Omaha, Nebraska-based Outlaw Country band Lightning Stills will be releasing their self-titled debut album on February 20th, 2026. It’s an album that has personal ties to vocalist/guitarists Craig Fort’s sobriety.

He explains:

I started this project as a way to keep me occupied and help me through getting sober. Ultimately, I got sober for my family. Once I had my first son, I started trying to stay away from the bar except for playing shows. My drinking stuck with me though and eventually took over. I realized I needed to get some help or my boys weren’t gonna have a father anymore.

He continues:

The band name ‘Lightning Stills’ is a character I created – a reference to white lightning moonshine stills. When I first started, the ‘Lightning Stills’ character was a bootlegger. I have some history of that in my family and that lifestyle appealed to me I guess. Even off the sauce I feel like I’m still trying to find the right potency for my brew.

Lightning Stills sports a cast of Omaha musicians unified in a love for Outlaw Country. Originating in 2020, Craig Fort (a hardcore, metal, and garage mainstay whose leads the post-rock mainstays Leafblower) first formulated the band with multi-instrumentalist Mike Friedman who had been playing Country for decades. They brought in guitarist Tom May, bassist Dan Maxwell, and drummer Javid Thunders.

Deciding it was time to record a full record after releasing a handful of tracks in 2020 and 2021, the self-titled debut started taking shape.

Fort adds:

Coming from a small town, I grew up with the outlaws and ‘90s popular country that I couldn’t escape. My grandpa played in a country band. So in a sense, Lightning Stills is still just me playing music with my buds. We just aren’t playing as loud.