Drew Kohl

Drew Kohl sets the tone of his new six song EP, Sweetheart, at the very beginning of the very first song, “If I Didn’t Have You”. A strummed guitar and his Kohl’s soon to be trademark long-held high note that ends in a yelp before the song careens into a banjo-driven bluegrass influenced raver.

A native of Athens, Georgia, Kohl is currently living in Nashville, and Sweetheart is a product of both places. The album was recorded at Smoakstack Studios and features some great Nashville players, while the fiddle and banjo player were friends from back home.The album boasts crisp and simple production which serves to show off the superior songwriting as well as Kohl’s guitar playing and unique vocal abilities. The aptly titled album explores the concept of romantic love from several different directions through six original songs.

The fast-paced bluegrass sound continues as Drew Kohl asks the musical question we all have asked or at least wanted to ask at some point, “Is it you I’m looking for?” on “Is it You?”



“Someone to Let You Down” brings things down a bit with a song about the necessity of love gone wrong on the road to true love.

The love gone wrong theme continues on “Drops of Ink” which employs a simple but effective folk arrangement. “That was the moment I knew, that I lost you.” The devastating line is punctuated by a plaintive harmonica to drive the heartbreak home.

“Are You Gonna Be My Friend?” kicks things back into high gear with a rocking bluegrass-sounding song, that despite the uncertainty inherent in the title question is brimming with optimism and a spring-like hope.

The album closes with “A Love Letter” which effectively employs the folk music device of lines beginning with the word, “May”, that in this instances populates a letter to a long distance lover. And the song and the album close with the words, “May our souls be free.”

Sweetheart is filled with hope and promise, steeped in traditions, and it is brimming with the energy and originality of youth. It is a sweet record about love that manages to avoid the pitfalls of sentimentality which that subject often evokes. - No Depression

Drew Kohl is a singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia who now resides in Nashville. Drawing from influences such as The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Ryan Adams, Kohl writes an acoustic blend of bluegrass, folk, and country that can be found on his newest EP,Sweetheart. An independent release, Kohl worked alongside friends and musicians at Smoakstack Studio to produce a record of six original songs dealing with the positive and negative aspects of relationships.

“Are You Gonna Be My Friend” feels like an old time bluegrass song on overdrive (that’s a compliment). It’s fast paced fiddle and banjo asks a simple question, “Are you gonna be my lover/Are you gonna be my friend/Are you gonna stand by me until the very end?” Continuing that toe tapping frenzy is “Is It You” and “If I Didn’t Have You” while “Drops of Ink” slows the tempo down, and with that emotive harmonica that gets me every time, compares hurtful words that you can’t take back to the stains of drops of ink.

Mid-tempo “Someone to Let You Down” takes a unique look at the end of a relationship putting forth the fact that you have to go through some tough ones in order to find the one. “Don’t you need someone to let you down/So you can find the one who picks you up?”

The album closes with “A Love Letter.” Its simple production, melody and Kohl’s unique vocals put forth a soothing, positive sentiment. “May you never be away from the things that you love/May your tears be dry when the going gets rough/May you live in peace as you were meant to do and may our souls be free when our bodies are through.”

Kohl has released a bluegrass driven, folksy, twangy, and thoughtful set of songs that you should definitely give a listen. - The Daily Country

Drew Kohl is a Nashville-by-way-of-Athens, GA singer-songwriter that mixes together banjo-led bluegrass influences and traditional folk rawness onSweetheart, his beautifully unpolished collection of Americana. Whether it’s pedal-to-the-floor stompers (“Is It You?” and “Are You Gonna Be My Friend?”) or tear-in-my-beer ballads (“Someone To Let You Down” and “Drops of Ink”), Kohl describes the sound of Sweetheart as merely “twangy love songs.” This brand new EP of original songs really showcases Kohl’s songwriting talent and rings with the promise of amazing things to come. - NoiseTrade