Hunter Root - Crooked Home (2025) Hi-Res

Pennsylvania-based multi-instrumentalist Hunter Root has announced his new album, Crooked Home, set for release on October 17 via Tolok. Shaped by trauma, loss, and resilience, the album is a deeply emotional reckoning that captures Root at his most confessional and unflinching. Alongside the announcement, he shares the first single, “‘94,” a stark portrait of his upbringing and the loss of his brother, who battled both cancer and heroin addiction.

Produced by acclaimed artist Anders Osborne and engineered by David Kalmusky at Addiction Studios in Nashville, Crooked Home tells a story that’s as raw as it is intimate. “The songs weren't written to deliver a message,” says Root. “They’re simply confessions set to music.” The album also features contributions from Chad Cromwell (Neil Young, Mark Knopfler) on drums, Marc Rogers on bass and keys, and Lindsay Lou, who lends haunting backing vocals on two tracks.

A follow-up to his acclaimed 2023 LP Arkansas, Crooked Home sees Root facing his past directly, grappling with the loss of his brother, his struggles with Lyme disease and chronic pain, and a family legacy of addiction. “‘94” sets the tone, capturing that turbulent backdrop in vivid detail, painting scenes of alcoholic parents, siblings under the influence, and a young boy navigating the wreckage around him. The single’s cover art is a childhood photo of Root with his brother, taken outside their dad’s truck.

“Back in 1994 / Glad I woke up but I didn't wake up too sure / Back in 1993 / The devil made his way inside a kid and then he never broke free…” he sings in the chorus, an unflinching reflection on the brother he lost and the cycles he’s struggled to escape.

Across its 12 tracks, Crooked Home explores grief (“My Brother’s Bones”), working-class struggle (“Flash In The Pan”), chronic and physical pain (“If The Body Is A Temple,” “Bad Sign”), and hard-won self-forgiveness (“Out Of My Hands”). Embracing a genre-fluid approach, Root weaves together elements of acoustic rock, folk, grunge, and more. His songwriting has evolved from a music-first process to a lyric-driven one, enabling him to pair emotionally charged soundscapes with sharp, narrative depth. Building on the unfiltered storytelling and boundary-pushing style that earned him a devoted following, Crooked Home marks a bold step forward for Root, an artist unafraid to confront his past and emerge stronger through it.