Southall

Southall has evolved from unassuming red dirt origins into a sturdy, self-assured modern Southern rock unit that draws on classic rock and country lineages while avoiding any trace of nostalgia. The Oklahoma group displayed its command of roots-based sounds on the 2023 album Southall, which marked the former Read Southall Band’s shift—after its leader first reached listeners via a spare 2015 solo debut that included the viral track “Why”—toward a denser, grunge-tinged Southern rock approach suited to the present decade.

Read Southall, the singer and guitarist who leads the ensemble, sits at its center. Raised in the small Southwest Oklahoma communities of Humphreys and Altus, he absorbed a wide range of classic rock and country recordings during his youth. After completing studies at Altus High School in 2010, he enrolled at college in Stillwater, Oklahoma, before leaving to take various blue-collar positions while developing his music on the side.

Following the 2015 appearance of his solo debut Six String Sorrow, Read Southall moved back to Stillwater to focus fully on his craft. He soon chose to highlight his rock leanings by assembling the Read Southall Band, whose original roster included drummer Reid Barber, bassist Jeremee Knipp, keyboardist Braxton Curliss, and guitarists John Tyler Perry and Ryan Wellman. The group entered the studio with producer Taylor Kimball to record its 2017 album Borrowed Time.

After issuing Live at Tower Theatre in 2018, the band shifted its base to Oklahoma City yet continued to expand its reach, playing markets along the eastern seaboard and throughout the South in 2019 before joining Koe Wetzel on a socially distanced tour in 2020. The 2021 release For the Birds contained “Stickin’ N Movin’,” which later aired on the series Fire Country; afterward the group shortened its name to Southall to reflect its identity as a hard rock act rather than an Americana outfit.

Eddie Spear, previously at the helm of Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak, produced the band’s self-titled debut as Southall, an album that further emphasized hard rock textures. The recording took place at Leon Russell’s Church Studio in Tulsa and appeared on Smoklahoma Records in September 2023.