Self-Titled Album Out Now via Max Trax Records

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FEBRUARY 24, 2026 [Omaha, NE] — “Previously, my drug of choice was ‘more’. It didn’t matter what it was. If I was drinking, I wanted to drink more. So I would find something to ‘help’ to do that,” explains the now-sober Craig Fort of Omaha-based outlaw country band Lightning Stills to AntiMusic about the inspiration of their new critically-hailed self-titled debut album (out now via Max Trax Records). Fort adds, “Then I would want to do more of the ‘help’. I basically lived at the bar that I worked at for ten years. Most nights we went pretty hard.” Lightning Stills isn’t about the negative effects of alcohol. Instead, it’s about learning how to manage through life’s moments. Americana Highways says, “The Omaha band has crafted a country record soused in late-night bar misadventures, plus more than a little day (all hours of the day) drinking. But it’s not the celebratory slop you’d hear in, say, a Lee Brice song – its stomach-churning truth about what can happen when the bottle becomes the only thing you cherish.” The album features previous singles such as, “My Mama Wants A Love Song” which “will not be a song that non-country fans can’t stand. Rather I think they’ll appreciate that this song has heart, punk ethos, and persistence that you don’t find in the doldrums of some country genre songs that many despise,” claims Scummy Water Tower. Whereas Americana Highways lauds  “Gas Me Up” as “groovy, drawing and all consuming.” Originating in 2020, Craig first formulated the band with Omaha music icon and multi-instrumentalist Mike Friedman who had been playing country for decades. Pulling into their magnetic orbit a “good-timing odd bunch” that features guitarist Tom May, bassist Dan Maxwell, and drummer Javid Thunders, Lightning Stills was born. Excited to finally release their debut album, Fort expresses to The Reader, “I think that in the very beginning there was a little bit of heartbreak with it. I have moved beyond that and used it for more of a coping mechanism for just getting out stuff from the past and stuff that I am dealing with now and everything like that. Writing for this band seems very comfortable and easy and not forced, they just come out and come together exactly how I like them.”Lightning Stills is Craig Fort (vocals, guitar), Mike Friedman (steel guitar, guitars, keys, vocals), Tom May (guitars), Dan Maxwell (bass), Matt Baum (drums) with Oliver Bates Craven guesting on fiddle (NOTE: Javid Thunders played drums on the album).Their self-titled debut Lightning Stills is out now via Max Trax Records.LIGHTNING STILLS Tracklisting Gas Me Up, He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Dealer Drunker Than Me Rambled Out My Mama Wants a Love Song Spirits Willie and the Ghost Closed down the bar

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