Country Next: Highway Home

If you’re just getting to know Highway Home, the country trio of Eamon Owen, Conner Sweeny, and Stanton Langley, buckle up because they’re only getting started. Out today, their debut EP, No More Drinkin’ Songs, serves as the perfect introduction to who they are and where they are going as it gives listeners a taste of the sound, influences and chemistry that make the trio stand out.

Their story starts with three friends who were each pursuing music on their own before realizing that their shared love of country music was something worth chasing together. Originally from Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia, respectively, the three met through Nashville’s Music Row scene and officially joining forces in 2024.

Since then, Highway Home has quickly begun making a name for themselves and seeing an impressive growth in their audience. Their sound draws heavily from the country music of the ’90s and early 2000s, blending the nostalgia of the music they grew up on with a fresh, modern energy that comes to life through their signature three-part harmonies.

Now, their debut six-track EP, No More Drinkin’ Songs, gives fans an even closer look at what Highway Home is all about. Produced solely by Ryan Gore, the collection finds them reflecting on memories of their youth in “Never Grow Up,” putting their own spin on the classic honky-tonk drinking-and-love song with the title track, and ultimately exploring the highs and lows, heartache and experiences that have helped shape their sound so far.

We caught up with all three members of Highway Home to talk about how the group came to be, their journey so far and what they hope fans take away from the new project.

For anyone who might just be learning about Highway Home and starting to listen to your music, how would you describe your sound as a band? 

Stanton – I’d say it’s pretty centered around the reminiscent country of the 2000s and the ’90s, but with a modern touch. I mean, we all listen to many different types of music, country music specifically. And we listen to what comes out today just as much as we listen to what was coming out in the 80s. So I mean, there’s definitely a fresh touch on it, but I would say it’s definitely pointed back towards what we would call the good old days. 

Eamon – I think all of us just grew up listening to that music and ended up loving that era of music. So without even trying, that’s just whenever we’re writing songs, that’s what we love to try to go for. So it just came out naturally. 

Where were you guys individually at the time when you first met?

Conner – We had been buddies for a while. We had all been going to all the writers’ rounds, been playing them, writing songs individually. We were all solo artists and we were all doing different things. Stanton was on the road as a guitar player and then also playing shows as an artist. Eamon was playing some shows and selling merch, riding around on a tour bus. And I was playing cover gigs for frat parties and that kind of stuff for years. And we all started writing songs together and decided that, hey, there’s a gap in the industry for this trio kind of sound. And we loved doing it together and somehow it just continued to make sense. And part of that was through playing Broadway shifts. Part of that was through playing writers’ rounds on Music Row. And part of it was just writing songs that we couldn’t think of anyone that would want to cut it other than us, which was cool. 

When you did eventually come together, how did you land on the name Highway Home?

Stanton – Well, there’s an interstate that connects all three of our home states and it’s I-20, so that’s kind of our Highway Home. 

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Was there a turning point when you realized that becoming a group was that could really take off for the three of you?

Conner – When we first settled on wanting to do this, we had the thought, okay, we’re all going to be doing our solo careers because maybe we feel like we had something going on individually. But what started as what we wanted to be a side project quickly raised its hand and said, “Hey, Highway Home, this is the main project. This is what y’all are going to do hopefully forever.” So it was kind of unbelievable. We couldn’t believe it and we couldn’t be more stoked about it. 

What would you say has been one of the biggest surprises or learning curves since starting this band? 

Stanton – I would say probably just orchestrating putting routing together and just when it comes to touring, which we’ve been super, super blessed to have WME in our corner, especially our agent Doug. And he’s always throwing us bones and saying, “Hey, do you guys want to do this?” Which is so amazing. But it’s interesting because it’s like there’s three of us and while it helps to delegate who’s doing what, at the same time, sometimes things get lost on me because I thought you had it and he thought I had it. And so for me, that kind of stuff has definitely been the biggest learning curve at least. 

You have already been on the road with some great artists, George Birge, Ashley Cooke, Priscilla Block. What do you guys feel like has been the biggest takeaway from opening for these acts?

Eamon – Being out with different artists, it kind of gives you an insight. One, how they work with their team because every team is going to have their similarities, but all of them are also going to have their differences and for us to be able to watch how they navigate, one, just like Stanton was saying, booking and how they’re actually navigating their tour of how to get from one place to another, but also just watching their set and seeing how they interact with crowds and what song they’re putting here, why that song is there, it’s leading into this new song they’re coming out with. So honestly, yeah, being out with different people just helps us as we hope to in the future have a headline tour and be able to take from all these different people of what they do so well and honestly try to just blend that in the future, whenever we’re fortunate enough to have our own headline tour. 

Stanton – We also look to see how these people that we’re playing with carry themselves and how they treat us as openers, which not to say we’re showing up with that in mind, but it just sticks with you no matter how somebody treats you. And we’ve been really lucky to hit the road with quite a few people that have just kind of extended a hand to us and been like, “Y’all come on the bus,” or, “Y’all hang out with us after the show,” and just giving us pointers and just making us feel welcome. That’s the biggest part of it, I think, when you’re opening for someone is when you feel like they’re kind of untouchable, that makes it a little bit harder to settle in and feel good about what you’re doing, but we’ve been lucky. 

What can fans can expect from these six songs off your debut EP?

Conner – Yeah, these six songs, we’re so excited about them and it’s so cool because we’ve already gotten to put out two singles off of this EP, “No More Drinkin’ Songs” and “Never Grow Up.” And those, I mean, to date are by far the songs that we’re just so excited about. It’s been awesome. And the crazy thing is that the rest of the EP, we look at it and we’re like, “Okay, it’s even better.” So we’re really excited for folks to hear it. There’s three lead singers in our band. If the time comes that one of us has to be the lead singer, we’ll figure that out when we get there. But as of now, people are actually latching onto the fact that three voices are showing up in different places and our individual influences are really shining through. And so the track list is out in public and Eamon’sgot this song “Another Morning” that he brought to us and Stanton and I did not write, but Eamondid with our buddy Ryan Cohen and I think some others. But that one just shows such a really cool aspect of what Eamoncan do. And it’s this three-quarter time, really, really cool kind of sexy song that we’re excited for folks to hear, hopefully people latch onto.

We’ve got a song that’s called “Prettiest You I’ve Ever Seen,” and when we wrote that, I had the idea on my tractor cutting the grass and I was like, “Man, I think we could write something cool with this.” And it completely reflects the music that I grew up on. It has a lot of influence from Restless Heart, and that’s my favorite group of all time. And so I would say that this EP is so filled with our personal influences, and it’s consistent in the sense that it’s all Highway Home, but it also, each track and each artist or each one of us that sings it brings in a little bit of personal influence as well. So it is going to let the audience in on who we are, what kind of music we grew up on, and what sounds we’re drawn to. 

What led you guys to title the project, “No More Drinkin’ Songs”?

Stanton – I would say that song’s been waiting around for a couple of years, and since it was written, there’s just been people saying, “Oh man, this one’s really good. This one’s special. It’s different. It hits you with a punchline that you’re really not ready for.” And so when we brought it forward and we started working with our producer and manager and label and so on, it was kind of like every person that was joining our team was sort of latching onto that song a little bit, and we love it too. And we could tell just by the response it was getting in a live environment that, okay, this is a song that we want to represent ourselves with. So when we put it out, we had just signed with a label and it was kind of our announcement to the world like, “Hey, we’re going public and we’re really getting after it and chasing this.” That was kind of the song that we dropped going along with that. So we figured it’s kind of cool to name the EP after something that commemorates that era for us and also just a song that when you see the title, you might think, “Well, I got to check that out because that sounds like a song I’m not going to like.” But then once you hear it, it’s quite the opposite. 

What’s something about the three of you that you think fans might not fully understand or know yet?

Conner – I think that what would be great for people to know, and honestly, a lot of folks that I would say have become fans of us have come to know this because in this stage of our career, we’re having so much fun because every show we play, we’re allotting until someone tells us not to, time to go stand and talk to people. And connecting with people is pretty much the entire reason that we get to do what we get to do. We’re in the people business, we just happen to make music and we just love getting to know folks and being personal. And I think that everyone should just know that we’re very normal dudes. There’s no kind of a mystery about us. And sure, when we’re wearing nice outfits and on a fancy music video and whatnot, we may seem like we’re some kind of something else, but we’re very just normal dudes that cut our own grass. So I think people should know that.

What other goals do you have as a band right now?

Conner – Moving forward, we’re just really excited to continue to hone in on our sound, kind of similar to what I was saying about the EP. The way that all of our individual influences are coming into this music, along with our group goal of what we believe Highway Home is and can be, it’s still kind of dialing in. We’re definitely on it, but it’s an adventure every day. The songs are continuing to be written and we’re figuring out which ones make the most sense for us. We love writing the songs and we love recording the songs, but what we love the most is playing the songs and seeing how they connect to audiences. And so audiences are helping us figure out exactly what Highway Home is going to be and continue to be moving forward. 

Eamon – I would say to add onto that, even for anybody that is listening that is going to be at a show, we play a lot of these unreleased songs that Conner was talking about that we love and that honestly, some of them have been recorded and some of them we’re still figuring out if we are going to record. So if you’re at a show and you hear something that you love, please come up and give us feedback because at the end of the day, we’re going to put out the music that we love, but we want to put out music that the listener loves as well. So yeah, that would be definitely something that I would love for people to hear from us. 

Fans can keep up with Highway Home on Instagram.