For over a decade Oklahoma-born, Kansas-raised and Texas-based country artist Isaac Hoskins has been grinding it out in the music industry, doing everything from bartending to working as a construction worker, beer merchandiser and ranch hand to support his creative pursuits.
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He documents his rugged journey filled with monotonous side jobs ("Back To The Saltmine"), struggles with substance abuse ("Harder Than The Blues") and long nights on the road ("H-Town Turnaround") on Bender, his forthcoming third studio album out Nov. 18. Initially scheduled for a Dec. 2 release, the album's unveiling was recently bumped up to coincide with one of its songs being featured in episode three of the fifth season of Paramount's hit TV show Yellowstone.
Peter Salisbury
According to Hoskins, the Yellowstone opportunity was a long time coming after a serendipitous meeting with the show's creator, Taylor Sheridan, at a watering hole Texas a few years prior. At the time Hoskins was on tour opening for Jason Hawk Harris, and while opening for him at a bar in Fort Worth he saw Sheridan and his wife walk in looking completely out of place. However, the couple -- who were out for a night with friends but went to the wrong bar -- stuck around for his performance, with Sheridan inviting Hoskins over to their table after his set wrapped up.
Admittedly not very knowledgeable about Yellowstone, which had just completed airing its second season, Hoskins walked outside afterward to Google Sheridan, who he knew better at the time from his long standing role on AMC's Sons of Anarchy.
Hoskins and Sheridan have gone on to become close friends in the three years following the accidental encounter, with the musician performing at several rodeos and other events put on by Sheridan in the time since.
"Taylor has a great taste in music," Hoskins tells Wide Open Country. "I think it's a big shot in the arm for him to lend a hand to artists like myself who've been grinding it out for a long time and are devoted to their work. We've become good friends and worked together countless times since, something I never would've thought possible if not for that fateful night."
It was following one of those events he was hired for by Sheridan, a horse reining competition in Las Vegas in August 2020, that Hoskins would sneak off to Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park for a transcendental retreat that led to him becoming sober for a year and losing 30 pounds, all the while discovering much of his inspiration for Bender in the process.
A couple songs from the album highlight Hoskins' struggles with alcohol and substance abuse, but none tackle it more directly than "Harder Than The Blues." On the country blues tune he tells of waking up hungover with a headache throbbing from his head to his boots that hurts more than the regret of his mistakes made the night prior, singing:
"I've been known to go on a bender
"Long as I can remember
These days I've been bent for more than a few
My friends ask me when I'm gonna dry out
I reply without a single doubt
When the headaches hit me harder than the blues."
Other songs, like "Off The Wagon," also delve into alcoholism, but from a less personal perspective. On the rough and tumble tale Hoskins sings about the plight of a worker he met in the backroom of a grocery store during his days as a beer merchandiser who was struggling with alcoholism. After disappearing for a few days, presumably to attend AA, Hoskins began writing a song about the man's journey, embellishing elements of it here and there to drive home the inescapable feeling of helplessness that often accompanies substance abuse.
Although he's back to enjoying a drink or two on occasion now, Hoskins is grateful for his period of sobriety and the life-changing perspective it afforded him.
"It was important for me to separate alcohol from my identity," says Hoskins. "I found myself around Sheridan and other successful folks so much that it made me want the same for myself. Part of that meant getting a hold of my drinking. It was tough at first, but I eventually grew to enjoy waking up with a clear head and being more productive with my songwriting."
Peter Salisbury
Much like Hoskins' refrain from alcohol in many ways saved him, a brief return to side work earlier in 2020 after he'd left that world behind the previous summer to pursue music full-time had a similar effect. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, resulting in over 60 canceled shows for Hoskins, he began working as a ranch hand for someone that he met through Craigslist to help keep the lights on. Despite being at work again for someone else, Hoskins took solace in his time spent outside and (mostly) alone on the ranch with the exception of the cattle he tended for.
"Working on that ranch really saved me when everything was shut down and I couldn't play," says Hoskins. "It helped me get back into shape a bit and I got to see the sun come up and go down. It was everything I needed that I didn't know I needed."
Although times were good on the ranch, having to go back to work and away from music was heartbreaking for Hoskins. He documents this feeling in "Back To The Saltmine," a song that pairs the feeling of having to grind just to get by while putting your dreams on the back-burner with imagery from his various side jobs that he hopes remain in the rear view mirror. This is best described as Hoskins sings:
"Hell my guitar's in a pawn shop way uptown
And I'm picking up these boxes and setting them right back down
My old 9-5 became a 5-9
Feels like I'm working all the God damned time
And it's back to the salt mine once again."
Fortunately for Hoskins, he's left the ranch job in the rear view and is again focusing on his music full-time. Primarily touring in Texas, many of his adventures take him five hours west of his hometown of Denton to Lubbock and four hours south to Houston and back, the latter being a route he refers to as the H-Town Turnaround.
He documents both on Bender with "Panhandle Wind" and the aptly titled"H-Town Turnaround," a rollicking honky tonk adventure that is much a reflection of his time on the road going from show to show as it is a love letter to his adopted North Texas home and since 2003.
"My original plan was to move to Austin and become the next Robert Earl Keen or something, but I ended up liking Denton so much that I stuck around," says Hoskins. "It's a great city with a tight knit community of artists, musicians and writers. I couldn't see myself living anywhere else now."
Even though love lost ("My Memory," "If It's Meant To Be") and revenge ("The Pistol And The Prayer") are also detailed on Bender, it's clear the album's main focus centers around the gritty perseverance and blue collar know-how that's become a mainstay of Hoskins life both in and out of music. His songs act merely as a vessel for highlighting the good and bad of his life's journey, packaged into nostalgic soundbites that harken back to Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, John Prine and other musical mentors of Hoskins.
"I hope folks connect with my songwriting and the songs themselves, but I also hope the album illustrates to listeners what is possible if you never give up," says Hoskins. "There's so many times when I could've become a plumber or gotten another regular job, but I just couldn't get [music] out of my blood. I'm so thankful that I never stopped pushing myself, and hope these songs can inspire someone else to keep chasing their dreams too."
READ MORE: Songs From the Bunkhouse: Wade Bowen Says Being Featured on 'Yellowstone' Was a 'Dream Come True'
