Alt-Country Rocker Jay Gavin Sets The Scene In Extended Version Of His Single ‘Lost In Austin’

Austin, Texas — the city known for its slogan: “Keep Austin Weird.” For Jay Gavin, the weirdness of the city is a key part of its charm. 

After an initial trimmed-down release of his alt-country single, “Lost in Austin,” in 2020, Gavin felt that the song had much more to offer through “cosmic guitars and fuzzed-out steel solos.”

Last month, he dropped a new extended cut of the song in all its countrified eccentricity wherein he details the hazy and unconventional vibe of the city in a conventional state.

With lines like “At a bingo cantina / Down by the Super 8 / I been drinking Lonestar / And I’m in a hell of a state / One hell of a state / And I think I’m gonna stay,” the listener can put themselves in the shoes of the narrator, and feel as though they’re right along with him in the eccentric Texas city. 

Along with fun detailed lyrics like these, the song delivers a groove-ridden, almost-psychedelic country feel through its instrumentals; the focal point being the fuzzy outro guitar solo that lasts nearly half the length of the song, and eventually fades out, but from the moment it plays, the listener is pulled into the cloudy, vibrant nature of Gavin’s Austin experiences.

Despite his fascination with the city, Gavin hails from “a remote village on the western tip of Prince Edward Island, Canada, where the potato fields are lined by red dirt roads, there isn’t a stop light for 100 miles, and the kitchen parties go on for days.” His upbringing in this small town led to his deep connection to country music in all its different forms, and today, he writes for an audience that shares that same connection. But it wasn’t always that way, as his earlier years saw him touring North Americana in punk and metal bands.

The extended version of “Lost in Austin” follows his previous single, “Rhythms and Rhymes,” which is the first single release from his forthcoming album. It was produced, engineered, and mixed by Grammy-nominated stalwart Denny Knight (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty) of the Nashville Music Group.

His music is chock-full of authenticity, catchiness, and relatability, and he says when you see him perform live, “you’ll laugh and sing and dance and go home feeling that you’ve made a new friend.”