"You can't help but fall in love
with the heartache."
PASTE
"A subtle but beautiful elegance...
If you've ever wondered where country and Americana music is going, look no further.
Blue Cactus is painting pictures of limitless possibility."
NO DEPRESSION
"If country music is often about familiarity and comfort, this is more like having the rug artfully pulled out from under you
without even noticing it."
CREATIVE LOAFING
"With a high lonesome twang,
an Emmylou-like southern drawl,
and blistering guitar techniques,
Blue Cactus’ new record exercises the
honky-tonk muscles to firmly bear
the flag for a new generation
of classic country practitioners."
NEW COMMUTE
Blue Cactus, the North Carolina duo of Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, make Dream Country: a blend of grit, glitz, groove, and twang that
evokes a celestial soundscape of mid-century heartbreak and harkens comparisons eclectic and iconic as Bobbie Gentry, Fleetwood Mac,
and David Bowie.
Their sophomore album, Stranger Again, released in 2021 on Sleepy Cat Records, nabbed enthusiastic attention from tastemakers including
No Depression, American Songwriter, FLOOD Magazine, Talkhouse,
and INDY Week among others. Following their critically-acclaimed 2017 debut and a string of singles in 2020, Stranger Again saw the band taking their sound to an ambitious new plane, where country-rock and light psychedelia mingle, vocals soaring over twangy slide guitars and propulsive basslines.
The North Carolina duo have performed at several beloved festivals including Nelsonville, Red Wing Roots, Muddy Roots and Hopscotch and shared the stage as support for an array of artists from The War & Treaty, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and Lilly Hiatt to Town Mountain and Junior Brown among others.
Between the comfort of classic country and the glamour of 70s rock,
Blue Cactus resuscitates a fleeting style of honest-to-goodness country music considered valueless to a “new” country music where songwriting is officiated by financial analysts and teams of marketing plutocrats instead of woebegone troubadours. With a high lonesome twang, an Emmylou-like southern drawl, and blistering guitar techniques, Blue Cactus exercises the honky-tonk muscles to firmly bear the flag for a new generation of country music.