Today, 20-year-old singer/songwriter Madden Metcalf shares his debut EP Saltwater Southern — a five-song project forged at the crossroads of Gulf Coast skies and deep Southern pride. Out now via Wexler Records/MCA, Saltwater Southern features the Florida native’s warm and wistful new song “Kinda Paradise.” Go here to listen to Saltwater Southern now, and check out “Kinda Paradise” here.
Produced by Paul Sikes (Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson) and GRAMMY-nominated songwriter/producer Freddy Wexler (Billy Joel, Post Malone), Saltwater Southern delivers a daringly eclectic sound rooted in Metcalf’s upbringing in Panacea — a tiny Gulf Coast fishing town where he was raised on everything from the rowdy Outlaw Country of Johnny Cash to the breezy Tropical Rock of Jimmy Buffett. With its tracklist spanning from down-to-earth Blues to fiery Country-Rock, Saltwater Southern includes his major-label debut “Like My Hometown” (a love song that uses the language of home to describe knowing someone completely) and “I Don’t Wanna Cry Anymore” (a bold breakup anthem recently featured on Country Swag’s roundup of “Country Songs You Need To Know This Week”). Metcalf collaborated with an exceptional group of musicians on the project, including Dave Cobb, who contributed guitar on “Young Loretta.” See below for the full tracklist to Saltwater Southern.
“I couldn’t ask for a better tracklist to introduce who I am, not only as an artist but as a person,” Metcalf shares. “This record throws everything at you and is a rollercoaster of emotions. I couldn't be prouder of these five songs, and listening from top to bottom answers the question ‘Who is this Madden Metcalf kid?’ And that is Saltwater Southern.”
Written by Metcalf, Wexler, and Elliah Heifetz, “Kinda Paradise” kicks off Saltwater Southern with a head-over-heels portrait of the kind of barroom encounter that lingers long after last call. Equal parts blissed-out and bittersweet, the gently uptempo track finds Metcalf slipping into a sun-soaked daydream about the one who got away (from the chorus: “Would we be sitting on a beach somewhere / Cheap tequila, drinking in a fold-out chair… If you’d stayed for the night ‘stead of leaving / Girl, by now, we’d have found clear blue skies / In our own kinda paradise”). In a perfect counterpart to his soul-soothing vocals and feel-good melodies, “Kinda Paradise” brings bright acoustic strumming, fingersnap percussion, and glistening pedal-steel tones to a Country-Pop reverie that offers instant escape from the everyday grind.
Growing up in Panacea (a town with fewer than a thousand residents, referred to by locals as “the Forgotten Coast”), Metcalf first began carving out his distinct sound by learning to play guitar in his father’s pole barn as a kid. With his childhood split between early mornings on the crab boat and afternoons working shifts at a family friend’s restaurant, he soon started crafting songs that echoed the easy rhythms of Gulf Coast living and the gritty charm of small-town America. Struck by his singular musicality, MCA and Wexler recently teamed up to officially sign Metcalf following a period of focused development led by Wexler and Metcalf’s manager Olivia Zaro. As revealed on Saltwater Southern, the rising young artist is already setting the course for a career built on substance, staying power, and uncompromising vision.
