Blue Betty Records

****1/2

For the last dozen years or so, the real-life chemistry between husband/wife team Robin Dean Salmon and Afton Seekins Salmon, has creatively spilled over into singles, albums, and incredible live shows, as the duo Surrender Hill. Their resultant catalogue of seven albums is a mix of whip-smart pop hooks, soulful grooves, organic instrumentation, and spiritual depth. One of their finest works, WILD COUNTRY is a robust affair, with 15 dynamic tracks. Epic choruses and grand swells punctuate so many of the duo’s songs even as their lyrical turns pack a thoughtful punch, providing meaning in their emotional journey and/or calling for a better world. Honing and expanding on previous work, they’re consistently engaging and often riveting, due mostly to their signature songcraft and ability to integrate emotion and realism. Their eclectic music combines the refinement of a classically trained dancer/choreographer turned singer-songwriter (her) and the lifelong musical approach of a guy, who grew up and learned to play guitar in South Africa and Texas, listening to a cross-cultural mix of Bob Wills, the Sex Pistols, Marty Robbins and the Clash, before becoming an award-nominated punk rock frontman in New York City. This has made for an unusual interfusion in their original songs. This sophisticated, expansive album balances smart songs against a confident sort of a swagger that suggests this couple are destined for great things. 

Lead title track features everything Surrender Hill does so well, with a fiddle-driven groove that somehow musically climbs its way to a cinematic closer. About a love that blooms where it’s planted and the extraordinary beauty of the heartland of Arizona, the prairie sky and building a life that is well-lived, side-by-side with your destined soulmate, this song perfectly encapsulates this couple’s relationship. Their clear love for one another is on display in several other songs, from the incredibly catchy Not Alone to the powerfully evocative Dancing With The One I Love to the spacious acoustic beauty of The Feeling Of You. That general theme of love carries on elsewhere with the excellent Witness. This time, though, it’s aimed more at their son Wren; its lyrical pull is an invite to us all to focus on living a life full of goodness, grace and love and allow it to fill our song. Hope and faith and love are the core messages anchored to Love Won’t Come Running. Honed, punchy, and finessed, this song is a long series of high moments, and exultant refrains; the duo at their most unifying with some of the best vocal harmonies I can recall in quite some time.

To duet well is to dance, to step in rhythm in such a way that the two become new and unified; two streams merged into a river, if you will. Robin and Afton dance so closely on The Otherside, their voices may as well have been forever joined. It is a rapturous moment, an unveiling of beauty and closeness as their powerfully resonant vocals plumb the depths and scale the heights of human vulnerability, conveying the emotional resilience that lies at the ragged heart of any relationship. They demonstrate their unique ability to spin compelling yarns that just won’t leave you alone with Girl In Abilene. This is more than just a reflective love story, as it’s dressed in a catchy western-themed arrangement. This is carried over with Cowboy’s Last Ride. Robin’s wonderfully evocative voice and deep well of philosophical curiosity, taking shape through detailed acoustic instrumentation alternating between unsettled and carefree along with tender and vivid cinematic soundscapes. River Of Angels drifts dreamily on oceans of calm and storm in this dynamic story of the devastating Kerrville, Texas flood. A stunning musical accomplishment that proves it’s impossible to pigeon-hole Surrender Hill. They are fearless in their exploration of musical genres and of the human condition. Shout out to Surrender Hill every day and all day for being one of the most riveting and intriguing musical duos of today. WILD COUNTRY should be considered the group’s most emphatic effort yet, given its music and messaging. Simply put, it’s also their best to boot.

https://surrenderhill.com

July 2026