When Fancy Hagood was just 17 years old, he got in a car he barely knew how to drive and moved to Nashville, a city he’d never visited, with the dream of becoming an openly queer country artist. He had gumption, and hustle. “Every year I’m on some artist to watch or up and coming list, and I’ve been on that list for the past decade and I just keep going.” This drive, resilience, and indomitably joyful spirit color Hagood’s sophomore solo album, American Spirit, out on October 25.

American Spirit marks, in Hagood’s view, both a return and an arrival, an embracement of his past while moving forward into his future. On his debut album, 2021’s Southern Curiosity, which found the singer blending country with the sounds of glam rock and confessional pop, he says, “I fought really hard about it being labeled a country album, because I had just been so jaded by the conversation about who belongs in country and what is country.” After Southern Curiosity found a home on country playlisting and with country audiences, Hagood knew his next step would be “to really go back to my roots and that original dream of wanting to be a country artist.”

Hagood’s reclaimed joy permeates American Spirit; despite everything he’s been through, sorrow has no home here, though vulnerability, gratitude, and resilience do. Life may, sometimes, be hard and disappointing and confounding, but most of the time, we can survive it. And if we’re lucky, and we have the right people by our sides, we can thrive again. Collaborating with producers John Osborne (The Brothers Osborne, Ashley McBryde’s Lindeville), Jarrad K (Ruston Kelly’s Dying Star), and Jeremy Lutitio (Joy Oladokun, Devon Gilfillian) and co-writers Caitlyn Smith, Mindy Smith, Sean McConnell, and Mary Steenburgen, Hagood has curated a rich atmosphere of trusted collaborators and friends who not only allow him to fully express his artistry and emotions, but lift him up in the process.

On American Spirit, Hagood’s lyrics traverse all the complex emotions of being alive, from experiencing the many stages of grief for loved ones lost (“Good Grief”) to reminding oneself that pain is a part of the human experience (“Isn’t That Life?” featuring Michelle Branch) that can’t be avoided, only moved through (“Through”), where, hopefully, you’ll find a new version of yourself on the other side (“Ever Really Ready”).

A native of Bentonville, AR, Hagood now calls Nashville home. His debut album, 2021’s Southern Curiosity, which was heralded as for its “lively, unapologetic, [and] buoyant” (Rolling Stone) and “dreamy, nostalgic” (The Boot) songwriting, was nominated for Best Country Record at the 2022 Libera Awards. In 2022, his single with Kacey Musgraves, “Blue Dream Baby,” was praised by Elton John, stating, “We need more people like Fancy.” An artist who values community, collaboration, and inclusiveness in music, 2024 found Hagood guesting on Orville Peck’s highly anticipated duets album Stampede in addition to releasing Smothered, Covered & Fried, a 5-song EP in collaboration with She Returns From War, Jamie Wyatt, TJ Osborne, The Kentucky Gentlemen, and Brooke Eden.