Darlin' Brando, the moniker of singer, songwriter and drummer Brandon Goldstein, melds the twang and two-step beats of honky tonk with the melodic hooks and harmonic left turns of The Three B's (Beatles, Beach Boys, Bee Gees), all filtered through reverence for The Three W's (Willie, Waylon, Williams) and the wry storytelling of troubadours like Kristofferson, Prine and Miller. The result is a fresh, distinctive twist on classic country.

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Though raised a stone's throw from the nation's capital, his music is a product of decades spent moving from city to city, coast to coast - from Fredericksburg, VA to Los Angeles to Brooklyn to Bloomington, IN to Nashville and back to LA, and now to Nashville again. Along the way he spent 15 years behind the kit with respected roots and country artists including Leslie Stevens, Merle Jagger (RIP Mark Christian), and Tommy Ash - an education in the musical staples that make real country music what it is. He's also lived the kinds of hard lessons country songs are made of: heartbreak, divorce, restlessness, and the occasional moment of grace.

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Darlin' Brando walks the line between classic and progressive, earnest and eye-rolling. Hardcore country fans will find plenty to love, but he likes to push the envelope of what purists are willing to accept while paying homage to the elements that make it timeless - weepy pedal steel, shuffles, and clever lyrical hooks. His songwriting is shaped as much by his eclectic taste as by his years behind the kit. Never having taken guitar or piano lessons, he leans on rhythm and instinct where theory might otherwise take over.

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His new EP, Seeing Her Again, is out October 16, produced by Nashville's Elijah Ocean and trading in the heartland twang and progressive country sounds of the early 80s. Five songs that walk the line between dark and joyful, surreal and plain-spoken, classic and restless - never a dull moment in Darlin' Brando's music.