Erik Vincent Huey bills “The Hatfield Action” as a “Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis fever dream … a foot-stomping howl from the dawn of rock ’n’ roll.” And we’d have to agree.
The ’50s-inspired track is quite the rambunctious teaser for Huey’s upcoming LP, Fort Defiance, the follow-up to his well-received 2023 solo debut, Appalachian Gothic. Produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (Bottle Rockets, Jimbo Mathus, Sarah Borges), the new album features guest vocals from Borges and Replacements alum Tommy Stinson, plus musical backing from Baltimore power-pop stalwart Starbelly.
Born into a family with four generations of coal miners, Huey was raised along the banks of the Monongahela River in West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. In an admirable attempt to reconcile his love for the Sex Pistols, Beat Farmers, Johnny Cash and George Jones, he co-founded the Surreal McCoys in South Bend, Ind., while still a student at Notre Dame in the early 2000s. He even adopted his own frontman alter-ego: Cletus McCoy. A resuscitated version of the cowpunk five-piece has released two albums so far, scoring a leftfield Spotify hit in 2015 with “Whole Lotta Folsom.”
A decade later, Fort Defiance documents Huey’s evolution and maturation as an artist with diverse listening tastes and plenty of energy to burn. Fittingly, the album embraces an array of styles with equal enthusiasm, from roots-rock stompers to Americana-tinged ballads to a punk-inspired cover of Bob Dylan’s “Jokerman.”
But what precisely is “The Hatfield Action” anyhow? Is it a trendy new cocktail? A designer drug? A backwoods dance craze?
“Truth is, I have no earthly idea what the phrase means—other than the Surreal McCoys were on an extended hiatus and Hatfield action seemed like the opposite of McCoy inaction,” says Huey. “But I’ll tell you one damn thing: Every time we play it live, the crowd starts dancing.”
We’re proud to premiere Erik Vincent Huey’s “The Hatfield Action.” Look for Fort Defiance on February 13 via Appalachian AF.
—Hobart Rowland
