Hailing from Santa Cruz, CA, The Carolyn Sills Combo was named the 2024 Ameripolitan Award Winner for Western Swing Group in Austin, TX. They write American roots music that reaches across genre boundaries and state lines, driven forward by guitar twang and swooning steel, and the sharp songwriting of the band's frontwoman. Celebrating the release of their new album, On The Draw, The Combo brings more of their signature dueling guitar & non-pedal steel with three part vocal harmonies to the masses.

"I love writing story-driven snapshots where every word counts," says Sills, a Sacramento Western Swing Hall of Fame inductee who serves as her group's lead singer, bass player and chief songwriter. After paying tribute to country cowboy Marty Robbins with their 2019 release, Return to El Paso — a critically-acclaimed concept album that earned Sills the title of "Western Swing Female Vocalist of the Year" from the Academy of Western Artists — she widens her focus with On The Draw. "We're always growing and evolving." adds Sills, "We've received some wonderful award recognition for western swing music, but our sound is bigger than that. It's a big mix."

Self-produced by the band itself, On The Draw finds The Carolyn Sills Combo embracing the full range of its influences, making room for classic country, modern Americana, roadhouse rock & roll and ageless honky tonk.

"Little Death" is a timeless two-stepper laced with autobiographical lyrics. "Sam McGee" is a countrified tall tale that offers a new spin on Robert W. Service's famous poem. "West of West and East of Tokio (For James Hand)" pays tribute to honky-tonk hero who toured with The Combo before passing away in 2020. "Good Gracious Alive" is a modern burst of old-timey twang, its instrumental passages packed with dobro and its lyrics full of vintage turns-of-phrase. On The Draw comes to a close with "Bourboning," a jazz song for late nights and last calls. It's a big mix, indeed, tied together by a group of song-oriented musicians who've never sounded so versatile.

Carolyn Sills is a classic American roots musician for the modern world, nodding to her old-school favorites one minute and exploring new ground the next. Joined by steel guitarist Charlie Joe Wallace, harmony vocalist Sunshine Jackson, drummer Jimmy Norris, and guitarist/husband Gerard Egan (who also performs with Sills in the old-school country & western side project Poi Rogers), she charts even wider territory with On The Draw.

(Check out The Carolyn Sills Combo’s expansive music video collection by clicking here.)