Cole Chaney sees up-close just how critical his home state of Kentucky has been to the country music landscape over the past two decades. He has watched Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, and Sturgill Simpson grind their way from bar acts to stadium headliners, largely on the strength of original songwriting and the charisma to win over fans with little help from radio. He has also seen the path they blazed for a generation of singer-songwriters native to the Bluegrass State currently making their own inroads into country music.
He cautions, however, that a suddenly well-worn path is still not an easy one to travel.
“It’s incredibly inspirational,” Chaney tells Rolling Stone. “And, on the other side of the same coin, it’s a ton of pressure. You’ve got massive shoes to fill.”
This week, the 25-year-old Chaney will get perhaps the biggest glimpse into how far his own musical career has come. He dropped his second studio album, In the Shadow of the Mountain, on Friday. And on Saturday, he’ll play the main stage at Healing Appalachia — the festival Stapleton and Childers co-founded in an effort to combat opioid addiction — only a few miles from his hometown.
This year’s edition of Healing Appalachia, a traveling fest that changes locations each year, will take place at the Boyd County Fairgrounds in Ashland, Kentucky. Chaney makes his home in Catlettsburg, just east of Ashland along the Ohio River. Stapleton is headlining Friday and Childers on Saturday.
“It’s one of the biggest honors of my career,” Chaney tells Rolling Stone about Healing Appalachia. “It’s pretty incredible that I’m getting to be a part of that, and it’s getting to be in my hometown. I’m very proud of my home, and very proud to be on it. And there are a lot of my heroes on that lineup.”
Chaney’s debut album, Mercy, in 2021, created enough of a buzz to enable him to share stages with heroes and contemporaries alike. He made his Ryman Auditorium debut in Nashville in 2023, opening for Charles Wesley Godwin and Wyatt Flores, and was a regular opener on Shane Smith and the Saints’ Norther tour in 2024.
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He’s hoping to build on that moment with In the Shadow of the Mountain — a nine-track record of original songs that Chaney recorded in Lexington with Duane Lundy (Sturgill Simpson, Bela Fleck) producing. The decision to record in Lexington, roughly a two-hour drive from his home, was a deliberate one.
“I like to be able to drive down the road and get something done if I need to get it done. I don’t like to be across the country from where I’m recording an album. If I wake up in the morning and have my coffee and then have an epiphany moment,” he says, “I want to be able to keep it fresh and get that idea out of my head.”
The record showcases a mix of Chaney’s influences ranging from hard country to bluegrass to grunge, and the lyrics are true-to-life. When they aren’t outright autobiographical, they are observations and feelings Chaney cannot look past while on the road.
On “The Unsatisfied,” Chaney laments all the times he was told, “Settle down child, don’t you know what you’ve asked for? A life of uncertainty.” He calls it a summation of his career to this point.
“That song is about a restless feeling that just kind of follows me, as an individual, seemingly everywhere that I go,” he says.
Chaney recalls his first favorite song being “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow,” specifically the version on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. He picked up music as a teenager and started playing open mic nights in high school. He gave welding school a try after graduation, but by then, music was too strong to resist and he dropped out.
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His grassroots upbringing helps explain why one of Chaney’s most old-school traits is an aversion to the idea of making content. It’s not that he would shun a true viral moment, but Chaney says he is banking on his music breaking through without the aid of social media.
“J.R. Carroll put it best,” Chaney says. “He said, ‘I did not sign up to be an influencer.’ I didn’t sign up for that either. I came here to write my songs, record them, put them out, and tour the albums. That’s what I’m here to do. There’s nothing wrong with putting some videos out here and there to promote your stuff, and you have an obligation to your music to promote it yourself as much as you can.
“But, at a certain point, would you rather have ten new pieces of content, or would you rather have ten new songs? That’s where I’m at.”
After Healing Appalachia, and for most of the fall, Chaney will tour mid-sized clubs and listening rooms in the central and eastern part of the United States. He’ll stop at reputable rock rooms like Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta, Amos’ Southend in Charlotte, and 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. He also has a run on the books opening for 49 Winchester early in 2026.
He says his priorities lie less in continuing his rise and more in raising his standards as a songwriter. If he does that, he surmises that the rest will take care of itself.
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“Inspiration is my goal,” he says. “I want to enjoy my life and write some songs. Hopefully people will dig them.”
Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose latest books, Never Say Never and Red Dirt Unplugged are available via Back Lounge Publishing.