Former Ronnie Hawkins’ The Hawks Bassist KC ARMSTRONG Scales Global Charts with Powerful New Single “Mountain Man”
Brantford-based singer, songwriter, and producer KC Armstrong is celebrating a monumental global surge as his latest single, “Mountain Man,” captures the top spot on international airwaves.
Originally a hidden gem from his acclaimed 2024 album Finally Crafted, the track has exploded in popularity, entering the UK’s ITISNOW Radio charts and skyrocketing to #1 in just three weeks with over 125,000 votes cast.
This unexpected international momentum has propelled “Mountain Man” onto the Canadian Independent Country Countdown, marking a high-velocity new chapter for an artist whose roots run deep in the fabric of Canadian music history.
“Mountain Man” is a masterclass in Americana storytelling, woven from a personal narrative of friendship and changing paths. Written years ago, after Armstrong’s longtime musical “wingman” left the road to start a family, the song captures the tension between the calling of the stage and the pull of domestic life.
The track features a stellar lineup of veteran musicians, including legendary guitarist Barry Haggarty, whose unique instrumentation brings the lyrics to life with sounds of a howling coyote and a clucking hen. As Armstrong sings in the final verse: “Sure am glad that you ain’t me / ‘cause I’m half the man that you try to be / you work your heart out – I’ll sing my songs”.
Armstrong’s current chart success is the culmination of a career spent alongside industry titans. A former bass player for the legendary Ronnie Hawkins as a member of “The Hawks,” Armstrong follows in the footsteps of icons like Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm. His journey has seen him share stages and studios with the likes of Jeff Healey and Grammy-winning producer Greg Wells (Disney’s Wicked, Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, Aerosmith.)
This wealth of experience is evident in ‘Finally Crafted’, which has already seen Armstrong named a finalist for International Male Album of the Year and International Male Single of the Year by the International Singer Songwriter Association.
The “Mountain Man” release highlights Armstrong’s sophisticated evolution as a self-taught producer and mixing engineer. By blending rock, blues, and folk into a “Finally Crafted” signature sound, he has created a project that resonates across borders, from the UK to France and beyond.
His previous singles have already made deep inroads on the Canadian Independent Country Countdown, peaking as high as #8 and #9, setting a formidable foundation for his current trajectory.
Beyond the studio, Armstrong’s digital presence continues to grow, with his YouTube channel surpassing 12,000 views and his Christmas single, “I Hate That Sweater,” recently winning the Cashbox Radio most requested song contest. This diverse success across holiday tracks, Americana ballads, and high-energy rock-a-billy showcases an artist who is as versatile as he is authentic.
With “Mountain Man” now officially released worldwide, KC Armstrong is proving that timeless storytelling and seasoned musicianship always find their audience. Armed with a supporting band of gold and platinum-selling collaborators and a #1 international hit, Armstrong is poised to further redefine the Americana landscape in 2026 and beyond.
“Mountain Man” went from a deep album cut to a #1 international radio hit. When did you realize something special was happening with this song?
I’ve always secretly considered this song a personal favorite. It’s deceptively simple because at its heart it’s just a twelve-bar country blues pattern. The twist is that it uses some unusual chromatic elements, which make it quite unique.
Because of its apparent simplicity, I assumed it would remain nothing more than an album cut. I never really considered releasing it as a single.
It Is Now Radio in the UK has been very supportive of my music. One by one, I sent them the other eight songs from my first album, Finally Crafted. They played all of them, but only “I Don’t Care” — my first single — ever made it into their Top 40.
“I Don’t Care” was first spun for a couple of weeks in rotation. Eventually it entered the chart and slowly climbed for a couple of months before finally reaching #1.
The other songs from Finally Crafted received rotation airplay but never made their Top 40 — although two of them did reach the Top Ten in Canada on the Canadian Independent Country Countdown.
Right now I’m wrapping production on my second album. It still has a month or two of mixing, mastering, and album graphics left before release, so I started looking for a small project to keep myself busy in the meantime.
Since “Mountain Man” was the only song I hadn’t sent to It Is Now Radio, I decided — almost on a whim — to write them a letter and send the track, asking if they might consider it for airplay.
They accepted the song and told me it would go into rotation immediately after Christmas.
In its first week of airplay, it actually debuted inside the Top 40 at #33.
Their chart is decided entirely by listener voting, and they typically tally over 100,000 votes per week. My followers certainly contributed some votes, but not nearly enough to account for a major chart jump.
In the second week it climbed to #7, and by the third week it hit #1 — with more than 125,000 votes cast.
Nobody was more surprised than I was.
After that, I quickly decided to send the song to the Canadian Independent Country Countdown. I wrote them a letter asking if they thought it might perform well on their chart. I told them if not, no harm done — my next album would be out soon anyway.
Their response was that they loved the song, and within two days of receiving my letter it appeared on their chart.
Based on that momentum, I decided to put together a full campaign. On Groundhog Day, “Mountain Man” was sent out to 30,000 radio stations around the world.
The song was written years ago about a close friend stepping away from life on the road. How did revisiting that story later change the way you performed it?
I wrote the song as a 19 year old man while I was actively observing the situation. (i.e. a long time ago)
I have gained a lot of life experience since those days, and now have a slightly different perspective on his situation.
Mountain Man’s real-life protagonist has had an interesting journey full of ups and downs.
He built that house, and worked a day job, raised a family and eventually ended up divorced from the “Little Church Mouse”. Then he remarried, raised a second family, and ended up a widower.
I hear he is finally back playing music. Funny the twists and turns life takes.
I suppose that having the added perspective of hindsight lends a layer of nuance to my feelings about the song when I sing it.
You’ve played with legends going back to your days with Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks. How does that history inform the way you write songs today?
I don’t find that those experiences influenced my song writing very much since it’s instinctual and I’ve been doing it since I turned fourteen.
The influences would show themselves more in the production choices I make, and the style of music I have adopted.
I think it’s fair to say that Ronnie was the original Americana artist.
His music has always had a blend of roots elements, it just wasn’t defined as Americana back then.
I was already developing a taste for southern rock and was already deeply immersed in Country music, his style just blended these elements in a nice way that I found (and still find) appealing.
You’ve moved comfortably between Americana, rock, blues, and even novelty holiday songs. How do you decide which musical lane a song belongs in?
That is a tough question. I don’t often consciously make a decision to take a song in any certain direction.
Quite often it’s the process that decides it.
I generally compose music on an acoustic guitar, and until it gets to the recording stage the song remains a blank canvas.
The first step of the process is to lay down the acoustic guitar and lead vocals as a working track.
I will play around with a drum machine to find a groove that I like, then lay down the bass, electric rhythm guitars, keyboards and percussion.
Next comes the cool part – I send it out to my band.
The parts I’ve laid down usually end up getting erased (although in the case of Mountain Man a lot of them survived) and replaced by the drummer, keyboardist, and guitarist’s versions.
This is where the songs can take an interesting turn.
Since I send them out to each of my band members one at a time, the second person to get the song will sometimes put their own spin on it.
When that spin is something that I like (and it often is) as a Producer I will just follow it down the rabbit hole.
After decades in the industry, what does success look like to you now compared to earlier chapters of your career?
Like most musicians I used to dream of fame and fortune.
Also, like most musicians I didn’t really have a game plan or the resources to achieve that dream.
The recording project was just a back-burner hobby that I dabbled with for years.
I have written enough songs for three albums throughout my life, and I have recorded them all.
Two years ago, with an early retirement I found the time to finish Finally Crafted (the first of the three albums) and release it.
I had never really thought much past just finishing the recordings.
Now, with a CD of my songs finally in my hand, came the realization that the next step was to have people hear it.
I started to network on Facebook, joined some Songwriter’s groups, and made friends with a fellow in Pennsylvania who had his music being played on internet radio.
He needed a video which I knew how to do since I have my own YouTube Channel, I needed connections which he had since his songs were being played internationally.
This last year has been all about promotion and radio play.
I have now experienced the thrill of hearing my music on the radio from as far away as Australia, South Africa, France, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, the Bahamas, the US and the UK.
The next step is to take my music live to the big stage and play festivals.
Having worked my entire adult life as a bar musician playing other people’s songs and entertaining, it would be a thrill to have success in that.
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