Cole Chaney - Mercy

RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2025
DOUBLE LP

"The genius of Cole Chaney and Mercy is the way it sketches a complete picture of the hopelessness found in much of rural Kentucky.... Those from Kentucky feel a close kinship with the land and a strong pull keeping them there, but often the only hope is found in leaving. It is this vice clamp characterized most strongly in the songs “Back to Kentucky,” “Leaving,” and possibly in the crown jewel of the set, “The Flood,” that paint a resplendent picture of despondency that is at the heart of most all great country music.
"With a poetic disposition and an acoustic guitar, the former welder stirs a lot of emotion and has drawn a sizable crowd with an economy of instrumentation on his debut album Mercy, often only accompanied by fiddle, a bit of bass, and some mandolin, and sometimes by nothing but the natural acoustics of the room. It’s the nakedness of the effort that exposes the sincerity of the writing, and the brilliance of the composition, even if it requires an intent audience dedicated to listening for story as opposed to simple commuters scanning the commercial airwaves for a fetching melody." -- Saving County Music