114: Zephaniah OHora

On Episode 114 of New Slang, I'm joined by country singer-songwriter Zephaniah OHora. The country crooning OHora is releasing Listening To The Music, his stellar follow-up to 2017 standout This Highway, this coming Friday, August 28. With the late great Neal Casal (The Cardinals, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Hard Working Americans) at the producing helm, OHora, Casal, and company create a distinct, elegant, and lush sonic palette. Taking cues from some of the greats of the '60s and '70s, OHora blends the gentle, light airiness of Countrypolitan with the hard rolling rhythms of trucker country. Ever the crooner, OHora's gleaming vocals are as beaming with power as they are delicate and nurturing. Throughout Listening To The Music, OHora pairs that iconic voice with nuanced and thoughtful lyrics about everyday life, tragic heartbreak, and late nights. Songs like lead single "All American Singer" is a modern-day common man anthem while the likes of "It's Not So Easy Today" and "We Planned To Have It All" are dejected tearjerker ballads. The rollicking "Living Too Long" fills in as a highway humming pedal stomper.

During this interview, we talk about releasing an album as an independent artist in 2020, recording the album with Neal Casal (and other Casal stories), the background on this crop of songs, OHora's songwriting process, music (and life) philosophies, becoming a father, the unknown effects of Social Media, and several other topics.

This episode's presenting partner is Desert Door Texas Sotol and The Blue Light Live.

Interview Transcript

Note: Transcripts aren’t always accurate since they are computer automated and haven’t been edited for spelling, grammar, etc.