Pecos & the Rooftops

Pecos Hurley Brandon Jones Kalen Davis Jessie Santos Garrett Peltier Their latest E.P. “Red Eye” released January 24, 2020.

In the family tree of American music, country and rock have long been at odds. Feuding cousins claiming the same legacy, each one spawning a bitter tribe of true believers … but it doesn’t have to be that way. For Warner Records’ Pecos & The Rooftops, it’s time to bury the hatchet once and for all – and bury it deep.

A Texas-based six-piece built around metal-laced sonic aggression and bluesy, confessional song craft, it’s a new generation of country rock – honky-tonk headbangers from the state that gave us both Pantera and George Strait. And this band of brothers could not care less how “different” that makes them.

“It’s true there isn’t a lot of rock influence out there right now, but who cares?” says the band’s frontman and primary songwriter, Pecos Hurley. “I think it feels good to have something different going, but it’s not even intentional. We’re just making music that we like.”

For them, that means blacked-out country ballads and regret filled, middle-of-the-night rockers, all delivered with the punchy, guitar-driven sound that has slowly faded from mainstream view. Pulling genetic code from modern rock, grunge, nu-metal and beyond, their hook-driven anthems feature booming bass lines and crashing drums – plus a low-down, wrong-side-of-the tracks vocal that seems to rumble from the center of the earth.

It’s a signature sound that has already grown grassroots following, racked up nearly 400 million global streams and earned a Platinum-certification. But with a self-titled major-label debut marking their heaviest hitter to date, a new era begins.

“This is the best music we’ve ever put out,” Pecos says, flexing matter-of-fact confidence (and a take-it-or-leave-it spirit). “It would be ideal for shit to just absolutely pop off even more.”

Named in part for the rooftop they often hung out on, the band got its start in 2019, when four original members met attending college in Lubbock. It’s a West Texas creative oasis known mostly for its alt-country scene – the original home of artists from Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings to Wade Bowen and William Clark Green. But Pecos and the boys were a different breed.

All raised on 2000s era hard rock, classic rock and the blues, lead guitarist Zack Foster and bass player Kalen Davis were hometown buddies, living in a ramshackle five-bedroom house and doing what college kids do. A bond formed between them and another pair of friends – Pecos and rhythm guitarist Brandon Jones – and soon, music was at the center of their frequent hangs. Pecos was the only one actively writing songs (since 2016), but one night, that changed.