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Oklahoma native J.R. Carroll has unveiled his forthcoming debut album.
While a member of Zach Bryan's supreme live touring band, Carroll has been busy working away on his first full-length release.
We can now confirm that the record will be entitled Dark Cloud, and will be released on December 6, 2024.
As Carroll explained when unveiling the album on Social Media, it's seemingly melancholic title has more habitual connotations than would perhaps be expected.
"Very very excited to announce my debut full length album, Dark Cloud, is all yours on December 6th" Carroll began in his written post.
"I’m proud to have spent my most formative years in Oklahoma, and specifically Oologah, Oklahoma.
That place, and the people in that place molded me into the man that I am today. Oologah means Dark Cloud in Cherokee, and to honor my home and all the people who invested time and love and positive energy into me, I thought it was a fitting name for my first album.
I’ve spent the last 4 years writing these songs, and the last 2 years trying to find the time to record and finish it for y’all. It’s been a long, fulfilling, and oftentimes defeating process, but it’s finally done and I couldn’t be more proud.
I’ll be forever grateful to my band, and of course Brett at Teegarden studios, for trusting me to not screw this up, and for being incredible humans, as well as musicians and friends. I could not have made this without you, and it’s as much our record as it is mine. I love you all.
This album was a joy to make, and I hope y’all enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it with my friends.
Louie Nice took the cover photo and helped me design it (and also pointed out I posted an earlier draft of said design) and he is the goat fr".
Holler's Take:
It's telling that Carroll would mention not only the length of time it's taken to put together this debut record, but the stress and process of bringing it to fruition.
Between recorded live sessions and one-off singles, Carroll's scarce and scattered release schedule has been evidently driven by his consistent time out on the road with Zach Bryan and the crew, playing massive stadium shows across the states.
If anything, it's made us even more excited for a full-length record from the Oklahoman, particularly since Live From Jean Pump, his last release, was such a gorgeously unrestrained and rich recording of already well-loved songs like 'Bandit' and 'Diamondhead'.
Whether or not Dark Cloud will be all-encompassing assemblage of fleeting moments and memories we've grown to cherish when we can, we'll have to wait and see.
For more on J.R. Carroll, see below:
