Liam St. John Amps Up Roots Music, Keeps It Raw on ‘Man of the North’

When Liam St. John was writing and recording what would become his new album, Man of the North, he found himself revisiting both where and how he was raised: in the vibrant green landscape of eastern Washington state, by a single mother and his two sisters.

“As I’ve grown, I’ve come to really love where I’m from,” St. John says. “I feel connected to those pine trees, and I think it’s because my life has seen so much dark and stormy weather. I think about my mom and all that she endured as a single mom raising us, and it made me think about the trees that have been towering over my house since I was a baby.”

The 16-track record, his first since signing with the Big Loud Rock label, is technically not a debut project. St. John has a pair of albums steeped in roots and blues, stripped back and All the Bad Things (Stripped Back), which he released in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Both feature St. John on vocals and guitar and recording each song in a single take. The former, bolstered by the viral success of the single “Dipped in Bleach,” found heavy rotation on Spotify’s roots and blues playlists and topped Apple Music’s global blues charts.

But those records came about as St. John was still finding his footing. “Dipped in Bleach” was an autobiographical song about a cocaine habit that he wrote while living in Los Angeles. He says the song marked the first time he opened himself up as a writer. Once it resonated with an audience, St. John saw a path forward as a musician. He would subsequently move to Nashville, but he kept his music grounded in the blues and chose not to chase the country genre.

When it came time to record Man of the North, he enlisted a group of session players and set up a series of rehearsals. “We became a band for a couple of weeks,” St. John says of the process. The goal was to keep the album centered around his raw, unpolished vocals.

“It kind of took, like, four years to get there,” he says. “I put out those stripped-back records before then, but this is really my first studio album, where I got to record it with a band. I was a little nervous about that, because my stripped-back stuff is what changed my career. I didn’t want to abandon that part of me — that raw, honest sonic identity.”

St. John sees himself as a performer first. Recording is secondary to live shows for him, and since moving to Nashville, he has become a popular touring partner and collaborator with artists across multiple roots genres. When Lawrence Rothman released the 2024 record The Plow That Broke the Plains at the Basement, St. John opened the show. Last summer, he took Shelby Stone on a run across Texas and the South.

When it came time to record Man of the North, St. John found some willing collaborators. The album features appearances by Houndmouth on “Devil in Disguise” and Molly Tuttle on “Greyhound Bus Blues.” Tuttle even joined St. John at his album release concert to sing on the tune.

“We knew we wanted to have a few guests on the album, and I just put together a list,” he says. “Molly Tuttle was at the top of my list for ‘Greyhound Bus Blues,’ and when my A&R texted me that she’s in, my jaw dropped. She’s incredible, one of the best in the world as far as singer-songwriter-guitar players go, and she was just such a professional and a salt-of-the-earth human.”

St. John’s current calendar is highlighted by a European trip in March for the annual C2C (Country to Country) festival, and an April appearance at the Grand Ole Opry. He made his Opry debut in November. He is also planning an extensive U.S. tour and another album if he gets his way in 2026.

“I really want to keep building on what we’ve spent the last three or four years building, musically and live-show wise,” he says. “We’re trying to stack up more shows and start work on the next project. We’re gonna elevate everything and try to be bigger and better.”

Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose book (Almost) Almost Famous will be released April 1 via Back Lounge Publishing.