There is something glorious about signing with a record label. Then again, sometimes it’s just as glorious to part ways.
Videos by American Songwriter
2020 was supposed to be a banner year for the Wild Feathers. Having shed the weight of their record label deal, they were finally free to be totally independent. After ten years, Ricky Young, Joel King, Taylor Burns, Ben Dumas, and Brett Moore were finally free to call their own shots. Front to back they could record the music they want, work on their own release schedule and do things entirely their way. Alas, the universe had other plans.
After the pandemic pulled the plug on their tour with Blackberry Smoke, like the rest of the world, the guys were forced to pivot. They could go home and wait it out, but that wasn’t very appealing to them. Instead, they opted for door number two and put together Medium Rarities, a brand-new, full-length album of unreleased songs spanning the band’s decade-long career.
“It’s a great feeling,” noted lead singer/guitarist Ricky Young about being a fully independent band. “It’s also a little scary because there’s no one to blame if it all goes up in flames but ourselves. We’ve been around for a while and have learned a lot about how to treat people and how to trust your gut.”
It was that collective gut that pointed the guys in the direction of Medium Rarities once King started poking around hard drives of old music. As the name insinuates, the album is a compilation of B-sides, covers, demos, and other nuggets King and the band culled from The Wild Feathers’ vault. Varying from fairly recent to some that predate the bands deal with Interscope, Medium Rarities puts the bands growth over the years on full display.
“Fortunately, we had some great recordings of a lot of songs. We also had a lot of bad ones, and there’s good reason why no one will ever hear those. It’s interesting because hearing old songs just floods you with memories of that period of time. It really is a gift to be able to write and record and be done with them and be able to go back and visit whenever you want.”
Though their take on the Jayhawks tune “Blue” was the first official release from the album, that’s not the song Young points to when asked what song will surprise fans the most.
“My guess would be the Bread cover of “Guitar Man” we absolutely knocked out of the park.
“I think (the album) shows endurance, resilience and maturity. We’ve gone through so many highs and lows and we just keep dusting ourselves off and going back to work. Musically, we’re always growing and also learning to be in the moment and not forcing anything. Most of all, sitting back and enjoying what we get to do.”
As we’ve all discovered, even the best laid plans can be hijacked at any given time. With that in mind, given the band’s immense pleasure with the way Medium Rarities turned out, Young won’t rule out going down this path again sometime in the future.
“I could not be happier. It also opens the door for future volumes of unreleased music to be put out there.”
Check out our review of the album.
