Music Spotlight - StompTown Revival

StompTown Revival, also known as STR, are an American Christian music duo from Nashville, Tennessee, and they started making music together in 2012. The duo are music producer Brandon Bee a Seattle-native, and the frontman from Circleslide and a San Antonio-native, Gabe Martinez. Bee performs vocals, guitar, the slide guitar, stompbox, keys, and bass guitar, while Martinez plays the vocals, guitar, and harmonica. 

STR is a gospel-soaked roots duo that sounds like it crawled out of a backwoods tent meeting with a stompbox in one hand and a fuzzed-out hymnal in the other. The St. Louis-via-Seattle outfit leans hard into front-porch Americana—reaching back to the roots of gospel, blues and church hymnals for a brand new sound that's instantly recognizable with wheezing harmonicas, greasy slide guitar, hand-hewn acoustic riffs, and a literal stompbox heartbeat thumping beneath every chorus. Their self-titled 2012 EP,  StompTown Revival,  played like a crate-dug mixtape of old gospel, blues, and country spirituals shot through a modern PA. The project brought limited success, landing them on Billboard’s Christian and Heatseekers charts while taking their gritty revival sound to festivals like Rock of Ages and beyond.

They have a fun and interesting sound - a mix of gospel and blues with a touch of southern rock. The following video is about the origin of the group (and I also love the name, Stomptown Revival)...

The band went for many years before releasing new music. After several years focused on other creative paths, the duo returned in 2026 with renewed fire and their first new music since 2019, partnering with NRT Music to release the raw and soul-stirring single “Keep Me.” Martinez brings the sanctified rasp and harmonica wail, Bee stacks the slide, keys, and low-end groove, and together they turn Sunday-school truths into sweat-drenched revival songs that feel as ready for a juke joint as they are for a church basement. They finally have a new album coming out called Shelter. Last month they released the title track "Shelter". The latest release is called "Saints & Sinners"...

I like their sound. Check out a couple songs and see what you think.