Over the past year, Kashus Culpepper’s musical confluence of Americana, soul, blues, folk and rock have earned him a No. 1 hit on Americana radio with “Believe,” opening slots on a tour with Leon Bridges, and praise from pop/rock icons including John Mayer and Elton John.
In 2026, he’ll headline shows in New York, Boston and Nashville, while opening shows in Australia for Wyatt Flores and performing supporting slots for country music titan Eric Church. Along the way, he’ll continue bringing fans his unique fusing of musical styles on his full-length debut album, Act I, which released Jan. 23 on Big Loud Records.
Culpepper sees the 18-song project’s mesh of styles in a much simpler perspective, with the album’s “Southern Man,” written with Needtobreathe’s Bear Rinehart and recorded in collaboration with guitarist Marcus King, serving as a summarizing anthem.
“At the end of the day, I’m a man from Alabama,” Alexander City, Ala. native Culpepper says. “This is how I was born and raised. I wanted an anthem to talk about my roots a bit.”
Culpepper has packed several lifetimes’ worth of experiences into his 28 years. He grew up singing in church, while soaking in the sounds of artists including Frank Sinatra and Howlin’ Wolf. Culpepper then spent more than five years as a firefighter and EMT, and enlisted in the Navy. He was based in Spain when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and he passed the time by teaching himself to play a guitar gifted to him by a friend. He began playing and singing at bonfires near the barracks, and after his deployment concluded, he began playing leading the Kashus Culpepper Band, playing cover songs in the clubs and bars dotting Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.
In 2023, he began writing his own original music. That same year, he moved to Nashville and continued refining his songwriting. It was Culpepper’s cover of Tyler Childers’ “Messed Up Kid” that brought the attention of labels. Culpepper signed with Big Loud Records and began co-writing with The Lone Bellow’s Brian Elmquist, who also serves as producer on Act I.
Inspired by Elmquist’s work recording in Muscle Shoals, Culpepper chose to record part of Act I just over three hours north of his Alexander City hometown, at Ivy Manor Studio. Run by Dan Hannon, the studio sits in the heart of Muscle Shoals, the storied musical grounds that shaped artists including Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett.
Elmquist’s work recording a project in Muscle Shoals inspired Culpepper to record Act I at Muscle Shoals studio Ivy Manor. The studio, run by Dan Hannon, is located in the heart of Muscle Shoals, the fertile musical bedrock for artists including Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and the Allman Brothers.
“I met Dan when I went down there for the first time seeing The Lone Bellow record their record,” he recalls. “I knew I wanted to record in Muscle Shoals, so I knew Ivy Manor was the spot. I love the people over there. My producer Brian was also there recording a record and he told me how amazing it was. I’ve recorded pretty much every song since ‘After Me?’ at Ivy Manor.”
Now, fans are getting a look into the full scope of his musical acumen, thanks to songs he wrote with writers including .
“I think this album is a great timestamp of me as an artist and songwriter,” Culpepper says. “I finished it late last year and I’ve been waiting to put it out. Sometimes I was like, ‘Man, maybe I should just leak it now,’ but no, you got to go through the process. I’m excited for fans to see all the different sides that make me an artist.”
The album’s “Alabama Beauty Queen” offers a haunting ode to his homestate roots, while also giving a stark look at the concept of local “celebrity” in rural towns.
“I felt like I knew so many people in high school that had a picture-perfect life when they got to school, but if you peel it back at home, there were problems people didn’t know about until years later,” Culpepper says. “It’s a combination of like, wanting to leave your hometown to find something better, maybe go to a big city, but also there are people going through stuff that you don’t find out about until later on. People become small-town beauty queens and in small towns, they seem like superstars. People put them on pedestals and it’s crazy. You don’t even know what they got going on at the house.”
The tender, delicate “Broken Wing Bird” features Americana queen Sierra Ferrell. He met Ferrell during a gig they both played at King’s Family Reunion event. “I was making s’mores around a firepit or something, and she came and sat down. We became friends and I had a song I had written before I met her. When we got time to record it, we knew we wanted to make it a duet and I wanted a voice that sounded like it wasn’t of this time, something that had a vintage sound. I think Nate [Yetton] at Big Loud reached out and I’m so thankful she said she would do the song.”
He wrote the heartbreaker “House on a Hill” with Rhett Akins and Jimi Bell. “I wanted something that felt really bluesy and to talk about an ex-lover type of deal,” he explains. “I have no ill will for any person I’ve talked to or nothin’ like that, I was just wondering, ‘I hope that house on the hill is everything you wanted.’ It was this whole process of thinking, ‘Is that person happy? Did they get everything they want? Are the flowers the way you want ‘em in your front yard?’ I haven’t played it live yet, because it makes me cry sometimes. It’s a sad song. Even the second verse, like, ‘Did you get to paint the colors in your bedroom?’ I’m like, ‘This is sad.’”
Culpepper’s commanding, grizzly anchors each song on the album, and he has his own way of setting the right vibe in the studio. “I like to record vocals at night. I love for it to be dark, moody, so I love recording vocals at night or in a dark room,” he says.
His kaleidoscope of music residing at the central point of various genres has allowed him to traverse various musical communities.
“I love being part of these communities, country, Americana, folk. I love people telling real stories. Every time I do an Americana-leaning festival, or anything like folk or Bluegrass and they invite me, I’m so thankful,” he says. “They treat me like family. I think people just want real music and just being authentic with yourself. I think that’s why I’m able to float between these different communities of music, because at the end of the day, I’m just being real. I opened for Sierra Ferrell last year, and for Leon Bridges and Whiskey Myers and Charles Wesley Godwin, because I think people just want to know you’re being true to yourself.”
As his star continues to rise, he says he’s proud of representing his Alabama roots.
“It’s kinda cool when you walk into grocery stores and they say, even people I didn’t know that well growing up, they stopped me and just talk with me about the music and how proud they are of me. They’re just proud that I talk about my roots and I still speak up about it.”
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