\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThere\u2019s committing yourself to a life of music, and then there\u2019s selling your house, buying a van, and hitting the road. The Minnesota folk trio Wild Horses<\/a> threw themselves into the latter.<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2021, the band got booked at the Grand Rapids Riverfest, a regional end-of-summer festival that has featured headliners like Jason Isbell<\/a> and Wilco. Bolstered by the high-profile slot, Jed LaPlant and his partner Ariana, the husband-and-wife songwriters who founded Wild Horses, sold their home, picked up a 1989 Chevy Astro van, and hit the road.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe decided this is what we\u2019re gonna do,\u201d Jed says. \u201cWe\u2019re going all-in.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSince then, they\u2019ve spent nearly all their time on tour, playing their own gigs and supporting headliners like Charley Crockett<\/a>, Trampled by Turtles<\/a>, and Sam Barber. The LaPlants found that such a nomadic life was the perfect catalyst for songwriting. \u201cWhatever it is \u2014\u00a0roots or Americana music \u2014\u00a0is unique, in that the job of it fuels the inspiration,\u201d Jed says, recalling something a peer once told him. \u201cBeing out on the road is the fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWild Horses took their road experiences and assembled them for The In Between<\/em>, the group\u2019s second studio album, released in October via Atlantic Outpost Records. It\u2019s an autobiographical snapshot of a grassroots folk band trying to navigate an era when selling all your belongings and pursuing a music career sounds, at best, ill-advised.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter releasing their debut album, Runaway<\/em>, in 2022, Wild Horses upgraded from that Astro Van to a high-miles coach and converted it into a tour bus. The early lineup fluctuated between four and six players \u2014\u00a0including banjo and trumpet \u2014\u00a0before they found a path ahead as a trio with bassist Landon Pahl. A longtime friend of Jed\u2019s, Pahl followed his pal\u2019s lead and quit his day job, joining the LaPlants for a life on the bus.<\/p>\n \n\tOn The In Between<\/em>, Wild Horses \u2014Jed on vocals and guitar; Ariana on vocals, fiddle, and keys; and Pahl on bass \u2014\u00a0compile nine tracks, each of them written by the LaPlants. Early single\u00a0\u201cSunrise on the Absaroke\u201d gives the album its title. It\u2019s a road-weary tune about making ends meet in close quarters and includes the line, \u201cLivin\u2019 in the in between, trying to beat the desert heat\/there\u2019s nothing I could do to keep from crying my way home.\u201d<\/p>\n