Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett Releases Solo Country Album

The Foo Fighters' lead guitarist, Chris Shiflett, has released a solo country project. West Coast Town officially dropped on Friday (April 14).

Shiflett first ventured into country music in 2010, as the frontman of Chris Shiflett & the Dead Peasants; the band released an album that year, as well as a second project, All Hat and No Cattle, in 2013. During the summer of 2016, Shiflett returned to Music City to record his new album at the famed RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb.

A California native, Shiflett blends the sounds of his West Coast upbringing and punk-rock past with country music to create something unique and his own while also building off of the legacy of California country music. Readers can press play below to see the official music video for Shiflett's song "Sticks & Stones."

"I've heard it described by various people that country music in the South came out of the church, and country music on the West Coast came out of the honky-tonks," Shiflett tells Rolling Stone Country. "It's a louder, twangier, more aggressive version of country that came out of the environment of playing shows for rowdy fans looking to cut loose after a hard day of working in the oil fields and out on the farms. I think it was Buck Owens who said they were as loud as they were because they had to get the music over the constant din of the barrooms.

"I'm a rock guitarist at heart, so when I first started getting into country and honky-tonk music, I knew that I liked what I heard, but I just didn't know who I was hearing or any of the history of it all," Shiflett adds. "Luckily, I had a friend who did know, and he told me to get a Buck Owens box set, a Merle Haggard box set and any Wynn Stewart I could find."

Shiflett started out playing music in the mid-1990s, in the punk band No Use for a Name. He was also part of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes before joining the Foo Fighters in 1999. While combining punk with country twang may seem innovative, Shiflett says that the mixture of the two genres runs deep.

"There's always been a connection between punk rock and country music, especially the honky-tonk side of country," he says. "I think it all comes down to attitude. You can draw a straight line from Hank Williams to [Social Distortion's] Mike Ness. There's a certain defiant streak and rebelliousness in both genres."

West Coast Town is available via iTunes and ChrisShiflettMusic.com. A complete track listing is below; the iTunes version of the album includes a bonus track, “Mrs. America.”

Chris Shiflett, West Coast Town Track Listing:

1. "Sticks & Stones" (Chris Shiflett)
2. "West Coast Town" (Chris Shiflett)
3. "Goodnight Little Rock" (Chris Shiflett)
4. "Room 102" (Chris Shiflett, Brian Whelan)
5. "The Girl’s Already Gone" (Chris Shiflett)
6. "Blow Out the Candles" (Chris Shiflett, Brian Whelan)
7. "I’m Still Drunk" (Chris Shiflett)
8. "Cherry" (Chris Shiflett)
9. "Tonight’s Not Over" (Chris Shiflett, Brian Whelan)
10. "Still Better Days" (Chris Shiflett, Brian Whelan)

Hear Chris Shiflett's "Sticks & Stones"

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