Dirt Road Souls kick up a yearning tale of dive bar Americana with ‘Hold On Soul’

Boston trio delivers a stirring new single on Friday, October 10 that introduces a forthcoming roots rock concept album 

NOW PLAYING: Listen to ‘Hold On Soul’ on Spotify

Listen to March single ‘Bright Light, White Heat’

‘(The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine’ set for release in early 2026

BOSTON, Mass. [October 10, 2025] – Dirt Road Souls have a story to tell. It’s not the Boston roots rock band’s own, per se, and it’s not entirely yours, either. It’s universal in its truth, but specific in its intent. And like any great tale told off the steady balance of a barstool somewhere in the city or around an assembled campfire out in the woods, things don’t always start at the beginning. 

But the introduction is always a key element, and with it comes an invitation. That invite is extended through Dirt Road Souls’ new single, a stirring fit of twangy dive bar hillbilly rock called “Hold On Soul,” set for streaming release on Friday, October 10. 

The night before, the trio takes it to the stage of O’Brien’s Pub in Allston, performing live for a New England Americana Festival Presents show alongside Wayward Vine and Molly Pinto Madigan. 

Acting as a portal to a larger world, “Hold On Soul” and its blend of yearning Americana, country rock, and Southern gothic bring us into Dirt Road Souls’ unfurling tale of (The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine, an ambitious 12-track concept album and roots rock opera set for release in early 2026. 

Chronicling the rise, fall, and enduring spirit of a small-town rebel with big dreams and a bigger heart, told through the lens of a close friend and narrator, the record follows the mythic arc of Johnny Moonshine — a backroad dreamer, moonshine runner, romantic, and overall tragic figure. It’s a poetic odyssey of freedom, failure, and redemption, all wrapped around an arsenal of memorable hooks and melodic storytelling. 

Few new bands would take on something as enterprising and aspiring as (The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine to mark their debut album, but Dirt Road Souls – composed of Boston music scene veterans Davis Black (The Inebriations), Rick Weden (Shotgun Waltz), and Brian Sargent (Black Cat Crossing) – felt the time was right to tell the tale.  

And while March’s gritty, street-hustlin’  single “Bright Light, White Heat,” arriving two months ahead of the band’s captivating spring set at the New England Americana Festival at Bellforge Arts Center, teased what was to come, it’s “Hold On Soul” where we first get to meet – and perhaps even understand – our titular protagonist. Even if this introduction comes later in the overall storyline. 

“Johnny is a charismatic kid in a small town,” says Black. “He could really do anything he wants. But for the purposes of the storyline, he runs moonshine in Choctaw, Oklahoma. There are epic dirt road parties. Boy meets girl. Boy has dreams. Boy gets himself into trouble… then it may or may not go downhill from there, with moments of hope sprinkled in, because y’know, it’s not over ’til it’s over. Johnny Moonshine is inspired by a couple of friends from my small town that had incredible potential and lost it all.” 

Which made “Hold On Soul” a nice entry point not only into the concept album, but Dirt Road Souls themselves – especially Black, who penned the storyline after the deterioration of The Inebriations during the pandemic. The song was engineered, produced, mixed, and mastered by Dirt Road Souls’ own Brian Sargent at his Aberrant Sound in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and it features Black on guitars and vocals, Weden on drums, and Sargent on upright bass, mandolin and backup vocals. 

“‘Hold On Soul’ was first written many years ago when I had left my small town and gone off to start a life in Boston,” Black admits. “After high school and college years I’d often return to my small town to recharge – and get drunk with my friends who didn’t leave town. These lyrics come from the culture shock between the two places. The stress of the city vs. the simplicity of the small town was very real for a little while.” 

And they reflected nicely in the rise and fall, and possibly rise and fall again, of Moonshine himself. “Hold On Soul” is the penultimate track on the album, and while the upbeat song comes with a positive message, making it primed for the first introductory single from the album, it doesn’t give away the entire storyline.  

“The story goes from light to dark to light to darker,” Black warns. “This is one of the light moments.” 

(The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine also acts as a bit of a retrospective for Black, who after the breakup of The Inebriations, took a personal inventory of the songs he’d written over the years, and set out to determine where he’d head next musically. Black realized he had a collection of songs that could be woven together into a fictional storyline – a proper beginning, middle, and end. 

From there, he wrote out some material that filled in the gaps, and soon enough, he was face-to-face with Johnny Moonshine – and an entirely new musical project, one that took the dusty and bluesy Americana of prior bands but incorporated an operatic method of storytelling.  

“Once the concept was solid, I had an easy time renaming the band Dirt Road Souls,” he reflects. “Having one of my oldest friends join the group (Brian) has been an inspiration. He grew up where I did. He knows all the stories, where the bodies are buried… we are both dirt road souls. And Rick is a great friend and has been an amazing constant in this musical journey of the last 15 years. We’ve been riding the same waves for years. Because of all this, I’d say we’re in a great space.” 

The jury is out on whether we’ll be able to say that about Johnny Moonshine when it’s all said and done. But in the meantime, “Hold On Soul” gets the tale started, at a point where things are already in full motion.  

“That one lyric, ‘When you feel like dyin’ / The hope’s not gone’ was written about going home to recharge, or in the case of the Johnny Moonshine storyline, to begin again,” Black concludes. “It’s a song of hope that tries to say, as bad as things may seem, there’s still hope. Perhaps it’s good timing for such a song?” 

From the barstool to the campfire, that right there is a tale as old as time. 

Dirt Road Souls are:

Davis Black: Guitars and vocals

Rick Weden: Drums

Brian Sargent: Upright bass and mandolin

‘Hold On Soul’ single artwork:

‘Hold On Soul’ production credits:

 Written by Davis Black

Engineered, Produced, mixed and mastered by Brian Sargent

Recorded at Aberrant Sound in Wrentham, MA

Press photo and single artwork courtesy of the band

Dirt Road Souls short bio:

Roots rock purists. Grizzled veterans of the Boston music scene. Once known as The Inebriations. Roots rock opera and debut album (The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine set for early 2026 release.

Recent media praise for Dirt Road Souls:

“Next up were Dirt Road Souls, a rockin’ Americana three-piece. The first stand-up bass I caught during my portion of [New England Americana Festival], which is mostly notable just to point out that, while the entire festival was Americana music, different instrumentation with the bands’ line-ups in addition to the artists’ varying influences afforded the event plenty of musical variety. This, of course, would be an example of different instrumentation. I took notes about a few of the interesting songs during the band’s set. ‘Bright Light, White Heat” thumps along like a dive bar hillbilly rock twanger. The band’s uptempo cover of Willie Nelson’s ‘Whiskey River’ did a good job of keeping things moving. And ‘Roar’ was an energetically twangy, very cool crowd pleaser.” _Geoff Wilbur’s Music Blog

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