After the global pandemic came to a head in 2020 and the live music world evaporated, things spun to a dark head for singer and songwriter Isaac Hoskins. The writing was on the wall: something had to change. After three days alone in the desert, Hoskins came home and started over. Today, Hoskins is 12 months sober, 30 pounds lighter, and performing full-time after side-hustle stints as a bartender, construction worker, beer truck driver, and ranch hand had previously left him unfulfilled. Every page of Hoskins’ story is laid out throughout his upcoming LP, Bender—out November 18, 2022. (Isaac Hoskins, 2022)

Recorded at The Finishing School in Austin, Texas, and produced and engineered by Gordy Quist of The Band of Heathens, Bender conjures Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, and John Prine in an ode to unhealthy coping strategies and life on the other side. And on the other side, Hoskins has already found hope-giving success, namely his upcoming inclusion in the mega-hit television series Yellowstone. From meeting the show’s creator Taylor Sheridan after a show in Ft. Worth, Texas, to having multiple songs featured in Yellowstone’s upcoming season, the larger world is about to discover Hoskins and his story, as well.

Hoskins shared the first single from Bender, “Panhandle Wind.” All at once Country-tinged and Rock-driven, the baritone and steel guitar-led tune embodies Hoskins’ uncanny ability to match up a good story with a catchy refrain, leading to a windows-down, Sunday cruise sing-along. “The idea for this song came to me while driving to Lubbock to play a show,” remembers Hoskins. “That was just one of many very windy, dusty drives to and from the Panhandle of Texas and Northwest Oklahoma.” Outsider premiered “Panhandle Wind” along with an in-depth interview with Hoskins, noting, “his sound straddles the fence between folky heartland Americana and Texas country.” 

Of his music, Hoskins has said that every song comes from his roots. The people, places, and events that unfold around him provide the resonance, and Hoskins himself draws those memories into stories about love, loss, and everything in between. The music is how Hoskins participates in the culture that has shaped him. Country music is known for its traditions and conventions, but Hoskins feels there is a way to honor these without reducing the audience to a caricature of itself. For Hoskins, the work is keeping one foot squarely in country and “roots” music while still exploring new ways to express yourself as an artist.

Bender track list:
H-Town Turnaround
Back to the Saltmine
Panhandle Wind
My Memory
Harder than the Blues
The Pistol and the Prayer
Moments I Would Never Trade
If It’s Meant To Be
Off the Wagon
Leon’s Blues