The Tennessee Cree Rides the “Hellbound Train” on a Roaring, Soul-Baring New Single
Some songs arrive like a whisper. Others hit like a runaway locomotive. On his blistering new single “Hellbound Train,” Indigenous singer-songwriter The Tennessee Cree (aka Kevin Schofield) delivers a wild, soul-scorching ride straight from the heart of Canadian roots music.
It’s a song that sounds like it could have been found on an unreleased Johnny Cash record—and that’s no accident. “Johnny Cash has been good to me,” Schofield says. “I love the man in black. George Jones is almost like the dad I never had. Hank Williams is the lost uncle I never knew.”
But “Hellbound Train” is no imitation—it’s a deeply personal reflection on what it means to carry pain, survival, and country music in your blood. Written with a mix of reverence and rebellion, the track is powered by Schofield’s gravel-and-honey vocals, gospel-tinged melodies, and a rhythm that rolls like thunder on steel tracks.
I learned Johnny Cash when I was 9 years old
I never did walk that line, I never did what I was told
I’ve had a lot of fun stealing Johnny’s sound
But will the circle be unbroken when the man comes around
Because I’ve found I’m on a hellbound train…
Schofield’s “hellbound train” is both metaphor and confession, one that speaks to anyone who’s lived fast, loved hard, and tried to outrun the weight of their own choices. But even as it barrels toward the unknown, the track is laced with grace:
Well in the sweet, sweet morning
When I first saw your lovely face
Amazing love, amazing grace
“I call it the moaning of an out-of-control train on fire,” says Schofield. “It’s a prayer disguised as a country song. A hallelujah sung through grit teeth.”
Kevin Schofield, known across Turtle Island as The Tennessee Cree, was born by Moose River, Ontario, and earned his name—half homage, half prophecy—in the heart of Nashville. A member of the Cree Nation, his music is a tapestry of lived experience, survival, and cultural legacy. A poet, warrior, and musical force, he’s as comfortable performing at the CityFolk Festival as he is lighting up a community hall or sacred fire gathering.
His journey includes a stint in a residential school, a life-changing move to Nashville in the early 2000s, and a JUNO Award co-nomination in 1998 with his former group No Reservation. He has since shared stages with Greta Van Fleet, The Wailin’ Jennys, and Stephen Fearing, and his recent performances with his band Kuhwuhgin Awahshish – an homage to residential school survivors – have earned him acclaim as one of Canada’s most compelling Indigenous voices.
With distribution through Outside Music and a deal with Lonesome Dawn Records and NTRTNMNT.ca, The Tennessee Cree is ready to bring “Hellbound Train”—and a forthcoming collection of stories, songs, and revelations—to audiences across North America.
“Hellbound Train” is a declaration from the edge of memory, a fire-lit ceremony, a roots rocker that dares to ride the line between salvation and surrender.
For fans of Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Stompin’ Tom, and truth-telling troubadours everywhere, The Tennessee Cree has arrived. And the train is just getting started.
Hi Kevin! Good to meet you! Care to introduce yourself to the readers?
Hi, I’m Kevin, but I’m known as the Tennessee Cree. I was born in Moose River, Ontario, but earned my nickname in Nashville, Tennessee. I first picked up the bass as a 9th grader, but soon switched over to the guitar, and people were quick to notice my talent at the residential school I was attending then – the bullies would stay out of the way, because the girls liked how I played. Soon, this power would be strong enough that if you gave me a guitar and a mic, I had the power to set a room on fire, or have it break in cries and prayers. This would lead me to Nashville, Tennessee, where I earned my name, trying to make it in country music.
“Hellbound Train” feels like both a reckoning and a release—when did the idea for this song first come to you, and what made it the right time to share it?
I wrote it in Nashville in 2007. Every singer needs a train song. I was made aware early on of the devil’s influence on rock and roll.
Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Hank Williams are clearly in your musical DNA. What have they taught you about storytelling, and how do you make that tradition your own?
I guess it’s about being told that music is the devil’s doing. I was told that singing pow wow was witchcraft. Singing gospel music is not our Cree tradition. Tennessee, being the bible belt, I often found folks considered rock and roll the devil’s music. It was a lifelong awareness that I had.
How has your Cree identity shaped your relationship with country and roots music, and how do you feel you’re reclaiming space in that genre?
I want people to realize that it takes all kinds of people with all kinds of beliefs to make up the spectrum of identity. Accepting inclusive, forgiving grace. We all have questions. There are few answers except Love. Life is the question, and Love is the answer. We are the reason, and Love is the way.
What do you hope listeners, especially those who’ve faced pain or carried intergenerational weight, take away from this song?
True folk singers sing the songs of the people. The songs I sing are based on the ancestral songs sung years ago. Our songs as Cree people were outlawed. People who practiced our ways were sent to prison. Real Outlaw Music. To sing songs in public that would have gotten me burned at the stake a century ago. It’s an incredible honour that I hold dear to my heart. My ancestors were forbidden by law to do what I do.