Jesse Woods: “Smoke Machine”

In 2013, Austin’s Jesse Woods released a really great, understated debut album called Get Your Burdens Lifted that had its boots in the honky-tonk and its head in the clouds. Woods burrows deeper into that cosmic country with his follow-up, Autoflower. He’s spent the past few years bouncing around the map before winding up in L.A., and one glance at the tracklist shows how that itinerant life has crept into his art: “What’s The Rush?”, “UFO,” “Hazy Horse,” “Mobile Home.”

On “Smoke Machine,” Woods plays a style of hazy country-rock that reminds me of It Still Moves-era My Morning Jacket. The song lopes under a dark cloud; all of Woods’ friends might be “kicking life in the shins,” but life just keeps kicking back. Listen below.

“Smoke Machine” appears on Autoflower, out August 25.

–Art Levy // host, Sunday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., producer, My KUTX

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