Country Rocker Stephen Styles Gets Raw and Reflective with New Digital Release With DJ Jazzy KatOn Air

Stephen Styles bio:
Country Rocker Stephen Styles Gets Raw and Reflective with New Digital Release “Whiskey And Vinyl”


NASHVILLE, TENN. — With his current radio single Bar By Now climbing the Music Row Country Charts, California country rocker Stephen Styles takes a more vulnerable turn with his latest digital release, Whiskey And Vinyl. This song is now available on all digital streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and more. 

 

Solely written by Stephen, the track pulls back the curtain on the kind of late-night moments that don’t make it into highlight reels – when the room is quiet, the weight of the world feels heavy, and the only thing that truly understands you is music. 

 

“There’s something different about vinyl — it’s raw, imperfect, and real — and that’s how emotions are too,” says Stephen. “For me, this song represents using music as a way to survive hard moments. It’s about heartbreak, reflection, and finding some peace in the pain. The song pays tribute to the artists who helped me through my own difficult times and I’m now hoping to be that voice for someone else.”

 

Built on his signature blend of classic country grit and Southern rock edge known as “Zero to Hillbilly,” Whiskey And Vinyl leans into emotional honesty while maintaining the authenticity fans have come to expect. Released by Plow House Records, the track highlights a different side of Styles, one with more therapeutic confession. “For me, music is my therapy. I hope listeners feel like they’re not alone in whatever they’re going through. Everybody has those nights where the world feels heavy and you’re just trying to make sense of it all. Sometimes music is the only thing that understands what you're going through, whether it's healing, reminiscing, or just getting through the night.”



His current radio hit, Bar By Now, has gained strong momentum across independent and regional markets and has an impressive track record to date. This release is officially charting on the Music Row Country Breakout Chart, was in the Top 10 most added song by country radio, charted #2 on PlayMPE’s Streaming Chart in the UK, secured airplay nationally and internationally in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, and Portugal, and has landed on over 500 Spotify playlists to date.




About Stephen Styles: Rising California country-rocker Stephen Styles delivers a sound rooted in classic country grit with a southern rock edge, known as “Zero To Hillbilly.” The son of Wayne Moore, bassist for the influential ’60s musical group Nashville West — whose members went on to join The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers — Stephen carries forward a rich musical lineage while carving out a lane entirely his own.



A standout at songwriter festivals throughout the West, Styles has shared stages with Brantley Gilbert, Drew Baldridge, Trace Adkins, Joe Nichols, Eric Paslay, Easton Corbin, Dustin Lynch, Thompson Square and more. Raised on outlaw country and Southern rock, he has built a loyal following drawn to his authenticity, unfiltered lyrics, and high-energy live show. With his previous radio release Burn and his current radio hit Bar By Now, Stephen is often compared to artists like Chris Stapleton, Eric Church and Whiskey Myers. He blends heritage influence with modern edge, honoring where he comes from while confidently defining where he’s headed in country music. 

https://stephenstylesband.com/home

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back. It's DJ Jazzy Cat. We're here live with another fantastic artist, uh, Steven Stiles out of California Country Mixed Man.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome. I know you're an early riser, not well. We want to know a little bit about you and uh very, very impressive resume, I must say. But of course you're so could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Hey, I've been doing this for a little while. You know, uh my dad was a musician back in the day, played with uh Bern Dosden and a bunch of guys, a lot of stuff out of Bakersfield, uh the Bakersfield International stuff, and uh it's just kind of in me for the California country thing. I started at 12 years old playing in my first band, uh, one of my first shows at the Chuck Landis Country Club uh in the valley there, and I wasn't old enough to get in, so we had to wait outside and then uh go in and play, and as soon as we were done, we had they kicked us out. But uh Hollywood for a while and did that thing, and then eventually got signed to Polydor Records in the early 90s with a band called the regulators, and I did that thing for a little while, and then I just got back, then I just got into writing music for a long time, and then uh and then eventually I just like hey, let's go for the artist kind of game. So that's what we're at now.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Well, that's just simply amazing. I definitely enjoying all the music. You've got some new stuff. We'll talk about that in just a little bit. But uh, your creative process when it comes to putting music together, could you walk us through that?

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Yeah, it's it it used to be for me, like I was really good at sitting in a room with somebody or and listening to their story. Like I do a lot of artists where I write for other people or you know, uh, you know, remote for phone or TV, and I take whatever that is, that information, I take your story. I was really good about taking that and putting it on paper. And and writing it from the outside looking in. But recently in the past couple years, I've been really kind of telling my own story. Uh like this this the CP that we have out now and the new one, we're getting ready to go in and record a new record. We'll talk about that. But um, it's more about my personal journey, about my story. And it took a while to get there, you know. Uh I'm really not good at digging deep into myself, you know, and and uh but it's a self-healing thing for me at this point. So uh that's what I do now. I just kind of know I'm digging deep and just uh just getting it all out.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Well, I think of many years you have many different stories. Any stories that resonate with your new album or your new song release? Is there one particular that sticks out when being creative like this?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Uh the the our latest streaming release that we have out right now is called Whiskey and Vinyl. And for me, uh, and you'll relate to this, maybe the younger generation are are not, but that they're starting to, because vinyl's becoming so popular again, is that for us, you know, back in the day, it's just like, you know, you really didn't, you know, go to your friends and you really tell them like if you were feeling bad or what you were feeling, and you just go hide in your room and grab your favorite record and put your favorite record on and play that song that just gets you. You know, you think you know you listen to this, oh, this song just understands what I'm you know, what I got going on in my life at this moment. And and that's what risky and vinyl is kind of about. It's it's about you know, just kind of going in, grabbing music and what music does, you know, and music changes you. Uh if it's healing, it you know, when you're when you're down, it brings you up. And sometimes if you're up and you need it to bring you down, it could do that.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Absolutely. Therapy, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yeah, it's totally therapy. And that and that's what kind of whiskey and vinyl kind of touches on. So I'm kind of proud of that song. It's a solo right for me. I wrote it all by myself. Um, so but it reflects on, you know, just just taking taking your own time, your own your own healing. Uh when just going in and listening to music and let it do what music does.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Well, I think you're doing an amazing job of all of this, but I want to know when you're performing live, do you have any regimens that you know resonate in your mind? You get this big crowd, you've got a lot of people. I know you've shared the stage with, you know, many folks uh in the music country industry and and then some, but is there like a regular regimen or is there something that you can do to focus or just be there in presence? How's that work?

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Uh for me personally, uh the bigger the crowd, the better for me. Uh I always say, you know, I'll do these little these little talks with new artists and everything. It's a the hardest, the hardest concert or the holy shirt show you're ever gonna do is in in front of two people because you know, two people are are giving you 100% of their attention. And so when you get in front of 30,000 people, it's a little bit different. Everybody's kind of making their own party, so it's a lot easier for me to go out there and do what I do and just kind of uplift that party that's already going on, you know. And you you just gotta bring them into your world. And that's that's your job at that point to get on stage, uh because they they can be in the party in the parking lot partying it up and still having a good time. But once they really come into the show, it's your job to kind of grab that crowd and bring them into your world. And uh and uh I I that's the easiest for me. I don't have any set regimen. I don't you know, don't have any stage rat. I kind of thrive on it, me personally.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yeah, I know some people get out there, they'll do a little prayer or something before they go on stage, and some people just like you said, just get out there and do their thing, and then people just gravitate. And I think it's better to see natural than premeditated, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Yeah, for me personally, yeah. Uh, you know, we we do our little bit of our thing that uh that we do before we go all out, but uh we have our little talk and say let's let's knock this one out. You know, sometimes, you know, when you're on the road for a while, you know, everybody's not always happy. You gotta make sure that when you walk on that stage that that uh the people can't see you. It doesn't matter if you if you're having a bad day or not, you go you gotta go out there and get what you all and and uh and and if even if you're not happy you you have to show what you all because uh the the fans will see that. If you're if you're not having a good time, then that reflects on that.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

There you go. So do you fly back and forth to Nashville a lot?

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah, I'm in Nashville at least every month, unless we're I have something else going on. I'm I'm still I'm still my main thing, I say I'm still a writer. I still write for other people, I'm still pitching songs, I write for film and TV. So uh writing is like that just never stops. And so uh any anytime I don't have an artist thing going on, then I'm in town writing, uh networking, doing my thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

That's amazing. And I I I see that in some of the notes here. Uh number two, uh what is it, over in the UK for some of your music right now? Uh the streaming platforms.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Yeah, yeah. We're doing amazingly well in the UK actually. Uh we were uh number two in streaming in the UK. I think we fell at 118 internationally uh for streaming. I think we landed on uh we charted on the iTunes in Germany, uh Paraguay of all places. Uh we're doing really well in Australia. It's it's pretty amazing how well we're doing overseas.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

That's amazing. Well they I tell you, those guys know how to party. The UK, definitely. They love party.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Oh, they I was just saying they love they love music and they love country music, you know. I know we just got added on to a really big radio station in Ireland of all places. That's amazing. Germany, Portugal Yeah, Germany loves country music. Germany loves music in general.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Well, you gave me an education, I didn't know that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

I had a buddy go over I had a buddy do a little acoustic tour over there. Uh he was there for two weeks, and I mean uh it was it was incredible the in sponsor, yeah. You know, it's the very first night he was there, they bought all of his merch. People were offering a place to stay. They're just they're really, really, really I like that.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

I love that. I absolutely love that. I've seen some of the things on you know, over in the UK when they do the different uh what is it, uh soccer, football kind of they call it, whatever. Those guys are always chanting. I think we need to bring that here.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Yeah, they just they know how to have a good time. It's it's it's amazing, you know. Except for poor poor O'Reilly Green the other night, I think got hit in the head with a with a cell phone in Australia. Oh no. I don't get that. I don't get that whole thing. Yeah, I got five stitches from it. I don't know why people are that's still still kind of a trend, people throwing stuff at the artist. I'm still not sure how what that means yet.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah, we can go deep into the pockets on that one. You know how it goes. I don't want to be in a mosh pit. After you reach a certain age, you're like, I'm done.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

I haven't had anything thrown at me uh yet. Uh hopefully never, but it's it's uh yeah, anyway.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Well, you had one of the bands talk about flying, the flying burrito brothers.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Oh, yeah, yeah. That's my dad's name.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Um, you shared this stage with, like I said, many different people and gone different places. Um, do you have a favorite or you just enjoy everybody? Like I, you know, of course, I've known Trace Atkins because I seen him as a young girl back in the day. They used to say he's a big, tall drink of water. How true is this?

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Chase is a good guy. Chase is a good guy. Uh, we had a lot of fun with Chase. Uh a good friend of mine, Johnny, played, was playing drums with him when we played, uh was out with him. But uh he's the first couple first couple days I think he's really standoffish, but then he comes around. Uh, you know, but he's a big boy. Definitely a big boy.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, that's what I heard. Well, that's what I saw. That's what I uh some older woman in back of me when I went to see the show back in the day. She said to me, That's one big tall drink of water. So I always ask her to No clue. Didn't know what it meant to be.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

I'm a big guy and I had to look up.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

There you go. Well, you're always looking up to somebody. You know, that's how we learn, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

So you're sharing the stage with many folks. Do you have any uh collaborations going on with anybody? Or do you have a because right now there's a crossover, you know, between country and rock, right? Uh it's very populated right now. Do you have any artists that you'd love to, even rock artists that you'd like to collaborate with?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Um, you know, we're we're working on a couple things right now. Um I don't know if I can tell you that way to say it.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

No, hold your breath, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

But we do have we do have something in the works uh uh in the country, in I mean in the rock with the in the rock world.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Well the invitation is yours to come back again. Uh you know, definitely. You know, when the younger generation is coming around, so if you were your younger self, what would you tell yourself from then to now as far as learning curve?

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Say that one more time.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

So if you're your younger self now learning nowadays, the music that you've known from then to now, what would be something that you would teach yourself?

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Uh yeah, uh don't take myself too seriously. It's just for my thing, it's for for me personally, it's like for his music. Uh uh what I used to do is like, you know, you think you just gotta be great, you know, and every everything that you do. And I don't think so, man. You gotta have fun with it. You know, you can you can drive yourself crazy thinking, well, why is this guy having more success? Uh why is why does this happen? Man, for me, I just just stay in your lane and uh and just do what you do. And once you finally figure that out, you'll you'll start finding success.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Well, I think it's a beautiful thing that you're doing, and you're very wise, you know, to just talking to you about all the knowledge that you have behind all of this. Uh, do you play anything else besides the instrument, your vocals, uh as far as guitar?

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yeah, I play guitar. My f uh the first four bands that I ever played in, I was actually the drummer. I played drums for four my first four bands. I didn't even sing, and it wasn't until uh uh we lost our singer and we had a show uh coming up like a week later, and like I knew all the songs already. So I was like, well, I'll jump up on and sing. And then I uh our guitar player's cousin was a drummer, so he moved to drums for that show. And then I seen all the attention that I got as the singer. I'm like, well, maybe this is the best.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yeah, you gotta feel your oats out, right? There you go. You are a multifacet person. I like that. Yeah, yeah. Well, they say women can multitask. No, the guy's got it. You got it. The drums are one of my favorite instruments. I can listen to them all day long. Yeah, the low end. The low end.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Yeah. Definitely. It's a different world.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Well, you're just amazing, and and I love you know talking to you about your stories. Any final thoughts? I mean, we're gonna let folks know where they can buy your music. Of course, the music is gonna be played up in the station here on Catch Tracks. Um, any final thoughts today?

SPEAKER_02 12:04

No, I just uh we really appreciate you having us uh come on uh and and uh we appreciate anybody that'll give us the time and and to the folks listening, you know. Uh if you haven't heard of me, please go check out my music. You can get it anywhere that you stream music. Uh you can buy it anywhere that you buy music. And uh, you know, click that little follow button if you if you like it, add it to your playlist. You know that you know that you know the story.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

I do know the story, definitely. And it will be linked up, of course, you know, when we get you over at iHeart, definitely. Your website, your Facebook, your Instagram, your TikTok, and so on. So, Steven, it's great talking with you and um when that new song comes out I will.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Oh, we'll we'll we'll definitely we'll definitely let you know. Yes. We'll send it over. All right.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Well, keep up the good work and I appreciate you coming on to Catch Track Radio.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

Thank you again for having us. We appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

You're welcome. Keep up the good work. Thanks again. Thank you. Bye bye.