In “Airwaves,” the title track of his upcoming sophomore album (whose video is premiering exclusively below), Nashville rocker Andrew Leahey laments being part of “the last generation raised on FM” — and specifically on album-oriented rock radio. That tells you a lot about the rest of the album, a heartfelt homage to Leahey’s rock heroes such as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, R.E.M. and others.
“They’re kind of leaning on that Reagan-era rock n’ roll sound,” Leahey tells Billboard about Airwaves‘ 11 tracks. “I made a playlist and gave it to my producer (Paul Ebersol). R.E.M. was on there, the Jayhawks were on there, Bruce and Tom Petty, the War on Drugs and even more recent Ryan Adams tunes.” But Leahey adds that he had no interest in making an entirely retro record, either.
“We didn’t want to be too on the nose with it,” says Leahey, a Virginia native who’s played guitar for Elizabeth Cook, Rodney Crowell, Drew Holcomb and Will Hoge. “That was the good thing Paul did; He would really scale it back. When I was pleading for tons of reverb he would remind me that we want to make an album that doesn’t necessarily sound like ’88 — or 2018. We just want to make our own of album. I’m glad he had that perspective, ’cause he was right.” READ MORE…