Independent's Day Radio

Austin McCutchen is a rambler; a young singer-songwriter who wanders - and who wanders with intent - and the characters, experiences and epiphanies large and small that he has along the way form the backbones of his traditionalist country songs. McCutchen wears a hat and boots, but he's no modern urban cowboy country-pop poster boy. There is dirt on his boots and sweat on the brim of his hat and his songs have a timeless quality that make them feel instantly familiar; it's the kind of authenticity that Detroit co-opts and tries to use to sell pickup trucks. McCutchen's rich baritone is the voice of a trustworthy narrator - a man whose heartache and vulnerability is palpable in the verses and whose resignation and wisdom quietly ambles around by the refrain. His writing is the kind of open-spaces Americana found in the tradition of country singers who favor the mountains of the American west over Nashville or the plains of Texas. It's a style that makes grand subjects sound intimate and small subjects sound gr