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The Hillbilly Way will debut new single in Youngstown
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
With a new single that it can’t wait to unveil and a full tank of momentum, the Hillbilly Way is headed to Youngstown.
The Pittsburgh-based country act will release “Best Night of Our Lives” on Aug. 12. But before that happens, the band – the direct descendant of the Povertyneck Hillbillies – will play an outdoor show in downtown Youngstown on Friday.
Youngstown, in fact, will be the first city to hear the song played live.
The quartet is excited about the release, a party song with a pedigree that sounds like hit material. “Best Night” was penned by Keifer and Shawna Thompson of Grammy-nominated country duo Thompson Square, along with respected Nashville songwriter JT Harding.
The lyrics follow a tried-and-true formula: waking up the morning after, surveying the party carnage, and concluding it must have been one great night.
A lyric video for “Best Night” will be released Aug. 17, with behind-the-scenes footage of the music video that will premiere Aug. 24. The music video, directed by Nashville videographer Ford Fairchild (Jason Aldean, Keith Urban and Thompson Square) takes the audience through some wild antics of the night before.
The song is part of a reboot for The Hillbilly Way that can be traced to its recent signing with Pennington Entertainment, a Nashville management team, according to the band’s frontman.
“Sean Pennington [of Pennington Entertainment] came across the song and said, ‘It would fit you boys,’” said Hillbilly Way singer Chris “Abby” Abbondanza, in a phone interview. “A lot has happened since then. We found out we got the song on June 30, went to Nashville to record it on July 5, and shot the video there on July 6.”
The regional act feels fortunate to be able to acquire a song like “Best Night.”
“It’s an A category song, and usually it would go to a major-label band,” said Abbondanza. “Thompson Square wrote it two years ago and decided not to cut it.”
In the upcoming video, the band members live out the lyrics of the song, which begins with a driving rock riff and includes vivid lines such as:
“There’s a keg floating in the kiddie pool,
a motorcycle in the living room.
Someone shaved my eyebrows off,
we partied like David Lee Roth.”
Abbondanza said to expect bikinis and adult beverages. “Listen to the lyrics,” he said. “That is the video. It’s nothing but a party atmosphere.”
The band knew it was a perfect fit as soon as they heard it.
“I don’t have a pretty voice, and never have, and I’m OK with that,” said Abbondanza. “I try to pick songs that fit my voice, which is somewhere between rock and outlaw country. That’s why when [Pennington] heard [“Best Night”], he thought it was a perfect match for my voice. It was a no-brainer. I fell in love with it as soon as I heard it.”
While the new single is bit of a departure from the Hillbillies typical fare, it likely represents their future.
“It’s not the typical type of song for us,” said Abbondanza. “It’s more down the middle, more mainstream. It’s still a little in your face, but it teeters on that line. It’s a whole different sound for us, and I think we’re going to keep going that route. It’s new and fresh, and we hope the response is positive. It’s a catchy song, and we think it’s going to gain a younger audience. Our kids, and their teen friends, have been playing it.”