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Momentum Builds for A Thousand Horses

Career Heats Up With Debut Single, "Smoke"

Momentum continues to build for A Thousand Horses. With roots in South Carolina and Georgia, the band’s debut single, “Smoke,” has steadily risen on the charts, entering the Top 10 of Billboard’s hot country songs chart just last week.

The group, whose sound is infused with Southern rock influences, will release their first album, Southernality, on June 9.

Southernality is the combination of Southern personality,” frontman Michael Hobby told CMT Hot 20 Countdown. “You know, the stereotypes from being from the South with the ‘yes ma’am, no ma’am, the laid-back kinda slow living lifestyle. So I just ‘Southern’ and ‘personality’ and kinda put them together and came up with ‘Southernality.’”

Displaying the band’s personality was a large part of the album’s creation process with producer Dave Cobb.

“Dave wanted to capture the energy of what we do live in a recording,” Hobby said. “That’s always been his approach ever since we started working with him years ago.

Guitarist Zach Brown -- not to be confused with the leader of the Zac Brown Band -- said the album’s sound is what fans will hear at their live concerts.

“We were able to have the girl background singers, which we travel with now, which is a sound we always wanted,” he said. “When we were writing songs for the album, we had that in mind -- that old school Lynyrd Skynyrd kinda deal -- so it’s cool to be able to have them with us now to fill out the whole sound.”

Fan reception to the new music has already been positive. Those who preorder copies of Southernality from iTunes have immediate access to multiple songs.

“We’re already playing shows and having people sing it back to us -- every word,” guitarist Bill Satcher said.

A Thousand Horses will hit the road next month on Darius Rucker’s Southern Style tour. Brothers Osborne and reigning CMA new artist of the year Brett Eldredge will join the tour when it kicks off on May 14.

For more tune into the all new episode of CMT Hot 20 Countdown on Saturday and Sunday (April 18-19) at 9 a.m. ET/PT.

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