New Orleans has a lot of lore with its own legends, ghosts, and demons. In the case of the band Loose Cattle, the New Orleans musicians found their particular bond with another major music location, Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This led to their song “The Shoals” featuring Patterson Hood.

The single hails from their upcoming album Someone’s Monster, out November 1st, 2024 on Single Lock Records. The tune was the brainchild of Loose Cattle’s Michael Cerveris and his number of connections to the Northern Alabama town.

He says:

I’d been fascinated with the place since I’d first discovered it by way of Lynyrd Skynyrd, my little developing mind blown the day I learned that what I thought was ‘the swamp bus’ was actually ‘the Swampers’ the legendary Shoals rhythm section. I was fascinated by so much of the music and lore of the place that I sort of wondered if it really even existed.

After a visit to the Shoals for one of Jason Isbell’s festivals, touring the area’s legendary recording studios, and more, Loose Cattle found a home at Single Lock Records, based right in the heart of Muscle Shoals.

He continues:

The connections of so many old and new friends seem to cross there. I’m starting to believe that ‘there’s something in the water here’ thing. So of course I had to write about it. I had been wanting for a while to write something especially for and in Kim’s voice, and The Shoals seemed the perfect opportunity to give her a full throated female anthem of her own. 

Cerveris says about Patterson Hood’s involvement:

Somehow the river naturally became a part of it and I had this idea to ask Pattern Hood to bring his unmistakable drawl to the song. His reply: “You mean like a river demon? Man, I’d love to be the voice of a river demon. Sure!” It was the final puzzle piece in a song born of the river itself.

Loose Cattle frontwoman Kimberly Kaye shares:

Everything about this track gets my blood pumping. Michael’s opening riff really has a sense of “place” about it, and the band does all this incredible mood-building; Rene and Doug’s heartbeat, Rurik’s opening the portal our ‘River Demon’ steps through, Jay’s organ underscoring Patterson’s gravely trickster.

If you shut your eyes, for me you can almost see some poor, beaten down, absolutely over it woman standing calves-deep in a Shoals waterway with two middle fingers extended to the entire universe while her demons cheer her on. For a dude, Michael did an amazing job stringing together years of my frustrations with the double standards women slam against into a single song.