While “Old Austin” is best embodied by Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, and Armadillo World Headquarters, thankfully there are plenty of other old souls still permeating that “country hippie” aesthetic of decades past. Take for instance singer-guitarist Andrew Gerfers and his homegrown quintet Stone Wheels, who shared their first studio single back in 2015 and dropped their eponymous debut full-length in 2018.
Listening to Stone Wheels is like cracking open a time capsule from an alternate 1960s where the Lone Star State was lacquered over with LSD and polishing it with the clarity of modern production. Complete with beatnik principles, “flower child” connections to nature, and far out counterculture ruminations, Stone Wheels has stayed true to their hedonistic country spokes straight through the COVID-19 pandemic.
And just yesterday, following up their 2021 EP From the Forest to the Sea, Stone Wheels ushered in the official start of summer with a new standalone single. Less of a heatwave warning and more of an Orange Sunshine-tanned flashback to cooler days (especially with the recent passing of Austin icon Teresa Taylor), “High in the 90’s” blows off the forecast and takes you on a rolling four-and-a-half-minute piece of musical meteorology, a lackadaisical Cosmic Americana masterpiece that’ll will lift your spirits, whatever the weather.
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