Sonny Smith copes with a painful separation on this extremely personal country album. Recorded directly to tape in a musty basement smelling of beer and tobacco, Longtime Companion (out June 26th on Polyvinyl Records) explores love and heartache along the vein of Gene Clark, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Johnny Cash. Sonny dives into his self-described “sea of darkness” with a wide range of intimate lyrics, pedal steel, and acoustic guitars. After just one listen, it’s clear no other genre could so eloquently frame Sonny’s heartbreaking internal monologue more than the old time country music he grew up with.