Virginian alt-country band transitions into indie rock on their fourth full-length outing.
Dogwood Tales celebrate ten years as a band with the release of their 4th full length album, entitled Every Star in Rockingham County, and not surprisingly, a tribute to their homeland. The band started as a duo, featuring Ben Ryan and Kyle Grim, in Harrisonburg, Virginia, before taking on Jake Golibart (drums), Danny Gibney (bass) and Stephen Kuster (pedal steel) to augment their sound from alt-folk to the indie-rock, alt-country, more experimental sound that they now profile in the new album, with fuzzy and reverbed guitars, and occasional distorted vocals.
It’s a long way from their debut album in 2018 (Too Hard to Tell), a folk/country album with a lot of promise. As time progressed, with a couple of EPs and three more albums, their sound ventured into more experimental instrumentation, from the fuller sound of their sophomore album Closest Thing to Heaven in 2020, to the increasingly more experimental sound of their collaboration with Euphoria Again in 2025, which produced Destination Heaven. Three EPs from 2022 to 2024 showed the way that the group was slowly moving into more power-pop arrangements.
And here we are in mid 2026 and the band are experimenting further, though they recently admitted to our very own Keith Hargreaves that the album was in fact recorded two years ago. It has a much more assaultive sound where vocals are often back in the mix and jangly guitars are very forward. And there is extensive use of the reverb button or the distort machine throughout the new album, so if you prefer your bands with these embellishments to some interesting down-home lyricism about their home town, Dogwood Tales could be the band for you. The opening track on Every Star in Rockingham County sounds, for the most part, like its title, Soundcheck Infinity, with almost indistinct vocals set against a slow wall of sound from guitars, synths and what might be computer sounds. And the pace is almost unremittingly slow – nine of the twelve tracks are similarly paced, although that pace does deliver three fine tracks that stand apart from the others. There is the love ballad I Could Never Be Without You, with its simplistic lyrics but pretty melody and a nice blend of guitars at the end, and towards the end there are the melancholic No Use and Try 2, reflecting on small-town America and rural isolation, as much of the lyricism on the album does. McMemories, one of the single releases from the album, with its clever title and recollections of the past (football games and stadium lights, and coca cola from McDs), is an interesting upbeat song, with a full-on jangly guitar intro and a quasi rock jam towards the end. The ‘jam’ towards the end of Shield is a high-octane wall of sound after a slowish beginning. And the band have some fine harmonies in the mix, as in the closing title track.
The band are highly regarded, evidenced by their invitation to appear at Newport Folk Festival in 2025, with a reputation garnered from remaining ‘local’ with lyrics that focus on personal recollections and familiar territory. And there is no doubting the development in their lyricism and arrangements. Fans will praise their new indie-rock sound, though others may prefer their earlier alt-country rock, steel-driven sound, reminiscent of Wilco or Son Volt.
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