Homefree

In country music, there are endless debates about what kind of instrumentation really defines the genre as it constantly updates itself and divides into traditional and contemporary factions. Home Free found an ingenious way to get around those kinds of arguments: just ditch the instrumentation altogether. Their five members are all about what has always inarguably been at the core of country music: the human voice.That Home Free is country musicu2019s only real a cappella group is a novelty that, on the radio or on record, might only occur to listeners after the fact, since arrangements that are so fully fleshed out u2014 and we do mean fleshed out, as opposed to machined out u2014 have a way of tricking the ear. In concert, of course, itu2019s a different story: all at once, from first row to last, jaws drop at the first sight of all those throats in action, followed by nodding, dancing and even crying as the groupu2019s powerful musical storytelling unfolds.Home Free are returning with their fourth studio album, Dive Bar Saints, and there are a lot of new wrinkles to their story. But that most critical element remains intact. Listening to the leadoff track, u201cRemember This,u201d you might wonder if theyu2019ve finally just given in and added instrumentation to their previously all-vocal catalog? Not to worry; thatu2019s just an optical illusion. u201cWeu2019re completely a cappella. At all times,u201d Tim Foust assures us, laughing that the question still comes up. Foust is the bass player of the groupu2026 the bass voice player, that is. u201cNever say never,u201d he adds, asked if they might ever consider giving Nashvilleu2019s finest studio musicians some employment, u201cbut thatu2019s what sets us apart. I mean, when we collaborated with Charlie Daniels, we let him play his fiddle, but thatu2019s about it.u201dSo thereu2019s no breaking news alert to be had there, on the all-vocals front. But Dive Bar Saints does have a few other fresh headlines for the group, as their first album since they took full control of their recording career. Home Free had been on a major label ever since finding national fame via NBCu2019s u201cThe Sing-Off,u201d the a cappella competition show they won in 2013, after more than a decade on the road. This new album, though, is coming out on Home Free Records, which will be distributed by The Orchard globally. And itu2019s not just the imprint thatu2019s changing as they take the reins. On Dive Bar Saints, 10 of the 12 tracks are newly penned songs u2014 the greatest amount of original material theyu2019ve ever included on an album u2014 with two band members stepping up in a big way as featured co-writers.Making an album of almost exclusively new tunes wouldnu2019t necessarily be such a huge deal for most other country acts, but for Home Free, there was the possibility that fans might see it as a violation of their prime directive, or at least a shift away from what theyu2019ve come to know and love u2014 which is that this is the only country group in the world that delivers joltingly fresh, new, all-vocal arrangements of well-known songs from in and out of the genre. So the group took it to the fans, asking them if theyu2019d mind an album of predominantly unheard songs, and those devotees made their own voices heard: The u201ccoversu201d part isnu2019t what we care about most u2014 donu2019t worry, weu2019ve got you covered.u201cI really do feel like this is a turning point for us,u201d says Rob Lundquist, the groupu2019s tenor harmony singer. u201cItu2019s the first time where we are going to have more original content than covers. It feels great now that weu2019ve had the community of songwriters actually coming to us and presenting us with songs that they wanted to be on the album. But itu2019s coming from within, too u2014 Tim, our bass singer, co-wrote a couple of songs, and Austin Brown, our high tenor, co-wrote a couple songs.u201d Adds Brown, u201cEvery time we have mentioned we have an album coming out and that itu2019s almost all originals, people explode. Lord knows we wouldnu2019t have expected that, but all signs point toward it being not just what fans want, but what they crave.u201dBetween the one-of-a-kind nature of the group, their established global appeal, and the types of theaters they usually play, Home Free are not exactly what you would call a u201cbar band.u201d From the fall of 2019 through the fall of 2020, theyu2019ll be on their Dive Bar Saints World Tour, playing about a hundred shows in 16 nations, triumphantly returning to the UK for the fourth time and hitting other European countries like Italy and Switzerland for the first. The U.S. leg of that tour will be capped off by a special two-night stand at Nashvilleu2019s iconic Ryman Auditorium. All to say: very few actual honky-tonks are on the itinerary.