Colt Ford photo credit: Sean Cokes

By Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Colt Ford has written with Country hit maker Jamey Johnson, Jeremy Popoff from alt-rockers Lit and Southern rap-master Attitude. He has worked with Montgomery Gentry, No Doubt’s Adrian Young and hip-hoppers Bonecrusher and Sunny Ledfurd. That may sound like this Georgia native and onetime PGA golfer is picking through wildly different types of music in hopes of finding his own direction. Nothing could be further from the truth.

On his debut album, Ride Through the Country, produced by Shannon “Fat Shan” Houchins and released on Average Joe’s Records, Ford blends disparate styles into one sound that is part urban, part Southern, all Country and totally his own.

These 14 songs, half of them co-writes from Ford and the rest crafted solely, conjure vivid images over deep-fried, swaggering grooves. On his first single, “No Trash in My Trailer,” which he penned with Mike Dekle and Byron Hill, you can smell the butterbeans cooking and feel the growling breath of Ford’s dog, Sic ‘Em Sam.

And on “Ride Through the Country,” his drawling evocations of swimming holes, dirt roads, barbecue and a bottle or two on Friday night intersperse with choruses sung by John Michael Montgomery in a voice that seems worn by the trials as well as the pleasures of backwoods life.

“Most Country folks sing but I couldn’t so I’m rappin,’” Ford intones on that track. But as far as telling a story through song, whether speaking or singing, he more than holds his own.
MUSICAL HERO
“Anyone who does real music. I think the fans know when something is real or fake.”

SONG YOU WISH YOU’D WRITTEN
“That’s easy: ‘In Color,’ by Jamey Johnson.”

LUCKY CHARM
“I have God and Faith. I don’t need anything more than that.”

ACTOR TO PORTRAY YOU IN A BIOPIC
“Brad Pitt. It would be hard to find someone as good lookin’ as me to play the role . Did I say that out loud?”

CD IN YOUR STEREO
“Montgomery Gentry’s Back When I Knew It All.”

DREAM DUET PARTNER
“I already worked with one of them, John Michael Montgomery, on ‘Ride Through the Country.’ I would love to do something with George Straight, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts.  I think I could do something cool with them.”

On the Web: www.coltford.com

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