Southern Roots, Slow-Burning Guitar and Honest Storytelling
Martin Andrew Lowery’s “Feel This Way” is a slow burner. It draws you in with understated, sliding guitar notes and then holds your attention with a voice that sounds connected to everyword. The song comes from an Alabama songwriter whose work moves between Southern rock, country influences and acoustic storytelling. Here, those elements settle into a reflective, blues-tinged groove.
And I’ll tell you right now: this is a pretty damn good song.
The guitar work caught my attention first. It establishes the mood without rushing anything, and its subtle phrases keep pulling you back between the vocal lines. There is plenty of feeling in the playing, but no unnecessary showing off. The guitar knows when to step forward and, just as importantly, when to leave space. That restraint is one of the recording’s greatest strengths. The production is excellent: the rhythm, guitars and vocal all have room to breathe. It sounds carefully made without losing the intimacy that a song like this needs. The slow tempo never feels sluggish because the chorus gives the arrangement a melodic lift at exactly the right moment.
Then there is Lowery’s voice. I hear a little of Chris Stapleton in his phrasing and in the way he carries the emotion of a line, but Lowery has his own character. There is a lived-in quality to the performance. He does not need to push hard to convince you that these words matter to him.
The experiences behind the song explain some of that weight. Lowery survived a serious accident involving an eighteen-wheeler in May 2024, followed by divorce and difficult periods of addiction and recovery. He identifies those events as the starting point for “Feel This Way.” Knowing that history gives the song context, although the recording stands up on its musical merits.
The lyrics are especially effective because they do not reduce heartbreak to a neat answer. There is regret, self-reflection and the uneasy hope that change is possible. When Lowery sings “tomorrow I’ll lay it down,” the line carries the tension between wanting a different life and figuring out how to live one. The highway imagery works in the same way. The road becomes somewhere to think, not simply somewhere to escape.
After listening to four of his other singles, I was struck by how different “Feel This Way” feels. Some of the other tracks move into more rhythmic, almost rap-influenced phrasing alongside blues and Southern rock. This one is more direct. It lets the measured groove, the guitar and the lyrics do the work. For me, that approach suits the song exceptionally well.
There is also a radio-friendly quality to the recording without the sense that it was built to chase a format. I could easily imagine it sitting comfortably in roots-oriented or country-leaning programming. The chorus is memorable, the arrangement is carefully balanced, and the vocal has enough personality to make you stop and listen.
The accompanying lyric video deserves a look as well. Filmed in Alabama and Tennessee, it connects the music with places close to Lowery’s story. The visual treatment complements the reflective tone rather than distracting from it.
Lowery and Tyler Risner share songwriting credits, and Lowery is credited with producing, mixing and mastering the single. That makes the recording’s polish especially noteworthy. The understated guitar work serves the song beautifully throughout.
The Verdict
“Feel This Way” is an impressive release built on subtle guitar work, strong production, a chorus that stays with you and, above all, a believable vocal performance.
The song carries Southern rock and country influences without needing to be confined to either label. The reflective lyrics give it substance, and the arrangement gives them room to land.
What stays with me is the sincerity.
You can hear that Lowery means what he is singing, and that is what makes the song worth coming back to. A pretty damn good song, and an artist I will be following.
Release date September 23, 2026, so out on all platforms now
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Stream music from Martin Andrew Lowery Here
Artist Website here
By Chad B. Cubberly
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