Songs like Colter Wall: 10 cowboy and outlaw story songs

Songs like Colter Wall sound older than they are: a deep, weathered bass-baritone, a flat-picked acoustic guitar and stories about cattle, prairie wind, drifters and the occasional killing. The closest matches come from cowboy songs and folk storytelling, like Marty Robbins's "El Paso," Townes Van Zandt's "Waitin' Around to Die" and Corb Lund's "Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer."

Colter Wall is from Swift Current, Saskatchewan. His Imaginary Appalachia EP (2015) included "Sleeping on the Blacktop," and his self-titled debut album followed in 2017 with "Kate McCannon" and "Thirteen Silver Dollars." Songs of the Plains (2018) turned toward the Canadian prairie and its ranch life, Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs (2020) leaned further into old cowboy music, and Little Songs arrived in 2023.

What does Colter Wall sound like?

Colter Wall songs rarely hurry. Most move at a walking pace or a slow lope, with the rhythm carried by his own flat-picked guitar and, on the early records, a harmonica. Later albums add steel guitar, fiddle and a light rhythm section, but the arrangements stay sparse and dry, closer to a campfire than a studio. He mixes his own songs with traditional and older cowboy tunes, and the two blend so easily it can be hard to tell which is which.

The voice is the first thing anyone notices: a booming, gravelly bass-baritone that sounds decades older than the singer, delivered slowly and clearly so every word lands. His subjects are cattle work, rodeo, the plains, trains, whiskey and the devil, and "Kate McCannon" is a full murder ballad in the old style. The mood is stoic and lonesome, with flashes of dry humor, and the landscape is always present, wide and cold and unforgiving.

Songs like Colter Wall: 10 picks

1. Hank Williams, "Lost Highway" (1949). A drifter's warning to young men about the road he chose. The lonesome, plainspoken confession is the root of every Colter Wall rambler song.
2. Johnny Cash, "Folsom Prison Blues" (1955). A prisoner listening to a train he can't ride, sung low over a boom-chicka rhythm. Wall's deep voice and outlaw stories descend directly from this one.
3. Marty Robbins, "El Paso" (1959). A cowboy gunfight ballad told from start to finish in one long, cinematic story. It's the model for Western storytelling at its most complete.
4. Ian & Sylvia, "Four Strong Winds." A Canadian folk song about heading west to Alberta and the person left behind. It ties Wall's prairie setting to an older Canadian songwriting tradition.
5. Gordon Lightfoot, "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" (1967). The building of the railroad across Canada, told as a folk epic. For listeners drawn to Wall's sense of Canadian land and history.
6. Townes Van Zandt, "Waitin' Around to Die" (1968). A bleak life story told over a quiet fingerpicked guitar. The darkest Colter Wall songs share its calm way of describing terrible things.
7. Guy Clark, "Desperados Waiting for a Train" (1975). A boy remembers an old oil-field hand who was his hero. The gentle, detailed portrait of an aging working man fits Wall's ranch songs.
8. Willie Nelson, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" (1975). From the sparse Western concept album Red Headed Stranger, a short, aching song with almost nothing behind the voice. It shows how far little can go.
9. Corb Lund, "Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer" (2005). An Alberta singer writing about ranch life with wit and real cattle knowledge. The closest modern Canadian peer to Wall's prairie songs.
10. Ian Noe, "Between the Country" (2019). The title track of the Kentucky songwriter's debut sets a plainspoken story to acoustic guitar. A newer voice for the same old-fashioned storytelling.

Songs like Colter Wall trust the oldest tools there are: a low voice, a guitar and a story told in order.

Jesse Cole Beckett songs that fit

Jesse Cole Beckett is an outlaw country singer from Hazard, Kentucky, whose debut album, The Last Porch Light, shares Colter Wall's love of land and story songs, though it's set in Appalachia rather than the prairie.

1. Close match: Jesse Cole Beckett, "Forty Acres and a Prayer". Track seven, the longest song on the album at nearly six minutes, is a farmer's stand against foreclosure on land his grandfather cleared with a mule. The tie to the land lines up with Songs of the Plains; Beckett's warm baritone and fuller band of acoustic guitar, slide steel and Telecaster sound more like a Kentucky roadhouse than a prairie campfire.
2. Partial match: Jesse Cole Beckett, "Rattlesnake Smile". A third-person story about Bobby Dean, a charming stranger in a black Cadillac who courts the banker's daughter and vanishes when the checks bounce, until the narrator admits he wore the same smile once. The outlaw tale and final twist fit Wall's story songs; the setting is a small town, not the open range.

More artists like Colter Wall

For more cowboy songs, the essential names are Ian Tyson, Chris LeDoux, Tom Russell and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Among Wall's contemporaries, Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Charley Crockett, Zach Bryan and Vincent Neil Emerson share his preference for plain arrangements and real places.

Pick by mood. If you love the ranch songs, start with Ian Tyson and Corb Lund. If it's the murder ballads and the darkness, go back to Johnny Cash and Townes Van Zandt. If you want a younger voice, Ian Noe and Tyler Childers are the place to begin.

Where to start

Start with "Sleeping on the Blacktop" to set the tone, then play "Lost Highway," "Folsom Prison Blues" and "El Paso" for the roots, "Desperados Waiting for a Train" and "Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer" for the working life, and Jesse Cole Beckett's "Forty Acres and a Prayer" to close. Our outlaw country guide covers the wider scene, and our songs like Tyler Childers picks move the same storytelling into the Kentucky hills.

Key takeaways

1. Songs like Colter Wall combine a deep, weathered voice, sparse acoustic arrangements and cowboy and outlaw stories.
2. Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins are the clearest precedents.
3. Corb Lund and Ian Noe carry the same plain storytelling into recent records.
4. Jesse Cole Beckett's "Forty Acres and a Prayer" shares the tie to the land, with a fuller band sound.

Colter Wall's records feel like they were dug up rather than made, and the best songs to play beside them have the same patience. Turn off the lights, let the voice carry the room and follow the story to the end.

FAQ

What genre is Colter Wall?

Colter Wall is a Canadian country singer usually grouped with outlaw country, Western and cowboy music, and folk. His records stay close to traditional forms, with acoustic guitar at the center.

What artists are similar to Colter Wall?

Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Townes Van Zandt and Ian Tyson are close precedents. Corb Lund, Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Charley Crockett and Ian Noe are modern relatives.

What Colter Wall song should I start with?

"Sleeping on the Blacktop" from the Imaginary Appalachia EP (2015) is a good first song. For a full album, try Songs of the Plains (2018).

Who is Jesse Cole Beckett?

Jesse Cole Beckett is a McCandless Records outlaw country act from Hazard, Kentucky. His debut album, The Last Porch Light, came out in May 2026 and runs sixteen songs.