Honky-tonk country traditionalist and Appalachian singer-songwriter Ben Fugate & The Burning Trash Band will release “County Fuzz” on Friday, March 08 [Pre-save/Pre-add/Stream], the second single from their forthcoming self-titled EP, due out on April 12 by Louisville-based sonaBLAST! Records. The Country Note exclusively premiered the new song today, where you can listen now ahead of its official release this Friday. 

 

Fugate’s cheerful honky-tonk tale about a run in with the law after a night of drinking is sonically delivered with all the traditional hallmarks of a country song; a story, a steel guitar, a fiddle and Fugate’s vocal twang. The song is also set to become Ben’s creative backdrop for his first ever music video.

“Growing up in Hazard, the Dipsy Doodle Curve was more than just a bend in the road,” Fugate said. “It was a cautionary tale etched into the fabric of our town, so I had to write a song about it. ‘County Fuzz’ is our ode to those wild nights and the hard lessons learned.”

 

Proudly hailing from Hazard, Kentucky, Fugate first began amassing a sizable following on his Tik Tok channel in 2020 by just simply singing a number of classic country and southern rock song favorites, along with a few of his originals. In 2021 Fugate released his debut EP by Sonder House, Pronounced Appa-Latch-Uh, where the title track has garnered more than 100,000 spins on Spotify, firmly solidifying a growing interest among his listeners and fans.

 

In 2021, Fugate was discovered by Louisville-based Entrepreneur, Community Organizer, Filmmaker and sonaBLAST! Records founder Gill Holland. Holland, who has played a role in the musical careers of other Kentucky recording artists like Jack Harlow and Ben Sollee, also saw the raw, natural talent in the Appalachian country songwriter and invited him to Louisville’s La La Land recording studio to bring his self-written song-tales to pristine audio perfection.

 

Record release shows planned throughout Kentucky in Louisville, Hazard & Harlan:

Fugate and his band will celebrate the release of the new EP with a series of shows in Kentucky. The first will be on Thursday, April 11, 7 pm ET at The Monarch Music & Arts Community (1318 Bardstown Rd., Louisville), and then on Friday, April 12, 8 pm ET at the VFW Post #7387 (1700 N Main Street, Hazard) in his hometown of Hazard. The following week they’ll perform on April 20 at Harlan County Beer Company (120 E. Central St., Harlan). Admission is Free and open to the public for these events.

“I’m thrilled to host these release shows in my hometown, Harlan and Louisville,” Fugate said. “Both Hazard and Louisville have been pivotal in our success, so it feels only fitting to bring the celebration to where it all began for us!”

Tracklisting & Songwriters:
1. “Dream Song #1” (Ben Fugate, Kevin Howard)
2. “Til’ Death Do Us Part” (Ben Fugate)
3. “County Fuzz” (Ben Fugate, Kevin Howard)
4. “Take Your Love” (Ben Fugate)
5. “Lovesick Over You” (Ben Fugate)
“Impossible” (Ben Fugate)
“Tick’s Blues” (Derek Mullins)
“Dream Song #2” (Ben Fugate, Kevin Howard)

EP name: Self-titled

Audio release date: April 12, 2024

Video release date: April TBA (“County Fuzz”)

Audio producer: Anne Gauthier at La La Land Studios; Justin Perkins at Mystery Room Mastering

Shows + Promotional Appearances:
MAR 22 – Live From Chevy Chase appearance (WDKY-TV) / Lexington, Ky.
MAR 30 – Northfork Inn / Hazard, Ky.
MAR 30  – Best of the Bluegrass appearance (WLEX-TV) / Lexington, Ky.
APR 04 – Al’s Bar of Lexington / Lexington, Ky.
APR 11 – WAVE Country with Dawn Gee appearance (WAVE-TV) / Louisville, Ky.
APR 11 – The Monarch Music & Arts Community / Louisville, Ky.
APR 12 – VFW Post #7387 / Hazard, Ky.
APR 20 – Harlan County Beer Company / Harlan, Ky.
** Ben’s most up-to-date show and appearance schedule also available on his BandsInTown

About Ben Fugate:
Ben Fugate is the product of many things: the rural Southeastern Kentucky landscape he calls home, the belting of gospel vocals behind shoddy guitar amplifiers at the Pentecostal church he spent most Sundays, and the hardships that come with being a young adult in a town he loves, which both time and the rest of the world have seemingly passed by. Ben chose the path of music from an early age, donning the famous studded apparel of Elvis Presley and impersonating at his family gatherings as a young boy, playing Lynyrd Skynyrd songs to an amphitheater of his high school peers in talent shows, and forming his first band after graduation, spending all his time in a sweltering garage with his buddies coming up with melodies and singing every John Mellencamp song he knew. The influences Ben draws from, range greatly. From the high twanged vocal acrobatics of The Osborne Brothers, or the heart-tugging slow country warbles of Vern Gosdin. The influence of Joe Diffie, Hank Williams, Keith Whitley, George Jones, Travis Tritt, Bob Seger, Eagles, and Charlie Daniels are all evident in the music that Ben makes. However, he understands that he’s not those influences, but like any great artist, Ben is merely a vessel that channels all the great emotional highs and lows across the vast history of country music and makes them his own. This is before accounting for his equally incredible group, The Burning Trash Band, a band of music vets who always display their tight guitar work and clock-like rhythm section both in shows and in the booth. Ben Fugate and The Burning Trash Band have only been a collective for a few years, and they have been constantly working towards honing their sound, adjusting melodies and delivery, and obsessively messing with tone. What Ben and his band of honky-tonk heroes seek to achieve is none other than their own perfect vision of what country music is to them. And with every show, every record, every practice, every lyric, and every broken guitar string, they come that much closer.