By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Local Salina band, The Sunset Sinners, took to the road this year, with multiple live music festivals on the roster and a few new opportunities.
The four-piece music group also recently remastered two of their most popular songs, "Always Time For One More Beer" and "Friday Night," which were released last Friday.
"2024 has started off with a bang for us," said drummer Blake Blackim.
Outside of remastering a few of their hit songs, the band plans to develop new music this year at a well-known production site — Yellow Dog Studios.
The Sunset Sinners music is what the members call "whiskey barrel rock," a fusion of 70s and Southern Rock and Roll, with a mix of "Red Dirt Country."
Group members include Blackim on the drums, Tony Bowell as a guitarist and vocalist, Sean Herrington as a bass guitarist and vocalist, and Nick Schyler on lead guitar.
Two festivals they will perform at include the Sunset Solarbration Festival in Texarkana, Texas, in April and the Wild West Festival in Hays in July. Blackim said they also agreed to headline another unnamed festival later in the year.
Outside those live music settings, the band traveled to Texas this week to record new music at the well-known studio.
"We just got to Austin, where we'll be recording new Sinner tunes for upcoming singles and album at the famed Yellow Dog Studios that sits on a ranch in Wimberley, just outside of Austin," Blackim said. "We're excited as it's really the first time we've worked with a Grammy-winning producer to give us a fifth set of ears."
The group has worked with Grammy winners on their past music, but this will be the first time they work in-studio on new music.
Yellow Dog Studios has worked with famous, nationally-known artists like Garth Brooks and the rock group Green Day, among many others.
"We'll primarily work with Casey Johns and David Pearceful," Blackim said. "We're going in with at least four solid songs, and we'll see what happens. I'm sure the juices will flow, and we'll end up with more."
The Sunset Sinners will begin recording early Thursday morning and work until Saturday on their new material.
"Some of our songs are written about people from back home — therefore, we thought it was best to get out of town to record them [the new songs]," Bowell said.