LISTEN: Lewis Stubbs Junior Crafts Hypnotic & Vulnerable Alt-Country Ballad On “Best I Can Tell”

A passionate troubadour and guitarist, Lewis Stubbs Junior writes with the communion of live music in mind. With skill and abandon, his performances draw listeners in – stories resonate, solos sing, and songs unfold with emotional immediacy. Rooted in music history and always reaching forward, Junior’s sound is shaped by a lifetime of deep dives into the sonic heritage of American rock and roll. 

A thumb-picking guitarist inspired by Merle Travis and Bruce Cockburn, he favors simple arrangements that leave room for spontaneity and the magic of live improvisation. A Nashville native with decades of experience in bands, Junior stepped out as a solo artist in 2024. His live shows range from a tight rock-and-roll trio, often joined by guest musicians on keys or pedal steel, to moody acoustic solo sets – each performance an invitation to get lost in great songs. Junior’s new album, West Nashville Sky, arrived on April 3. 

“Best I Can Tell,” a lead single and highlight from Junior’s latest, introduces the raw vulnerability and psychedelic undertones of the artist’s alt-country approach. With sleek guitars driving the performance, “Best I Can Tell” is a look into a veteran musician in search of some answers. The poetically, brutally honest songwriting paints a bleak portrait of someone at their wits’ end, finding no solace in the things that once controlled their life. Junior employs a nostalgic country ballad aesthetic and infuses it with his own story, showcasing an artist with a mastery of his craft and a fearlessness to push it to new heights. “Best I Can Tell” toes that line beautifully, as the artist spins a deeply personal revelation into a warm, relatable anthem, while introducing the singularity of Junior.