Canton's Shootouts Garnering National Acclaim for New Album

The Shootouts. Credit: Courtesy of All Eyes Media

A country/Western swing group from the Akron/Canton area, the Shootouts have recently received a good deal of national acclaim. Led by singer-songwriter Ryan Humbert, the band draws from rockabilly, Western swing and old school country on its latest album, Switchback, which came out earlier this year. The group has spent the better part of the year on the road, and it has a few Northeast Ohio dates on the horizon.

The Shootouts open for Priscilla Block at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Lock 3 in Akron. Then, they open for Asleep at the Wheel on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at the Kent Stage and they’ll also play on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Dunlap’s Corner Bar.

Humbert says the band, which formed nearly ten years ago, fulfills one of his longtime musical dreams.

“The whole band started when I met [guitarist] Brian Poston, and we were introduced by a mutual friend, [guitarist] Erin Vaughn,” says Humbert via phone from his North Canton home. “Aaron was the original guitarist in the Ryan Humbert Band. Brian and I both loved traditional country music.”

For about a year, Humbert and Poston said they should start a traditional country band just “for a good time.” But from that first show, the guys decided to go the whole nine yards and wear vintage clothes and do covers of tunes by Hank Williams, Marty Stuart and Dwight Yoakam. That very first show at the now-shuttered Euclid Tavern, which was run by the Happy Dog at the time, struck a chord with Humbert.

“I thought it’s what I should be doing all along,” he says. “It felt right. It felt like home. It felt like all my influences were making sense on every level. I know everyone in the band felt that way too.”

Produced by Dan Knobler (Allison Russell, Lake Street Dive, Bahamas), Switchback includes special guests like Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, Lindsay Lou, Logan Ledger and Mickey Raphael.

“Dan is great,” says Humbert when asked about working with Knobler. “He came to us by accident. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Rodney Crowell at his house one afternoon. We talked music business and guitars. We talked about having him produce the record. To his credit, he told me he didn’t think he could do anything for us that we hadn’t already done. He said we needed someone younger who could bring a different perspective. At the top of the list was Dan Knobler. It’s his son-in-law. He is a fantastic producer. I knew he would help us bring something different to the table. We really hit it off and did two weeks at [Nashville’s] Sound Emporium, a really classic studio.”

One album highlight, “Trampoline,” is a poppy tune with twangy guitars and cooing backing vocals courtesy of singer-songwriter Lindsay Lou. The song dates back to Humbert’s days as a solo artist.

“It’s the best version of the song I’ve ever done,” says Humbert when asked about the track. “It feels right. It feels definitive. It feels like this is the version of the song that needs to live on. With this new record, we have we found a way to make all these songs our own. Someone recently asked me, ‘Who do you think this album sounds like?’ I said I don’t know who it sounds like. It struck me that that was the best answer. It sounds like the Shootouts. With this new record, we knocked that goal out of the park. Rolling Stone said we perfected Rust Belt country. That’s perfect.”

Humbert says he loved recording with so many guest musicians who’ve had remarkable country careers.

“We were thrilled to have some of our heroes join us,” he says. “Rodney [Crowell] and Sam [Bush] and Mickey [Raphael] from Willie Nelson’s Band. There was also Vince Gill and Lindsay Lou. It was incredible. I’ve been a big fan of Rodney’s for many years. I remember seeing him on CMT when I was a kid. The first time I heard him sing those lines in the bridge on ‘Half a World Away,’ I got choked up. We asked him to sing on it, and he immediately said yes when we asked. He’s the godfather of this project. It’s good help if you can get it.”

Thanks to steady touring, the band has really gelled in the past year and played the Grand Ole Opry a total of nine times so far (Humbert is aiming for a tenth appearance that’ll coincide with the band’s tenth anniversary in October) and made its Ryman Auditorium debut earlier this year.

“We have an exciting rhythm section,” says Humbert. “Erin Vaughn, who introduced Brian and me, has joined the band and that brought the whole thing home. It’s the best version of the band we’ve had from a standpoint of comfortability. We just signed with a new booking agency that books the Avett Brothers and Rodney Crowell. We want to really get out there to support the record and hope to have a busy 2026 too.”

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