Bryan McDowell Releases His New Single: Winter Comin’ On.
Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Bryan McDowell returns with Winter Comin’ On, the second single from his upcoming solo album. Out today, the track delivers a chilling and poetic reflection on survival, risk, and resilience.
Nothing ever prepares you for winter. It comes in the middle of the night and the next morning you’re caught there. Nothing brings out the bleak aloneness of a day working and shooting dice like the bare trees and two-toned covered fields. The only important thing in winter is not getting pinned down in the cold, keeping your assets liquid, and keeping everything you care about safe – Bryan McDowell.
Rooted in the tradition of bluegrass while speaking to contemporary struggles, Winter Comin’ On is a striking piece of songwriting that showcases McDowell’s evolving artistic voice. Sparse, deliberate, and emotionally raw, the song leans into lyrical storytelling with a cinematic touch, offering listeners a haunting view of winter’s grip, both literal and metaphorical.
The track features Bryan McDowell on fiddle and lead vocals, joined by Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on second fiddle, Cory Walker on banjo, Jarrod Walker on mandolin, Jake Stargel on guitar, and Jeff Partin on bass and tenor vocals. This is an ensemble of top-tier players who bring depth and texture to this expressive arrangement.
The self-titled album features eight original songs and tunes, and positions McDowell as a bold and honest voice in Bluegrass and roots music. While the sound honors the foundations of bluegrass, the stories told are unmistakably of this moment; they paint a vivid portraits of working class life, solitude, and perseverance.
Winter Comin’ On is available now on all digital platforms. To learn more about Bryan McDowell, his upcoming tour, and forthcoming album, visit Bryan McDowell’s website.
About Bryan McDowell:
Bryan McDowell
Bryan is an Appalachian musician. He has 9 years of work with first generation bluegrass fiddler Arvil Freeman, and his first connection was to the mountain culture of Western North Carolina and its acoustic traces.
His influences are the refrains of Doc Watson, Norman Blake, and other classic folk pioneers, passed to him from his clawhammer banjo-playing father.
However, his tastes in music couldn’t be contained in Appalachia and a quick ear landed him recurring work in Nashville with elite artists like Sierra Hull, Molly Tuttle, Section House, and stints with Claire Lynch and John McEuen. He contributed his surprising, sometimes-crunchy-sometimes-fluid style on stage and in studio alongside A-team players that included the McCourys, Bela Fleck, Alison Brown, Jerry Douglas, Jake Stargel, Missy Raines, Cory Walker, David Grier, Rob Ickes, Justin Moses, and Stuart Duncan.
Anyone who knows Bryan at all knows that he can’t be held to one instrument. His early contest success made that matter clear, when he placed 1st in 21 out of 24 of prestigious competitions and national championships. The wins came as often on flatpick guitar as on mandolin and fiddle. He further expanded his arsenal within 2 years of moving to Nashville, when he began to apply his musical depth to innovate on clawhammer banjo, and added things like tenor guitar and mandocello to numerous Grammy-nominated studio projects.
In his 2021 release with venerable bassist Mark Schatz, Bryan’s voice finally becomes the centerpiece of a project, and it may be the instrument he wields with the most ease. His phrasing of every line presents the strong and tasteful tones that you would expect from years of work with master vocalists like Lynch and Tuttle at hundreds of folk and Americana festivals. The album further captures McDowell’s first recorded expansion into songwriting, a component of his that will be seen on projects soon to drop.
So how do you quantify such a subtle and quiet soul with so many surprises? The solution is, you don’t expect him to do what you expect him to do. Keep your ear close to his music, and prepare to be stunned and transported by his iconic originality at every new milestone.
This year, Bryan infuses his energy into his new home base of Baltimore, while touring select dates with Mark Schatz, John Reischman, and acclaimed duo The Foreign Landers. When he’s not on the road, you can catch him in the greater DC area guesting with Charm City Junction and other celebrated mid-Atlantic bands, or hear him on new releases from Section House and other innovators.
