49 Winchester Position Themselves as 'Torchbearers for Appalachia' on Versatile New Album “Change of Plans” (Exclusive)

Chris BarillaFri, May 15, 2026 at 3:55 PM UTC

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49 Winchester
Credit: Daniel Prakopcyk -

49 Winchester's new album Change of Plans reflects their growth, blending country, rock, and Appalachian soul influences

Frontman Isaac Gibson says the album captures their most authentic sound after over a decade of touring and evolving

The band worked with producer Dave Cobb to create the record in just eight days, emphasizing instinctive creativity

49 Winchester has spent the last decade-plus at the proverbial crossroads of genre.

Throughout their first five albums, the band has spun a web, not unlike the orb weavers of their native Virginia, that marries country, rock, honky-tonk grit and Appalachian soul with rowdy barroom energy. But on Change of Plans, the outfit's newest album — out now — frontman Isaac Gibson proudly proclaims that the humble group of musicians from Castlewood finally sounds most like themselves.

"It's been a really transformative time," Gibson, 36, tells PEOPLE of the group, which is comprised of himself, Bus Shelton, Chase Chafin, Noah Patrick, Tim Hall and Justin Louthian. "A lot of things in our personal lives have changed and we've grown and matured a lot."

Gibson, who is at the forefront of those changes in both a professional and personal capacity due to his group's sonic advancements and upcoming June nuptials in Tennessee, is quick to point out that the band's inherent evolution, as showcased through this body of work, is embedded directly into the album's title.

'Change of Plans' cover art
Credit: Universal Music Group

"We've always tried to title our records that way," he says. "We look at records as chapters of our lives. That's what sums it up best, is Change of Plans."

For the lead singer, the record represents a shift in much musical and personal perspective. Across the album's quieter moments, such as on the contemplative new track "Slowly," the songwriter and his friends confront growth, addiction and the realities that come with life on the road after more than a decade of nonstop touring.

"Alcohol has been something that's been a thorn in my side for a lot of years of my young life," Gibson says candidly. "As I've grown and matured and realized what I've wanted out of life, I've saw that it's become more of a hindrance."

"It was something that I'd relied on, I think, as a crutch for a really long time," he continues. "I've really realigned my relationship with it in a deep way."

Honesty courses through the veins of Change of Plans, effectively balancing 49 Winchester's signature Southern-rock urgency with what many longtime fans of the group will likely consider to be some of the most reflective songwriting of their career.

To Gibson, the credit for that emotional depth is owed to growing up alongside his bandmates in real time.

"We've changed from boys into men," he says of their evolution. "When we started the band, we had just graduated high school and we didn't know up from down."

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He later doubles down on the concept by adding, "The road was home more than home was home."

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No matter where 49 Winchester's tour bus is parked and how far their music reaches across the globe, Gibson tells PEOPLE that their core identity remains firmly rooted in their Southwest Virginia home. In turn, it also reflects the sentiments of broader Appalachia, the region that shaped them.

"We want to be torchbearers for Appalachia," he says. "They shouldn't think 49 Winchester, country band, they should think 49 Winchester, Appalachian band."

Additionally, Gibson doesn't feel the need to be attached to any one genre label as is, preferring the ever-flowing nature of the creative process that gave way to the likes of their cover of Black Sabbath's "Changes," which appears on Change of Plans, in an apt title alignment. "We're really not a country band, we're really not a rock band, and we're really not a Southern rock band," he continues. "I think that that is the one defining factor, the fact that we are from where we're from."

The core ethos of refusing to prescribe to any one concept as a musician is a direct byproduct of a group who have never consciously chased authenticity, just simply operated within its constraints from an organic vantage point.

"The best songs that I've ever written have really just fallen out of the sky and hit me in the head like a bolt of lightning," Gibson says. "I tend to not second-guess myself when I write."

Instinct-first mentality is the driving factor behind Change of Plans, an album Gibson notes came together in just eight days alongside legendary producer Dave Cobb.

"With Dave, it was more like, let's just make an instinctive record," he recalls of the experience working alongside the six-time Grammy-winner. "That's why this record sums up really who we are sonically better than any record ever has."

Even as the band experiments sonically, blurring lines with "Changes," letting off the gas with "Slowly" and tearing the roof down with "All Over Again," Gibson believes Change of Plans still carries the same DNA that longtime fans have connected with from the beginning. This time, however, more so than ever, their pencil has noticeably been sharpened by experience.

"The me of yesterday is definitely there," he says. "But I think that this record is really the next step forward for the band."

In totality, Gibson hopes listeners hear not only where 49 Winchester has been on this new record, but where they're headed as their career continues to reach new heights.

"I think that who I'm becoming is who wrote this record,” he says.

Change of Plans is out on all major streaming platforms now.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”