Crash Test Kid [LP], Sammy Brue, Vinyl

“Music has just been a part of my life since I was very young—it's been like my football or my soccer,” says Sammy Brue. “I stopped going to school to do it. Because I thought, If I could put seven hours a day into music, imagine where it's going to take me…”

Imagine, indeed. Since writing his first song at the age of 11, Brue has released three homespun EPs, his New West full-length debut, I Am Nice and a 2018 EP, Down with Desperation. In the process, the Ogden, Utah native has been hailed as an “Americana prodigy” by Rolling Stone and one of the “teenagers shaping pop” by The New Yorker.

 

But these myriad accomplishments may have just been the setup for what is arguably his finest work to date, Crash Test Kid. Brue has always been an artist seemingly wise beyond his years, but on Crash Test Kid he often gets at the heart of a matter or melody with just a simple but insightful turn of phrase or cleverly-picked guitar.