Southerland: Boot Up – EP Review | Country Swag

New country duo Southerland’s debut EP, Boot Up, featuring “Thing Is,” “Little Bit of You,” and “Along Those Lines” is out now, May 28th, on all streaming platforms. Take a look below as we dig a little deeper into the new music.

After meeting in 2016, Matt Chase and Chris Rogers hit it off musically and began writing and playing small shows together. In 2019, they signed to River House Artists/Sony Music Nashville as Southerland, and today, May 28th, they released their debut EP, Boot Up. With traditional country sounds and smooth harmonies, the duo are poised for big things, and couldn’t be more excited about releasing new music.

“With the craziness of 2020, we kept our feet on the gas in the writers room and in the studio,” shared Southerland. “We’re always excited to release new music, but we’re especially excited about this EP. Some of our very favorite songs we have written are on this project.”

Produced by Greg Bates, all seven songs on the EP were co-written by Chase and Rogers, and feature an array of other writers, including the woman behind many of Blake Shelton’s biggest hits, Jessi Alexander.

The EP opens with the title track, “Boot Up,” and the EP’s tone is immediately set. It’s country, it’s harmonies, and it’s fun. “We wake up every morning before the rooster crows,” they begin over twangy steel guitar and banjo, and it’s clear that the duo is straight country. On this clever ode to cowboy boots, they celebrate the significance of their boots in country life. “We go to work in them // Sun up to sun down // Church in ‘em // Making mama real proud,” They sing. “All the people like me showed up // Boot up.”

On “Might As Well Be Us,” the duo celebrate the good ol’ days when things were better and built to last. However, this isn’t the typical track of longing for simpler times, as they flip it into a love song. “Some things gotta hold together // the kinda thing time can’t touch,” they sing. “Some things gotta last forever // Might as well be // Might as well be us.”

Vocally, Southerland settles comfortably into mid-tempo country, as evidenced on “Came Out of Nowhere” and “Along Those Lines.” On the latter, they celebrate hometowns, and how they’re all similar. “When we wrote this song, we realized that it doesn’t matter where you are from,” explained Chase in a recent interview with Taste of Country. “A lot of time, you grow up very similar to everyone else, and in this song, it’s as if Chris (Rogers) and I came up with our own little fictitious town, where we took a little bit of this and a little bit of that from each of our hometowns and put it together into a song.”

One of the EP’s highlights is “Dance,” a swinging up-tempo track about a girl who just wants to dance, and if the guy wants his chance, he just has to be prepared to dance. She may not be looking for a guy, but that’s all out the window when it comes to two-stepping. “When she wants to dance // Buddy that’s your chance,” They advise. “When her song comes on // No you can’t go wrong // When she wants to dance.”

The EP closes with “Thing Is,” a stomping up-tempo produced by Trent Wilmon. It’s remnant of the best 90s country with its toe-tapping beat and cute story. The wordplay here is exceptional, as they remark “Can’t put my finger on // Whatever made me fall in love like this // She’s got // Whatever that // Thing is.”

With an authentic country sound, Southerland’s debut EP is a welcomed breath of fresh air. We expect big things from this country duo, and in the meantime, Boot Up is a great introduction to the pair.

Boot Up Track Listing:

1. “Boot Up” (Greg Bates, Matt Chase, Chris Rogers, Austin Taylor Smith)
2. “Might As Well Be Us” (Greg Bates, Matt Chase, Chris Rogers)
3. “Came Out of Nowhere” (Jessi Alexander, Matt Chase, Chris Rogers)
4. “Dance” (Greg Bates, Matt Chase, Chris Rogers)
5. “Along Those Lines” (Greg Bates, Matt Chase, Chris Rogers, Driver Williams)
6. “Little Bit of You” (Greg Bates, Matt Chase, Chris Rogers)
7. “Thing Is” (Matt Chase, Greg Bates, Chris Rogers)*

*produced by Trent Willmon

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