They might have formed a decade ago within the city limits of Nashville, Tennessee, but The Cadillac Three often feel like the antidote to the glossiest excesses of modern country. Gritty, hooky and infused with the hickory smoke of southern rock, the power-trio line-up of Jaren Johnston (vocals/guitar), Kelby Ray (bass) and Neil Mason (drums) has triumphed on stages from Download to the Grand Ole Opry, with a sound perhaps best described by the title of their 2020 fourth record Country Fuzz.
While this year’s The Years Go Fast brings together some of their heaviest material to date with the “pain, hurt and craziness” of the covid era, a chat with mouthpiece-in-chief Johnston is a delight, with the singer spinning war stories with an easy wit that makes it clear why the galacticos of rock have given him support slots, friendship and anecdote gold. It’s strange to discover, then, that the one man who didn’t fall for Johnston’s charm offensive was the late Motörhead legend himself.
LEMMY
We’d had a photo shoot all day in LA, and when we got done we got some friends together and went to the Rainbow Room. So we’re drinkin’ and everything, when suddenly I
