A Thousand Horses’ new album, Broken Heartland, was a long, and sometimes arduous, time in the making. The group, made up of Michael Hobby, Bill Satcher, Zach Brown, and Graham DeLoach, released their last album, Bridges, in 2017, waiting five years to finally be able to share their new record with their fans.

“We made this record before COVID and everything hit, at least part of it,” Hobby tells Everything Nash. “At least a start of it, and we made it with Dave Cobb. And then during the whole break that we had, we added ‘Another Mile Gone’ and ‘When I Hear Your Name’ in that process. It’s a long time coming to finally be here. We’ve been wanting the record to come out for a long time, but things change.”

After releasing their first two projects on major labels, A Thousand Horses released Broken Heartland on their own Highway Sound label, giving them a freedom and independence that they had been craving.

“The best we can do is be the best us,” Satcher reflects. “We weren’t trying to fit in any particular box or anything like that. We just picked the best songs that we thought we had, and went in and had some fun with it, and did what came naturally to us, as much as we could. So we’re pumped to have it out.”

A Thousand Horses’ debut Southernality album came out in 2015. Although grateful for both projects, the group is especially thankful now that they can make music their own way, on their own terms.

“That’s the beauty of it,” Hobby says. “Having our own imprint, now our own label that we can put stuff out through, gives us that creative freedom in our own timeline and our own schedule to do what we want to do. We’re in the studio right now, cause we’re gonna put out a little, special acoustic thing before the end of the year. And then we’re already more than halfway through with the next record that we’re gonna finish this year. So we’re just gonna keep pumping out music when we want to and how we want to.”

A Thousand Horse’s current single, “Another Mile,” is out now. The group decided to release the song, written by Satcher and DeLoach, along with Jacob Powell, after seeing how well their fans reacted to it during their concerts.

“It’s a song that we actually started playing on the road live because that’s what we like to do is road test songs, just to keep it fun and interesting for ourselves on stage,” Satcher explains. “We started playing it. Our fans started asking for it, and people were coming to meet and greets saying, ‘Hey, are you gonna record ‘Another Mile’? You know, what about this?’ And they were tweeting at us and all kinds of stuff.

“So we were like, ‘Well, we have to record this. We gotta give the people what they want,'” he adds with a laugh. “It probably would have been out sooner, like everything else, if there wouldn’t have been a pandemic, but we’re glad that it’s finally here and we’re stoked at how it turned out.”

In addition to their acoustic project they are working on, A Thousand Horses is already working on their next album as well. After forming 12 years ago, the four men have a system of how to create music down to an art form, and one that works well for them.

“We try to be as a band, very clear about our communication with each other,” Brown explains. “We all mutually agree and always have understood that nobody’s trying to pick on anybody. We have a very clear dialogue with each other, because we all want what is best for the project and for the band. And so I think when it comes to us being in the studio and self-producing and things like that,  that is a big strength of our, is the ability to just cut to the quick on things and make decisions collectively quickly and move forward.”

A Thousand Horses is spending time on the road this fall. They will also host their own Southern Wilds Festival in Georgia on September 24. Keep track of music and tour dates at AThousandHorses.com.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sweet Talk Publicity / Zack Knudsen