Warren Zeiders' 'Pretty Little Poison' highlights spread of focused new country stars

Warren Zeiders was once a college athlete with over a decade of experience -- professional lacrosse stardom was a seeming certainty. However, concussions derailed that dream.

Thus, while speaking with The Tennessean about experiencing equal amounts of breakthrough radio and streaming success with his new album "Pretty Little Poison," he appears refreshingly undaunted by the acclaim.

Only 24, the ability to pivot his efforts from being an attacking midfielder at Frostburg State University to being a country star with Grammy-winning songwriting collaborators feels seamless.

Born alongside the Susquehanna River in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, he's spent considerable time in a heavily wooded 200-mile region between the river and Pittsburgh that, at present, is yielding intriguing artistry to the rustic-inspired, unprecedented space between mainstream country and Americana's underground stylings.

"Simple living with diners, hunting land, country music, Christianity and rock n' roll," jokes Zeiders.

"I still can't believe they joke and ask about where [someone] can find a country boy in Pennsylvania. There are real cowboys everywhere these days."

Zeiders' bread and butter is his ability to deliver soul-stirring vocals with an instantaneously captivating fervor that blends '80s-era Texas country with the grit of soulful 70s-era Nashville outlaw favorites. His songs "Ride The Lighting" and "Up To No Good" from 2022's "717 Tapes" mixtape-style release highlight those stylings.

On his August-released "Pretty Little Poison," he doesn't deviate from what's brought him along so quickly.

"I'm still not entirely comfortable calling myself an artist or a songwriter. I'm just singing the sounds in my heart," says Zeiders.

Thus, being an artist who is a note-perfect reflection of the sonic influences of many new or revived country listeners benefits his growing stardom.

Had professional lacrosse or the music industry not piqued his interests, Zeiders expected himself to shift into a career in marketing. This currently benefits his work by allowing him to discover the benefits of working with songwriters like Eric Paslay (Jake Owen's "Barefoot Blue Jean Night") as creators able to articulate who he is as an artist-as-brand.

"Pretty Little Poison" is the album's lead track and a knockout ballad about the bittersweet allure of revisiting unrequited love.

Zeiders is under the age of 25, so bar-ready southern rock like "God Only Knows" and "Coming Down High" join with songs meeting previous outlaw expectations like "Pain Killer" and "Love's A Leaving." As well, songs like "West Texas Weather," "Some Whiskey" and "Inside Your Head" fulfill the genre's current expectations of windswept rural anthems, drinking songs and tracks with enough pedal steel to fill a city block's worth of honkytonks.

"The right people in the right writing rooms are meticulously molding my voice into [a growing brand]," says Zeiders.

The desire to be a "versatile craftsman" whose desire to method act a song's characters into seemingly tangible life offers his voice a connective quality that he feels has allowed his radio, streaming and touring acclaim to evolve so profoundly in the past year.

2023 opened with Zeiders playing three dozen dates in three months. He's currently in a similar run through Thanksgiving 2023.

About his fast-rising appeal, he notes that people are attracted to the power of "pain and sadness" in his vocals, plus the soul attached to describing the "beauty and purity" of "true love" "on the album track "Weeping Willow."

Insofar as the sleeper standout track that defines where Zeiders heads best, next? "Pittsburgh Steel" flips a lyric and vocal delivery repeatedly, wrenching the entire metaphor and simile from its track.

Is it a timely song namedropping the genre's hottest region? Yes. Is it a peerlessly written love song? Of course. Does it also play well for young men and women looking for a way to unify themselves with a star artist? It's assuredly that, too.

Zeiders began writing the song on his phone, stating it was a "flag-waving moment" for his "budding community."

"I'm a raw country music artist developing into a performer wanting global success built on making timeless material that stands out in a growing crowd. It's hard work, but it's very worthwhile."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Warren Zeiders' 'Pretty Little Poison' highlights spread of focused new country stars