49 Winchester - Change of Plans

Southwest Virginia's 49 Winchester left the holler for the Georgia coast to make Change of Plans, and the move suits them, giving their rough-hewn country soul a warmer, roomier glow.

Released in 2026 as the band's sixth studio album, it follows Leavin' This Holler and finds frontman Isaac Gibson writing through a breakup, a new relationship and a band of friends growing into marriages and families. Rather than recording in Nashville, the six-piece decamped to Dave Cobb's Thunderbolt Sound Studios in Savannah, with Cobb producing, mixing and even chipping in on percussion and acoustic guitar.

"Slowly" draws on Gibson's past struggles with alcohol, and "Oh Savannah" is a thank-you note to the city that hosted the sessions. "Pardon Me" arrived alongside the album's announcement, while the band's take on Black Sabbath's "Changes" turns the old ballad into a weathered, pedal steel lament.

Noah Patrick's steel guitar and Tim Hall's keys give the songs room to breathe, and Gibson's Appalachian growl sits right up front where it belongs, gruff and tender at once.

It is a grown-up record about change in every sense, and a natural next chapter for a band that has built its following the old-fashioned way, one sweaty bar and festival field at a time.