Ruston Kelly Vinyl Records
Marrying the hardscrabble poetry of alt-country troubadours with the moodiness of alternative singer/songwriters, Ruston Kelly cut a unique figure in Nashville at the tail end of the 2010s. Kelly originally earned his reputation as a songwriter, penning "Nashville Without You" for Tim McGraw in 2013. As a performer, he moved toward the fringes of mainstream country, a shift notable on his 2017 debut EP, Halloween, and its 2018 full-length follow-up, Dying Star. Kelly took to calling his blend of old-fashioned songcraft, moody Americana, and alt-rock attitude "dirt emo" -- he called a 2019 covers EP this very name -- but the elastic, impressionistic hybrid reached its fruition on his second full-length album, 2020's Shape & Destroy.