ATL cinematic psych-country duo Andrea & Mud (Andrea Colburn and Kyle "Mud" Moseley) found themselves living in a converted barn in the middle-of-nowhere northern Georgia. There they wrote the songs that make up their new album Institutionalized (out Apr. 19). On this record, they dig into their deepest, darkest cores to mine the essence of what made classic country great—putting their relationship and mental health issues front and center.

“I come from a generation where we didn't take medication,” says Colburn. “We didn't go to therapy. We were supposed to just smile and get through it. I think a lot of people still live like that. Music is therapy for some people. I know it is for me.”

Their honesty, originality and extraordinary songwriting chops has garnered them coverage at American Songwriter, Glide, Ditty TV, and more. You can hear their music in the Rian Johnson series Poker Face, and the Sean Baker feature film Red Rocket. They’ve been nominated for an Ameripolitan Award, Independent Music Award, and won the Georgia Music Award for Best Americana Band. They’ve shared stages with legends like Ronnie Spector, Marty Stuart, Jimmie Vaughan and The B-52's, and newer Americana darlings like Sierra Ferrell, Lost Dog Street Band, Pokey Lafarge, and The Red Clay Strays.

The album kicks off with the honky-tonk fun-time title-track, “Institutionalized.” Here, the duo effortlessly mesh the Bakersfield Sound with Stax soul to create their own delirious country shuffle. Its galloping bass line, big horns and rowdy surf guitar makes this song feel like a joy, even though its catalyst was an argument with tempers flaring. “I’m committed / To loving you,” Moseley sings in his charming baritone, “I may have lost my marbles / My screws are loose / The pain inside I can no longer hide / From the things you’ve done to me / I’m Institutionalized / Won’t you set me free.”

“Me and Andrea got into a fight,” says Moseley. “I went outside and came back in with this song written in like 20 minutes. My friend had sent us this playlist called Psycho Country which was a big inspiration on this whole album. Porter Wagoner’s song ‘The Rubber Room’ was on it, and we were listening to it all the time. Between the isolation of the pandemic and living in the barn, I felt like I was losing it.”

“This Time” is a tragic ballad whose lyrical ultimatum of “choose the bottle or me” is carried by Colburn’s mournful vocals and her near-duet with Smoking Brett Resnick’s emotive pedal steel. This song stands toe-to-toe with Neko Case or Loretta Lynn at their most sorrowful. “I had a bad drinking problem in the relationship,” says Colburn.”It sounds like I’m singing it to a lover, but I’m really singing about myself.” Like the Hank Williams III modern classic “Country Heroes,” this song interweaves its own winking homages to the greats who came before them: Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and George Jones.

The Bakersfield meets spaghetti Western “Welcome to Blue Skies” is an epic airline commercial that never was. It glorifies the freedom that flying represents while embracing escapism. Moseley understands this fantasy as he sings “the grass is always greener,” a sentiment accentuated by triumphant mariachi horns and the call and response vocals of the chorus.

“You can run,” says Moseley, “but maybe physically escaping from life’s problems isn’t the best option. You can try with mental health problems, but you're just covering it up and waiting for it to blow up again.”

The videos for “This Time” and “Welcome to Blue Skies,” directed by Pouya Dianat of Beam Imagination, combine to make a short film with bouts of action and a classic love story. In “This Time,” Colburn is a waitress in a dive bar where Moseley is performing. When her lousy boyfriend acts up. Moseley sweeps her off her feet and together they deal with the boyfriend. Then, in “Welcome to Blue Skies,” Andrea & Mud escape in a classic pickup truck to gorgeous, open fields of freedom, a mariachi serenade, and a better life together.

The rockabilly classic “Psycho” is a murder ballad written from the killer’s perspective. Originally written by Leon Payne, aka “The Blind Balladeer,” Andrea & Mud reimagine the song as a cinematically psychedelic romp through a lens of Santo & Johnny’s "Sleep Walk" and Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks soundtrack. The vocal duet continues a lineage of murderous lovers like Bonnie and Clyde, Natural Born Killer’s Mickey & Mallory or Terrence Malick’s Kit and Holly in Badlands.

Andrea & Mud’s take on “Mama He’s Crazy” is a far step from the 90’s version made famous by The Judds. This dark rhumba sounds like Patsy Cline and Tom Waits got together to write a James Bond theme song, or the music that plays just before a gun fight at high noon. Their Johnny Cash deep cut “Committed to Parkview” works as a metaphor for the album’s theme, where everyone in the institution is an artist in some way. Some will make it out, and others won’t.

The bluegrass foot-stomper “Trouble’s Gone” is a fun, light-hearted romp about Andrea & Mud selling their house at the beginning of the pandemic, living in a camper, and then the infamous barn. “I was glad to get rid of all the stuff and start somewhere new with the love of my life,” says Colburn. “I didn’t care if it was a cardboard box, because for us it would be a mansion.”

“Bankman” may be the sexiest song that takes on the class war. It has a va-va-voom cadence with its bluesy guitar licks, ‘70s Elvis-karate-kick Vegas horns, and general Rat Pack swank. “We were over living in the barn,” says Colburn, “and looking to buy a house. I don't know why I planned this so poorly, but this song literally came out when we were applying for loans to get a house. They’d say, ‘oh, I looked up your music.” I can’t say that this song isn’t why we lost our first lender, but we did end up getting a house back in Atlanta… even with the bad timing.”

Darker times in the barn are epitomized in songs like “A World Just You and Me,” about feeling trapped and making it through the hard times. And, the Amy Winehouse-esqe counterpart “Kitchen Floor,” a Stax girl-group saga in which Colburn sings, “I ripped open my heart / Laid it on the concrete just for you / Found out the whole time / You were sad too.”

The haunting duet “Hard Life” combines the pop sensibility of The Beatles with the intimacy of Neutral Milk Hotel. Here, Andrea & Mud commiserate on the state of the world through strings, finger-picked guitars and a singing saw. The cinematic cautionary tale “Devil Got Me Down” is a social commentary on the state of politics of that era.

“We made it out of that barn intact,” says Colburn. “Kyle was probably on the porch writing ‘A World Just for You,’ while I was writing ‘Kitchen Floor.’ Me and my friends were out of work, not able to gig. I’d look at that red sunset overlooking the farm and think about death. Is this the end? The last sunset?”

The album ends with a psychedelic country one-two punch. “Just Dropped In” is a late ‘60s LSD song made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis, then Kenny Rogers & The First Edition. It was then brought to a new generation with its inclusion on the Big Lebowski soundtrack. Andrea & Mud’s version is a mind-bending spy thriller with Resnick playing the pedal steel like a talk box whispering occult secrets from beyond our plane of existence. Trippy album closer “Blue Skies Reprise” is a joyous experiment of tape speed that leaves us wanting more—like a film that doesn’t wrap up the story threads in a nice bow, and allows the listener to make decisions on how Andrea & Mud’s story will turn out.

Colburn started playing guitar at 14 as a midwesterner, but didn’t get serious about music until she moved to Atlanta. She fell in with the local music scene and started writing and performing solo.

Moseley, a Georgia native, came from a musical family. His dad played in classic rock cover bands and his childhood home was filled with guitars. He was brought up on a steady diet of Dwight Yoakam, Junior Brown and Jimmy Martin. He cut his teeth playing bass in metal bands before getting back to his country roots with Colburn. They first formed a duo titled Andrea Colburn and Her Low Standards, then Andrea Colburn and Mud Moseley, then simply Andrea & Mud.

Outside of music, Moseley got the nickname “Mud” because of his passion for making handmade pottery. Andrea & Mud have a studio and kiln in their new home and are firing up new earthenware that you can find at their merch table and Etsy.

Their debut album Easy, Sleazy & Greasy (2018) leans towards classic rockabilly sounds on “Bad with You,” and haunting spaghetti Western ballads with tracks like “Bones” and “Full Moon over Georgia.” This album found Colburn nominated for the Ameripolitan Award’s Outlaw Female alongside Summer Dean and Nikki Lane. Then nominated the following year for Outlaw Group next to Rhyolite Sound and Pinehill Haints.

They honed these songs live for years before getting into the studio with Damon Moon to record their sophomore album, Bad News Darlin’ (2020). The result is a cinematic ode to Ennio Morricone-inspired honky-tonk surf, big slapping bass, and the delightful use of mariachi horns. They hit outlaw country softspots with songs about drinking till the sun comes up, diabolic crossroad trades and tragic ballads.

The collection of songs that make up Institutionalized represent a time of claustrophobia, isolation and terror. It’s their story, told through classic country, honky-tonk shuffles, psychedelic Westerns and soulful ballads. It’s the kind of record that asks the question, what if Buck Owens grew up on punk rock and idolized Dick Dale? Andrea & Mud have moved on from this time in their lives. They now have a home to call their own with horses and a pottery studio on an acre of land just inside Atlanta.

“We were together non-stop when we wrote this album,” says Moseley. “Now we do other things and can tour. We plan on touring as much as we can this year, and getting back into the studio as soon as possible. We need to keep up with CharlEY CrockeTt!” He laughs.

“Since leaving the barn, our songs are nicer,” says Colburn. “We’re looking forward to touring, but we’re also here to help rebuild Atlanta’s county scene after the pandemic. Star Bar has county dance lessons. We WEre packing out Honky Tonk Saturday night at Lloyd’s. We want people to know there’s good country music, and good country music in Atlanta.”  

-baby robot media

"It's a modern classic... echoes of legends like Neko Case and Loretta Lynn reverberate through every note... Drenched in melancholy, yet embracing the echoes of nostalgia, Andrea & Mud's latest single 'This Time' paints a portrait of heartbreak and inner turmoil."

-indie boulevard on “this time”

"Takes you down the road of where The Cramps and The Meat Puppets jam with Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels. The video for 'This Time' illuminates with a stunning simplicity of timeless country, a classic bar setting where dreams are often lost but new ones are later imagined."

-glide magazine on “this time”