EXCLUSIVE: Jon Wolfe Celebrates the Simple Comforts of Small Town America in 'The Older I Get (More Country I'm Gettin' To Be)'

It happens to the best of us. As we get older, we often feel that inevitable pull back to the place we're from and a fondness for where we grew up. The more you know about life, the greater your appreciation seems to be for that small town or that big city that shaped you and gave you your unique way of seeing the world.

Born in Miami, Oklahoma, for Jon Wolfe that means his adopted, spiritual home of West Texas, and he celebrates the simple comforts of small-town America and the music that made him the singer he is today in his latest single, 'The Older I Get (More Country I'm Gettin' To Be).'

"Here's to the real stuff / Mamas and babies, lovers and crazies / working folks making ends meeet / honky tonk weekends / barbecue chicken / waving the flag cos you're free / When push comes to shove, it's in God we trust and fighting for what you believe," Wolfe sings, and for him, that's "pearl snaps and longnecks" and his "old man's old 65 pick up" just because he loves how it feels.

“'The Older I Get (More Country I’m Gettin’ to Be)' is truly an autobiographical effort in a song," says Wolfe. "It’s exactly where I’m at in my life and in my career as a country singer. It’s not about chasing trends to me. I’m writing songs and singing songs that mean something to me. It’s about being true to myself and letting that reflection come through in my music.”

“This song is the latest in a long progression of a creative team," he adds. "I don’t really look at myself as a lone ranger out there making music on my own and taking all the credit. It’s about writing songs and making music with two of my best friends, my producer and co-writers Dave Brainard and Tony Ramey. We’ve been working together as a team for close to eight years now and our process just gets better and better.”

Wolfe’s musical journey began in 2004 when he joined the fast line of a thriving Texas country scene alongside artists like his roommate Hayes Carll and Randy Rogers, dropping his debut album, It All Happened in a Honky Tonk in 2010, with Natural Man and Any Night in Texas in the years following.

“I’ve always believed in the long road if it’s the honest one," he says, just one of the proudly independent country artists making big waves in Texas without being tied down to a major label.

His 2021 album Dos Corazones marked him out as one of country music's great modern traditionalists. With its autobiographical, assured songwriting, it felt like Wolfe had planted his feet firmly in the soil of the West Texas desert with a deeply introspective record that felt timeless and peculiarly to the state that made him who he is in the same way that Aaron Watson's The Underdog or Wade Bowen's Solid Ground do.

With a string of singles in the last few years since, including 'What a Cowboy Was' and the Jamey Johnson duet 'When the Good Ol Boys Age Out,' it's about time we had another long player from one of West Texas' most innovative country voices.

'The Older I Get (More Country I'm Gettin' To Be)' is released on 18 July.