Paul Cauthen

Paul Cauthen sustains the spirit of classic outlaw country through a robust, swaggering delivery laced with gospel echoes and a strong current of late-night grit. His smooth baritone earned him the nickname "Big Velvet," and although his approach stayed secular, the 2016 breakthrough album My Gospel and its 2018 follow-up Have Mercy both signaled those deeper spiritual ties through their titles and tone. He avoided the psychedelic detours taken by peers such as Sturgill Simpson and steered clear of the polished Nashville route exemplified by Chris Stapleton, instead emerging as a Texas outsider who first gained attention in the early 2010s with Sons of Fathers before issuing the distinctive traditional-country statement My Gospel as his solo debut. He expanded his sound on the 2019 follow-up Room 41, highlighted by the disco-infused single "Cocaine Country Dancing" that broadened his reach and paved the way for the pointed "Country as Fuck," the opening track of 2022’s Country Coming Down. In early 2024 he issued the swaggering streaming success "Hot Damn" ahead of the album Black on Black.

Born in East Texas and raised in Tyler, Cauthen absorbed singing and songwriting from his grandfather, a Lubbock native who had ties to Buddy Holly & the Crickets. Immersed in classic country and rock & roll during his youth, he encountered legal trouble in young adulthood, including a short jail term for marijuana possession and expulsion from college, before turning to songwriting for direction. While living in San Marcos, Texas, in 2010, he met David Beck, a fellow singer-songwriter with matching tastes; the pair initially performed as Beck & Cauthen, then renamed the duo Sons of Fathers after receiving a cease-and-desist notice from alternative rocker Beck. After moving to Austin, Sons of Fathers cut their self-titled debut with producer Lloyd Maines in 2011 and followed it with Burning Days in 2013; both releases earned strong notices and reached Billboard’s Americana Top Ten. Growing restless with the band’s direction, Cauthen departed after a show opening for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.

He spent time traveling across Texas before settling in the Dallas area, where he shaped a raw, soul-infused country style for the songs that became My Gospel. Released in late 2016 on Lightning Rod Records and produced by Beau Bedford, the album climbed to number 50 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart, and Cauthen spent 2017 touring to build his audience. He next recorded Have Mercy, a seven-song set of originals that fell between album and EP, again with Bedford at Modern Electric Studios in Dallas alongside the Texas Gentlemen collective; the project appeared in June 2018. Around that period Cauthen experienced a painful breakup, left his residence, and took up temporary lodging in a Dallas hotel, experiences that directly inspired the title and material of his next album, Room 41.

Room 41 included "Cocaine Country Dancing," a country-disco track that accumulated substantial streaming plays. In 2020 Cauthen joined Orville Peck as the Unrighteous Brothers to cover two Righteous Brothers classics ("Unchained Melody," "You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’") and also released the solo singles "America" and "Bones." Building on the glossy tone of "Cocaine Country Dancing," he crafted "Country as Fuck" as a satirical jab at bro country, which introduced his third album, Country Coming Down. Early 2024 brought the singles "Hot Damn" and "Black on Black," the latter serving as the title track for his fourth full-length release later that year.