Susto, the Alt-Country group led by frontman Justin Osborne, has announced the upcoming release of Susto Stringband (Volume 2) on May 29, 2026 via Missing Piece Records. This LP follows last year’s Susto Stringband (Volume 1), which featured Bluegrass and old-time reworkings of seven Susto favorites alongside two new compositions in collaboration with Asheville’s Holler Choir.
The upcoming album continues this collaboration, with a solidified line up of Clint Roberts, Jackson Grimm, Nat Copeland, Helena Rose and Joey Brown plus with the added help of friends Morgan Wade, Joshua Hedley and Madeline Dieruaf.
To preview the project, the group has shared first single “Hard Drugs (featuring Morgan Wade)”, a reimagining of the classic Susto track. Around the LP, the Susto Stringband will perform a number of dates including at Luck Reunion on March 19.
On the upcoming LP, Osborne reflects:
This album was so much fun to make over the last year. The band really came together on the road after the release of Volume 1, and this new record naturally came together too, along the way. Between shows we were writing songs in the van, and squeezing in studio time whenever we could. It was a really fun and natural process, and I’m really proud of the finished product.
About “Hard Drugs (featuring Morgan Wade),” he shares:
Having Morgan join us for ‘Hard Drugs’ was a dream come true. I’ve been a fan of her music and who she is as a person, for a long time, and I was so glad she was interested in collaborating for this project. She picked ‘Hard Drugs’ as the song to feature on, and I’m so glad she did, because her vocals brought that song to life for me in a whole new way, and I’m excited to finally be sharing this version with the world!
In 2022, some major shifts landed Osborne in Asheville, North Carolina, where at an open mic night, he met local Americana vocalist Clint Roberts, clawhammer banjoist Helena Rose and upright bassist Joey Brown. An “immediate connection and artistic chemistry captured a new sound” that unfolds on Susto Stringband’s latest release.
Loosely translated from Spanish, “susto” means “an intense fear understood as a condition of the soul.” Steeped in Southern Gothic and psychedelia, Susto has released five studio albums along with a collection of live, supplemental and special releases. As an artist from the rural community of Puddin’ Swamp, South Carolina, inspired at an early age by Gospel, Bluegrass and Folk, Osborne has come full circle with Susto Stringband.
Susto Stringband: Volume 2 Tracklist
1. Gloryland
2. Diamond’s Icaro
3. E-350 featuring Joshua Hedley
4. Hard Drugs featuring Morgan Wade
5. Hands In The Dirt
6. County Line
7. Work Away featuring Madeline Dieruaf
8. Black River Gospel
9. Last Chance Linda
10. Don’t Feel Right
11. Tell My Blues
SUSTO Tour Dates
March 19 – Spicewood, TX – Luck Reunion *
March 21 – Wilmington, NC – Music For Military Heros ^
April 2 – Greensboro, NC – Flat Iron #
April 3 – Wilmington, NC – Live at Ted’s #
April 19 – Savannah, GA – Service Brewing Co. #
May 28 – Nashville, TN – Skinny Dennis * (Album Release Show)
May 29 – Asheville, NC – Asheville Music Hall * (Album Release Show)
May 31 – Atlanta, GA – Eddie’s Attic * (Album Release Show)
June 5 – Austin, TX – Continental Club ^
June 10 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo’s Wednesday Campground Kick Off Party ^
August 21 – Falkenberg, Sweden – Rootsy Summer Fest *
August 26 – Tønder, Denmark – Tønder Festival *
* – Susto Stringband
^ – SUSTO & Friends
# – SUSTO Solo
