesto that outlines why Redferrin should be considered a chameleonic player in country music’s next generation.

8/10

Redferrin’s new 2024 project, Old No. 7, is available February 16 through Warner Music Nashville.

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