Drayton Farley at Motorco

Only a few years ago the life Drayton Farley now lives seemed nothing short of a pipe dream: there he was at the time, working the railroads, strumming his guitar, singing his songs for his ass-busting railroad coworkers, dreaming about the life of a touring musician. A dream, he now says, that felt if not illogical than highly unlikely. “I don’t think I was convinced being a musician was even a real possibility,” Farley admits today, looking back at how a smalltown Alabama-raised, music-loving, factory working kid beat the odds to arrive at this current moment.

A proud disciple of a highly vulnerable, evocative and honest brand of Southern storytelling made famous by some of his musical heroes, most notably Jason Isbell, Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson, the soft-spoken and decidedly humble Farley is learning to accept his new reality. Namely, as one of Americana’s most buzzed-about new singer-songwriters.