Colton Bowlin is a name everyone will be hearing left and right if they aren’t already. A little over a month ago, I covered his song “Don’t Come Home,” and today I’ll be talking about his newest song titled “Clinton County.”

Starting on the lyrical side. I really love Colton’s songs because to me, you can hear the truth in his voice. You listen to his songs, especially these newer ones, you can tell these weren’t written in some writer’s room in Nashville by five different writers, no, these were written from Colton’s life story. Clinton County is a song anyone who’s left their hometown and ventured out into the world will relate to deeply. It’s not only a song about reminiscing on the years that have passed, but also a song about missing the place that you were raised in and the place that raised you when you were running around with your friends, and as Colton puts it, “coming home.” I think Colton does a great job at conveying this message from the get-go. First line of the song is “we were ramblers rambling around trying to find a way out, a way out somehow,” which was all of us when we were younger and stuck in our hometowns. From there, Colton continues to shed light and memories of his younger years of running around with friends and living life maybe a little too fast. I think the line that starts to really show what this song is about is “we graduated high school and went our separate ways, those were the days, and I wish I could’ve stayed.” To me, this is the point where the realization of wanting to grow up quickly and realizing you shouldn’t have wished for that sets in. The next part of the songis what makes me think a lot of people will relate, it goes, “but this life that I’ve been living has been going way too fast, sometimes I wish that I could go on back. Take me back to where you found me back down in Clinton County, maybe I’d be better off there cause the sounds of the city push away this hillbilly. Let me go back to the hills that I call home.” That is something I know many of us can feel in our hearts; we can feel that distance from our original home, where the first parts of our lives were spent. This is what makes Colton’s songwriting special; not only is it his truths and stories, it’s ours too, maybe not word for word, but you can easily sit and listen to this song and relate it to your life. When a writer can do that, it truly proves who they are as a writer.

On the instrumental side, the song starts with some acoustic guitar picking that reminds me of some of Zach Bryan’s older songs. At the fourteen-second mark, you begin to hear some piano, which, when you mix it with an acoustic guitar, always makes for a phenomenal song. From there, you start to pick up on the drums playing a steady beat, along with some soft electric guitar with great licks. Now, one reason I really love the musical side is that, to me, it’s a softer yet upbeat song. As I stated before, there is a smooth electric guitar. Still, there are also points throughout the song where we get louder electric solos. Personally, I think you really bring a song together when you have a softer song like this and then those more upbeat parts where the whole band shows off their talent, because not only is the electric guitar getting more upbeat and louder, so are the drums. But as quick as it all comes up, it also goes back down to the softer side, and something about the mixture and flow of it all makes this song come together perfectly.

What’s in the future for Colton Bowlin? Well, he has a new album coming out on March 13th titled Grandpa’s Mill. Commenting on the album, Colton said, “It’s a soundtrack to the place that made me and the stories I’ll never leave behind.” Grandpa’s Mill will consist of twelve songs:

1. Clinton County
2. Time For Sale
3. Don’t Come Home
4. Man I Used To Be
5. Dirty River
6. On My Way
7. Missed the Dance (ft. Kelsey Keith)
8. State Lines
9. Greenbrier Road
10. Set Me Free
11. Keep Your Word
12. Grandpa’s Mill

“Don’t Come Home” and “Clinton County” have both been released and are available wherever you listen to your tunes, so go check them out.