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Earlier this week, Hal Ketchum announced an October 7 release date for his first album in six years, I’m the Troubadour, via his new label Music Road Records. The follow-up to 2008’s Father Time, I’m the Troubadour is a genre-defying collection of songs that pulls from Ketchum’s diverse influences, including blues, rock and soul.
“I like to say that I’ve been successfully misunderstood for 30 years. I mean, I was a cabinetmaker from Gruene, Texas. I got a record deal and I had a number one record out of the box, and suddenly I was a ‘country’ singer,” Ketchum explained in a press release. “The genre served me very well, and I’m really grateful for the opportunities that the country music world brought to me. But creatively, this record was a really beautiful departure for me. It’s really opened me up again”
In 1998, Ketchum was diagnosed with a type of multiple sclerosis that affected the movement of his left side. For a time, his symptoms were so bad as to prevent him from writing or performing, prompting Ketchum to take a few years off from music. When he began writing again, though, Austin label Music Road Records took notice and signed Ketchum, allowing him the time and creative freedom he needed to complete I’m the Troubadour.
A thirty-year industry veteran, Ketchum has had a decorated career in country music, with over 5 million albums sold, fifteen Top 10 singles and a Grand Ole Opry induction under his belt.
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