Country Fuzz Festival is BACK! August 16th – Night 2
THE CADILLAC THREE BIO (THE YEARS GO FAST)
Sometimes change is so gradual that it barely registers, and sometimes it’s like slamming into a brick wall. Ask the Cadillac Three: in 2020 the Nashville trio of Jaren Johnston, Neil Mason, and Kelby Ray released a pair of albums in Country Fuzz and Tabasco & Sweet Tea, then entered a season of dramatic upheaval that left them reeling.
“We put out 27 songs in one year. It was like, let’s give people a breather. Let’s give us a breather,” Johnston says. “We were coming off COVID and then my dad passed away. It’s a whole different life now. Talk about having some shit to write about.”
The ACM-nominated group’s sixth studio album, The Years Go Fast, is the product of coming through those trials and emerging on the other side — battle-scarred, a little older, a little wiser, and more willing to be vulnerable. It’s expansive in sound, reflective of the way Cadillac Three continue to tinker with their swaggering brand of country-rock, but it still sounds like
only the three of them can.
“This record does have a lot of growth, a lot of hurt and heartbreak,” says Mason, the group’s drummer. “We are a little more grown up now, but we’re still doing the same thing we were doing in the beginning.”
The Years Go Fast is a statement about big change, but it’s also about the ways friendship, love, and family are anchors when everything starts to fall apart. The group’s three members were high school friends in Nashville and have played in bands together for nearly 20 years. While making the album, Steel player Ray shared an old photo of the three of them loading their gear
with a caption that read “The Years Go Fast,” a reference to an older song by the Jane Shermans that they all liked.
“We look the same, but obviously we’re fighting gravity at this point,” Johnston says. “Neil looks the most the same,” Ray adds. They ended up repurposing that song, “Young and Hungry,” by adding the story of Jaren and his wife to the verses. The result is a triumphant, exhilarating banger that connects the Cadillac Three of yore to the present.
The painful loss of Johnston’s father, former Grand Ole Opry drummer Jerry Ray Johnston, looms large over The Years Go Fast. “This Town Is a Ghost” points out the visual reminders that appear everywhere now that he’s gone. The deeply moving “Pistols on the Levee,” which closes the album, recalls memories of visiting Louisiana with his dad when he was younger, and how he’s continuing that tradition with his own child. “’Pistols’ is so cool,” Johnston says. “It hits me so hard because I know my dad would’ve loved that song.”
Gates open at 6pm. Support Artist takes the stage at 7:30pm. Tickets will be available at the gate the day of show for $5 more than online tickets(+tax and service fee) pending the show is not sold out. No outside food and drinks are permitted. All ticket purchases are final. Refunds and exchanges are not available.
