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While in the UK for his Long Road Festival 2024 appearance and run of shows supporting Russell Dickerson, Tennessee phenom Redferrin checked in with Holler to discuss new music.
The simmering, atmospheric ‘Just Like Johnny’ has been enjoying an explosion in popularity in recent months, with the track now surpassing 50 million cross-platform streams.
The stormy love song was one of the many stand-outs from Redferrin's February EP, Old No. 7, inspired by his favourite brand of whiskey. Given the success of ‘Just Like Johnny’ and other cuts from that project, ‘Miss Summer’ and ‘Jack and Diet Coke’ - the latter of which is approaching 100 million streams - it's unsurprising that the focus has been promoting Old No. 7 for most of 2024.
However, given the fact that he has been one of the most prolific country songwriters of the past five years, penning a slew of hits for Florida Georgia Line before making his solo debut in 2021, fans know that new music is never too far away with Redferrin.
Excitingly, Redferrin has revealed to Holler that he is currently readying a new eight-song EP. Although the release date is still being finalised, he's hoping to drop it as early as October 2024.
The ‘Stuck’ crooner explained, “I'm turning [the project] in. We just got masters back on three of them and they're awesome, man. I'm really excited about them because there is some stuff I used to do, and then there are things that I've always wanted to do”.
Redferrin expanded that we can expect to hear it “maybe [in] early October”, before reflecting, “I'm trying to get the label to do it as quick as I can. But they've got their process, how they have to run it through, so, yeah, I'm just impatiently waiting right now”.
Although he's only been releasing solo material for around four years, Redferrin has showcased a refreshingly eclectic range of styles and sounds throughout his plethora of singles. From the sleek, melodic ‘Stuck’ and ‘Miss Summer’ to the celebratory, trap-infused ‘Doin’ Good’ and ‘Red in My Last Name’, Redferrin is no stranger to shape-shifting.
This means that listeners are always kept on their toes, and with a new EP looming on the horizon, Redferrin underlines that it will consist of a blend of the brooding, heart-on-his-sleeve vulnerability of Old No. 7 mixed in with some of his earlier textures.
He muses, “I think that the overall theme of [Old No. 7] - and the sound of it - is very me. I think it helped me settle into what I want my songs to sound like. But on this next one, there will be a little bit that's similar to Old No. 7, but it's a bit of a departure, I would say”.
Redferrin stresses that it will reflect the unique experiences he's been soaking up throughout 2024, epitomised by a new track, ‘Good Morning Montana’, “I usually write what I'm living, and this year has involved a lot of life changes and a lot of touring. I've been able to see a lot of places I've never been before. We wrote six of the eight songs on the tour bus. I wrote one in Montana. We were at a truck stop. Somebody went, ‘Good morning, Montana’ - well, that sounds like a title! Everything was just real life again, you know? So it's got a little bit of a different sound. I'm trying some stuff out that I used to do again, and I'm trying some things out that maybe I usually would only write for other artists. It still sounds like Redferrin, but I'm trying to push my limits a little bit and see where we end up”.
Bearing in mind how three of the seven songs on Old No. 7 have spread like wildfire across social media, this level of visibility could lead to some artists losing their sense of self as they try and recreate this formula and chase their next viral moment.
“I would say it's pretty easy for that to pop in your mind”, Redferrin admits, “I know a lot of my artist friends have struggled with that. Like it wasn't necessarily virality, but it was like, ‘Man, I just had a number one. I need another number one’, and they were so hyper-focused on getting a number one that they weren't writing their best songs. I think seeing that early on was good for me, because I know you can't do what you're supposed to if you're thinking about something else. I did the same as on Old No. 7, and was just having fun and telling stories again. On that side, I didn't feel too much pressure, because I know social media is out of my hands. People either like it or they don't, and the algorithm either kicks it out or it doesn't. So you've got to keep trying and use it as a tool, but not count on it. Thankfully, those other songs helped me build a good, solid base, and now I've hopefully got a few eyes looking when songs come out”.
Redferrin's genre-blurring blueprint, which nimbly places R&B, trap and rock elements atop an unmistakably country foundation, has paved the way for collaborations with artists that ply their trade outside of country, such as rappers Juicy J and Bozza.
Tantalisingly, he has another star-studded duet - and potentially more - up his sleeve with ‘Black and Yellow’ hitmaker, Wiz Khalifa. Redferrin outlines, “I think he wants to work on his verse a little bit. But the song's still sitting - I still want to do it. I know he's he's going to put a verse on a few more songs for me soon, and I think maybe we'll do a shoot-out and see which one we think people will love the most and let it go. But, yeah, definitely a Wiz Khalifa collab coming...” When the prospect of a full-blown collaborative project is raised, Redferrin jokes about Wiz's famously high output, “If we did a mixtape, that would be insane. Wiz drops way too many songs. He drops an album every week! So that might be a reality...”
Regardless of when this Wiz Khalifa link-up materialises, Redferrin's quickly burgeoning fanbase have plenty of new music en route to their playlists. If Old No. 7 is anything to go by, this next EP will be packed with another diverse range of earworms that highlight both Redferrin's sonic dexterity, and his relatable, visceral lyricism.
For more on Redferrin, see below:
