Muscle Shoals to the Sand: Kashus Culpepper's "Act I" Is the Alabama Record of the Year

The most important Alabama music release of 2026 didn't come out of a beach bar, but it belongs on every deck-speaker playlist on this coast. On January 23, 2026, Enterprise native Kashus Culpepper released his debut album, "Act I," an 18-song project cut at the legendary Muscle Shoals studios in his home state and issued via Big Loud (Rolling Stone; Holler; Big Loud). Six months on, it still sounds like the arrival it was billed as.

Culpepper's rise reads like a country-music fairy tale that actually happened: a former firefighter and Navy veteran who started posting raw, gut-punch vocal videos, got flagged by GRAMMY.com's "25 Artists to Watch in 2025" and Billboard's Country Rookie of the Month, and turned that momentum into a record that refuses to sit still. "Act I" slides between traditional country, choir-backed gospel-soul, and bluesy roots music — the fan-favorite singles "After Me?" and "Cherry Rose" only hint at the range. It is the rare debut that sounds like an artist showing you everything he can do and pulling none of it off cheaply.

The Gulf Coast connection is more than geographic pride. On June 2, Culpepper opened for Jelly Roll at The Wharf Amphitheater, meaning a good chunk of this beach's summer crowd has already seen him command a big stage in person (Mullet Wrapper). That pairing — a genre-blurring Alabama newcomer under one of the biggest names in the country — is a preview of a trajectory pointed straight up.

Why this matters here: the coast's live economy runs largely on covers and catalog — Buffett songs, classic rock, and radio country played beautifully but rarely written locally. An artist like Culpepper, recording original Alabama music in an Alabama studio and taking it to national stages, is a reminder that this state exports songwriters, not just party bands. Every beach musician grinding through a July patio set is, on some level, betting that the next Kashus Culpepper is out there working the same rooms.

Put "Act I" on somewhere the salt air can get to it. It's a debut that earns the exclamation point in that Roman numeral.

Sources: Kashus Culpepper, Powered by Muscle Shoals, Arrives With Debut Album 'Act 1' (Rolling Stone); Kashus Culpepper Releases Debut Album 'Act I' (Holler); Kashus Culpepper Drops Debut Album: Act I Out Now (Big Loud)