Colt Ford’s music has been called a fusion of country, southern rock and hip-hop.
But his May 2017 release of “Love Hope Faith” shows that he can also offer up something with more traditional sounds, as well as contemporary tracks.
The album is Ford’s follow-up to 2014’s “Thanks for Listening.” His website details that Ford continues to live out his boyhood dream — the one where you “wake up on a mission/to buy that beat-up Gibson,” as he sings on “No Rest.”
The album is called a message to his loyal fan base, and a strike against the divisiveness plaguing “our country, celebrating the things that bring us together — friends, family, our faith in a better future.”
Fans in Odessa will get a chance to hear him live at 7 p.m. Saturday at Dos Amigos.
Featuring such guests as Music City stalwarts Brad Paisley (“Lookin’ for a Hand Out”), Toby Keith (“Time Flies”), Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and brother Josh (“Young Americans”) and veteran rockers Lit (“I’m Mud”); and newcomers like Waterloo Revival’s Cody Cooper and George Birge (“Dynamite”), Tyler Farr (“My Truck”), Taylor Ray Holbrook (“Reload”), Javier Colon (“No Rest”) and Granger Smith (“Keepin’ It Real”).
“I’m just trying to bring people together,” Ford said via his website. The Georgia native is a one-time golf pro who still frequents the links and the co-founder/owner of his own Average Joes Entertainment. “There’s so much conflict out there, it’s hard to decide who’s right and who’s wrong.”
And while he admits to a populist fan base and down-to-earth, “Keepin’ It Real” attitude, Colt cautions, “I’m not a politician. I’m a musician, a performer. We have to get past our differences and find a common ground.”
Ford’s latest album is a hybrid of country, blues, rock and rap rhythms. The artist has built up a following that started with mud trucker events and graduated to arena status sharing the stage with the likes of golfing buddy Toby Keith.
“I feel more confident than ever as an artist,” Ford said on his website and while he numbers some of the most important supporters in Music City, his lack of country radio acceptance and award show accolades continues to drive him. “I’ve given it my best shot. Some of that outsider thing is tongue-in-cheek, but some of it is true. I’m unbelievably accepted by artists and songwriters. There’s no one I can’t work with. They know I’m real. I’ve built those relationships over time, and I feel I’ve created a body of work.”
A number of songwriters worked on the new album with Ford.
“There are a lot of different styles on this album, but I think my fans will hear it’s just me,” he said. “As long as I remain true to myself, I can delve into all of them.”
“No Rest,” he said, sums up his ambitions on “Love Hope Faith,” his tribute to being a working musician, what he calls “my version of ‘My Way.’”
“I’m proud of that song,” he said on his website. “I think it’s one of the best I’ve ever done. It’s not just about being a rock star, but accomplishing your dreams, a passion that can’t be stopped. Anyone who has that drive will appreciate it. Everybody’s got fears, but when you hear that song, it’s me.”
“I built walls… and I’ll be here when they’re gone,” he says, taking the role of “I’m Mud,” but you know he might as well be talking about himself.
