Born out of reverence for their favorite bands and the need for an outlet to express personal influence, A Country Western finds themselves in the knotty crossroads of slowcore and shoegaze in Philadelphia, PA.

Multi-instrumentalists Derek Hengemihle and Garrett Miades began making songs together in middle school, eventually playing in other bands together until forming A Country Western in 2018. Eventually hometown friend Erik Hilbert (guitar) and Paris Parker (bass) joined for live performances, who soon became involved in writing and recording.

A Country Western is coming off their latest release, a split 10” with They Are Gutting A Body of Water on Topshelf Records, and a new full length album is currently in the works.

While they polish off their new recordings, A Country Western are bringing their self-titled album AND debut EP Phenom (on Side B) to vinyl and CD for the first time ever! Together these two projects encapsulate the earliest era of the band: home recordings with digital transposition and sample chopping.

Notable Mentions

“A bleary-eyed lull, the album seems to only be on the brink of consciousness. Downtempo beats, distorted vocals, and drowsy guitars obscure their minimalist lyrics that mimic the half-formed thoughts you have right before falling asleep.” - WXPN

"Meanwhile, the instrumentation on projects like A Country Western’s addicting Birdfeeder LP has a mesmerizing jamminess that evokes Duster’s Stratosphere more than Drop Nineteens’ Delaware." - Stereogum

"A Country Western really showcase the range of their sound in this one, and honestly, it’s some of their best songs yet. From ‘90s slacker to shoegaze to DnB, they manage to stuff two songs in one and it really kept me on my toes." - WUSC

"Keeping Up with the Joneses" is like Pavement put through a meat grinder, while brief closer "Crossing Out My Lines" is a grounding exercise in melody and songcraft after so much swirling destruction." - Exclaim!