With his authoritative fifth album Book of Paul just one month away, country iconoclast Paul Cauthen gives fans a taste of its unfiltered artistry on “Chain Smoking” (featuring Delaney Ramsdell) – a slow-burning duet so vivid, it should come with a Surgeon General’s warning.
Co-written by Cauthen with Beau Bedford and Jason Burt, “Chain Smoking” (featuring Delaney Ramsdell) arrives as an aching barstool ballad, with the sharp pain of a breakup hanging heavy in the air.
Pairing the Texas native’s Big Velvet vocal with smoky roots-country counterpoint, finger-picked acoustic guitar and weary steel swirl in a dive-bar haze of romantic devastation. As a striking look at the emotional fire powering Cauthen’s next chapter, the track soon rises into bellowing soundtrack to full-flavor sorrow, where more pain is the one-and-only cure.
“Ain’t it funny how two things go together … Like chain smoking with a broken heart,” goes the track.
With his booming baritone with a near-biblical swagger, Cauthen’s Book of Paul is set to arrive on April 3. Classic-country grit and gospel power fuse with a rhinestoned rock-and-roll edge, as the fiercely independent singer-songwriter known as “Big Velvet” returns to his East Texas roots.
Capturing his unruly essence with all the charm of a rattlesnake (and the vocal venom to match), gritty, swampy, East Texas country comes alive under Cauthen’s singular artistic vision, as a true-to-him battle between darkness and light unfolds. The rising star co-wrote 12 of 13 tracks and even plays bass and drums on select songs, carving a path of utterly authentic country music; fearless, proud and with two middle fingers in the air.
Built on a bronc-bucking beat, dark twang and a barely contained sense of danger, Cauthen marked his album announcement with the release of his electrifying “Texas Swagger.” The track came with a strutting music video, directed and shot by Gus Black and Randy Quartieri, and filmed at the BuckTown bull riding compound of legend JB Mauney – another true original.
Other early releases combine Soul pop and gospel twang in “Bayou By You,” while the hypnotic, outlaw-country romance of “Ain’t No Crime” finds Cauthen in a voluntary lockup of love.
With production split between chart-topping songwriter Ryan Tyndell, Steve Rusch (Jessie Murph, Koe Wetzel) and Sam Martinez (Tyler Braden, Carrie Underwood), plus Fustin (Priscilla Block) and Nate Ferraro (Beyoncé), Cauthen’s streak of against-the-grain attitude continues.
Having collaborated with everyone from Shaboozey, Margo Price and Orville Peck to Cody Jinks and Lana Del Rey, Cauthen’s enigmatic “it factor” has been on display since his 2016 solo debut, My Gospel. Landing somewhere in the ether between Waylon Jennings, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, raucous live shows filled with steel-toed rhinestones and gothic roots rock have cemented his legacy, alongside favorites like “Cocaine Country Dancing” and “Fuck You Money” and the previous albums Room 41,Country Coming Down and Black on Black.
Book of Paul Track Listing:
- Book of Paul
- Ain’t No Crime
- Texas Swagger
- Tossin’ Back Time (feat. Jake Worthington)
- Blue Denim & Black Gold
- Breakaway
- Chain Smoking (feat. Delaney Ramsdell)
- Bayou By You
- Dark Horse
- Cigarettes & Billy Graham
- Road Dog
- Texas Gravel Road
- The Voice Inside (Silence)
See Cauthen on the road on his 2026 Tonkin’ N Tejas Tour:
Thurs., March 26 || Waco, TX || The Backyard
Fri., March 27 || Lubbock, TX || The Blue Light
Sat., March 28 || Fort Worth, TX || Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall
Mon., March 30 || Austin, TX || Antone’s
Wed., April 1 || Dallas, TX || The Kessler Theater
Thurs., April 2 || New Braunfels, TX || Gruene Hall
Fri., April 3 || Helotes, TX || Floore’s Country Store