Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Blake Rainey knows that Southern rock has soul. That’s why he and his wife, Kendra, started Southern Lovers Recording Co., a label launched to recognize talent in the Atlanta area. That’s also why he’s been putting out classic outlaw country tracks for the last 15 years. On Blake Rainey and His Demons’ latest record, Helicopter Rose, he experiments with elements of true country like wailing guitars and vocal grit, most evident on “Every Time I’m Thinking Of You.”

The track opens with a few warbling chords until Rainey’s weary twang begins to set the scene: “In this chair here all alone/Singing the same sad old song/Knowing all the lines/About whiskey and wine.” Behind his vocals, a classically country rhythm hops along, old-school tunes traveling the track’s length. On top of that, distant jingles and insistent guitar lines fill the spaces. There is never a dull moment in the song, chock-full of bursting outlaw country instrumentation and Rainey’s seemingly resigned — yet addicting — vocals, hypnotic when he sings the hook, “Every time I’m thinking of you/I won’t lie, I’m drinking, too”, which rings repeatedly so that the mighty voice (and universally relatable message) is hammered into listeners’ ears. These key elements of the track are repeated for most of the song, until the very end when all those overlapping rhythms are blurred together in the quintessential country-rock psychedelia fade out.

On “Every Time I’m Thinking Of You,” Blake Rainey holds his own with other old-school outlaw folk greats, his songwriting making him impressive and his sound making him memorable.

Listen to the track below and connect with Rainey on Facebook:

-Savannah Davanzo