Folk-Rock Group Sister Hazel Are Going Country With Next Album

If you listened to the radio in the late nineties, you're familiar with Sister Hazel. The group had a number of alt-rock hits — mostly notably the smash "All for You" — and now, they're adding some twang with a debut country album.

The album, titled Lighter in the Dark, is Sister Hazel's first new record in five years. The release features 14 tracks, most of them co-written by the band members, including one collaboration with Darius Rucker. They have been playing the tune — called “Karaoke Song” — live for a while, since they wrote it with Rucker and Nashville songwriter Barry Dean.

The group's signature infectious melodies and perfectly blended harmonies (plus a dash of folk instrumentation) will lend well to country music. So even though this is a bit of a departure, it’s not much of a stretch for the artists, who have always incorporated an array of different genres into their sound.

"We’ve always been unclassifiable,” says Jett Beres, the band’s bassist and background vocalist. “We’ll put out a record and go, ‘What is it? Is it country music? Is it Southern rock? Is it pop? is it college acoustic, alternative?’ It doesn’t matter! It’s just us doing what we’ve always done. We’re writing about who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. And we’ve never done it as well as we have on Lighter in the Dark."

Lighter in the Dark is produced by renowned Nashville producer Chip Matthews. Its lead-off single, “We Got It All Tonight,” is cowritten by several Nashville songwriting vets: Chris DeStefano, Ashley Gorley and 2015 BMI Songwriter of the Year Rodney Clawson. The full track listing is below.

Fans can get an instant download of “We Got It All Tonight” when they preorder the record, which is due out in February.

Sister Hazel, Lighter in the Dark Track Listing:

1. "Fall off the Map"
2. "That Kind of Beautiful"
3."Karaoke Song" featuring Darius Rucker
4. "Something to Believe In"
5. "Kiss Me Without Whiskey"
6. "Almost Broken"
7. "Take It With Me"
8. "We Got It All Tonight"
9. "Danger Is Real"
10. "Prettiest Girl at the Dance"
11. "Thoroughbred Heart"
12. "Run Highway Run"
13. "Back to Me"
14. "Ten Candle Days"

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