Shelby Lee Lowe has seen plenty of honky tonks in his years. Whether a patron or performer, the Lewisburg, Tennessee native feels right at home around sawdust floors and neon lights.
To kick off 2025, Lowe is offering a love letter to honky tonks with the aptly-titled “Honky Tonkaholic,” a fiddle-laden, twangy bootstomper that he has been chomping at the bit to send out to the world.
“I’ve been waiting for a good time to drop this one, and I really wanted to start 2025 off with a bang,” says Lowe. “This song is going to set the tone for the whole year and it’s gonna be fun one!”
Lowe says the song, penned by honky tonk veterans Chris Stapleton and Brett Beavers, caught his ear immediately.
“I got pitched several songs from a catalog a few years ago, and I spent a night going through and listening to all of them,” says Lowe. “I’ll never forget the first time I heard the guitar lick on the demo and hearing a voice; it sounded like Chris Stapleton. Then I said, ‘damn, wait a minute. That is Chris!’ The song is so damn fun. I knew I had to record it.”
In just over a week since its release, Lowe isn’t the only one having fun with the song, as it has hit the ground running on streaming platforms and landed a spot on Apple Music’s “New in Country” playlist.
“I’ve been chasing these dream a while, and anytime you get a good early response like this it’s super encouraging,” says Lowe. “I’ve had faith that people would love the song as much as I do.”
Lowe, who lists classics like Dwight Yoakam’s “Honky Tonk Man,” Radney Foster’s “Just Call Me Lonesome” and “anything by Merle Haggard or George Jones” as his favorite tonkin’ tunes, says “Honky Tonkaholic” is just the start of what is set to be a busy year.
“I currently play every weekday morning at Eric Church’s Chief’s on Broadway, so I will be playing a ton of shows,” says Lowe. “It’s gonna be a crazy year jam packed with new music. I’ll be releasing a new song about every six to eight weeks, and they are some of the best songs I’ve ever recorded! My next single is probably going to be one I wrote with Zach Top and Carson Chamberlain called ‘Night Me.’ I am also planning on recording a live album this fall and hopefully touring some this year as well!”
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