THE PINK STONES

The Pink Stones deliver a full serving of Peach State picked country-rock from Athens, Georgia

with the release of their debut album, Introducing… The Pink Stones , via the New West Records

imprint Normaltown Records. Mixing elements of classic cosmic country, raucous rock’n’roll

and fresh humor and heartaches, The Pink Stones are authoring a new chapter in the annals of

Cosmic American Music.

The journey to the Pink Stones debut album began in 2015, when freshman college-student and

then punk rocker Hunter Pinkston bought a special single by one of his favorite bands. “It was

the song ‘Brass Buttons,’ Pinkston says. “One side was The Lemonheads and the other was Gram

Parsons’ original version. I bought it because I was a Lemonheads fan, but I flipped it over and

that was the one of the first times I’d heard Gram Parsons. I was like, ‘Oh shit! I didn't know I

liked country until right now.’”

Inspired by his discovery, Pinkston not only began tracking down and listening to Parsons’

catalog, but took the well-travel music fan path of seeking out similar artists and influences. It

was actually a landscape he’d seen before but paid little attention to.

“When I was a kid my mom liked country music but my dad was totally a rocker,” Pinkston says.

“They would constantly be switching the radio. I was definitely with my dad and had discounted

country forever. Then it caught up with me and I became pretty much obsessed with it.”

A native of Albany, Georgia, Pinkston grew up in a family of music fans with two sisters who

played guitar and a father who lived the rock’n’roll life as a young man. “Dad was a drummer in

some local, South Georgia bands during the 70s. He opened for the Allman Brothers and others

and continued to be a big fan after he quit playing.”

Pinkston began forming his own bands in high school and gravitated toward punk and hardcore

until his B-side epiphany. “When I started revisiting what I had heard as a kid that's when I

started writing my own songs. I really started listening to Neil Young which was music I had

heard as a kid, but didn't really think twice about it at the time.”

Pinkston’s exploration of musical styles and maturity as a songwriter accelerated in 2016 when

he transferred to the University of Georgia Music Business program and found himself

immersed in the vital and diverse Athens music scene.