John Arter and the Eastern Kings didn’t make it easy to articulate the sheer panoramic force of their whiskey-soaked Southern country rock sound in their latest standout single. The dusty Americana cinema of Last Ride hits with the force of a hurricane, sweeping anyone privileged enough to hear the phenomenon into the eye of the storm that embodies Americana culture. The raucous appeal of a splintering dive bar, the expanse of the open road, the fortitude of the people that keep the culture alive — it’s all there and roaring through the riffs.
The second single from their debut album, Not Just a Story, Last Ride is a whipcrack outlaw-country anthem that gives country rock its teeth back. With lap steel and twang-soaked guitars pouring gasoline over thunderous drums, the track never pauses for breath. Arter’s vocals almost defy belief with their gravity, the kind that could haunt the rafters of any bar and still command the silence of the room.
Formed around Arter’s raw, literary songwriting, the Eastern Kings are already redefining what UK Americana can sound like. Their concept album threads myth, memory, and modern turmoil into something unapologetically unfiltered. They’re not here to flirt with the genre; they’ve already poured blood into its soil.
What John Arter and the Eastern Kings did with Last Ride was so far beyond contributing to the Americana genre. They epitomised it and forced fresh blood into it on their own terms.
Last Ride is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.
Review by Amelia Vandergast