Andrew Leahey & The Homestead

Written in the wake of a brain operation that nearly cost him his life, Andrew Leahey’s sophomore LP, “Airwaves,” is as carpe diem as they come, an urgent sonic love letter channeling the 1980s FM-radio anthems he cut his teeth on as a kid. Inspired by heartland heroes like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, Leahey’s songs are would-be stadium anthems driven home by windmilled guitar strums and uplifting melodies. In an era hellbent on declaring the genre doornail dead, this is the kind of music that could only be made by a true believer in the power of rock & roll.

In addition to being an acclaimed frontman, the Nashville-based Leahey is also a sought-after guitarist who regularly tours with Elizabeth Cook, and has backed Rodney Crowell, Drew Holcomb, Will Hoge, and more. For Airwaves, he assembled a team that included multi-platinum producer Paul Ebersold, Steelism’s rhythm section, and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s Sadler Vaden, resulting in a record that Rolling Stone dubbed “a fist-pumping slice of heartland rock”.

Following 2016’s “Skyline in Central Time” (and its Top 50 Americana hit, “Little in Love”), “Airwaves” is timeless American rock & roll that rings from sea to shining sea: a candy-apple-red Mustang convertible of a record burning up the interstate with the ragtop down. With it, Leahey refines the jangly Americana of his earlier work, grasping for the still-smoldering torch of Petty and The Boss, angling confidently to assume the mantle of their everyman sound.