“I don’t care what I write,” says Caleb Lee Hutchinson, “as long as it’s true.”

Since putting out his self-titled EP in 2019, the Georgia native has always grounded his creative process in the brutal honesty and rich story-telling tradition of country music’s roots. With Hutchinson’s new project, “Southern Galactic,” he breaks new ground while continuing to honor the honesty and storytelling that seeded his love for country music as a boy listening to Mississippi John Hurt and Waylon Jennings cassettes with his dad.

If the new record sounds different, that’s because it is. Hutchinson isn’t interested in doing what other people are already doing. “A lot of it is country as dog’s breath,” Hutchinson says, “but my influences are all over the place, and all those influences are in the record.”

“Southern Galactic” was recorded just south of San Antonio, Texas where Sinclair lives and works. Hutchinson, a Nashville-based artist, said he needed to step out of Nashville for a moment so he could focus on what he wanted to sound like and not what others expected of him.

Although “Southern Galactic” stakes a new flag in the mud, what has always been true and special about Hutchinson is still true and special now. Framing the music—which ranges from the chug and twang of the classic spaghetti western gunfight riffs to gritty DIY indie garage rock to 80’s synth- bathed electronica—is Hutchinson’s characteristic sincerity, humor, wit, and wisdom weaved throughout the lyrics.

“Southern Galactic” represents the emotional and artistic moment in which Hutchinson finds himself. He’s evolving, having fun, and taking risks all the while remaining true to the songwriting and storytelling he loves that has made him the artist he is today.