Country artist Sterling Drake just released his new album The Shape I’m In, and On Land had the privilege of an early listen. It’s a powerful collection – honest, expansive, and unafraid to explore the darker corners of the human experience.

Recorded in Nashville with Grammy-winning Icelandic musician Thorleifur Davidsson (Sierra Ferrell, KALEO), Sterling hopes the album can be a tool to raise awareness about the pressures ranchers face today – from the loss of land and water to the quiet toll on mental health.

“Ranchers face unique mental health challenges that are often invisible to the rest of society,” he reflects. “They work tirelessly to feed and sustain others, yet often struggle silently with the weight of their own burdens.” 

“Ranchers face unique mental health challenges that are often invisible to the rest of society,” he reflects. “They work tirelessly to feed and sustain others, yet often struggle silently with the weight of their own burdens.” 

Sterling Drake

Drake writes about it on the stirring “Worthy Of The Name (feat. Brennen Leigh),” which he wrote with Sara Douga. The song reflects on the responsibility – to your family, your land, your animals – that comes with calling yourself a cowboy.

“I’ve found songs to be particularly effective tools in reaching people that might not otherwise be ready to have these kinds of conversations,” Drake explains. “Ranchers tend to have their guard up, but there’s a sense of trust and vulnerability that comes with music that can really affect change in people.” 

Drake has found ways to bring all of his passions together, pulling from his work with horses and cattle in Montana, his travels as a touring musician, and his time spent writing and performing in Nashville to craft an enthralling sound. In 2021, he began releasing a series of singles and EPs that prompted The Rolling Stone to praise his “rough-hewn aesthetics,” and in 2024, he took home Male Honky Tonk Artist of the Year honors at the annual Ameripolitan Awards in Austin. 

The Shape I’m In finds Drake stretching beyond his honky tonk roots, though, expanding his sonic palette with lush, harmonically adventurous arrangements as indebted to Willie Nelson and Townes Van Zandt as Merle Haggard and Roger Miller.  

Last year, Sterling partnered with Western Landowners Alliance (WLA) on the Jereco Sessions, a stripped-down collection of traditional country classics. Drake donated the streaming proceeds to WLA “to keep the working lands of the West whole and healthy for my children and grandchildren, and yours, so they can be inspired by this place too.”

We’re grateful for Sterling’s friendship and vision. The Shape I’m In isn’t just a step forward in his rise as a country artist – it’s the work of a cultural voice growing even more rooted in the land and people that inspire him.