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.
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 as a personal favorite.
It is deceptively simple because at it’s heart, it is just a twelve-bar country blues pattern.
The ‘twist’ is that it employs some unusual chromatic elements which make it quite unique.
I guess I felt that the song’s apparent simplicity eliminated it as anything other than an album cut.
Having thought that, I had never considered releasing it.
It Is Now Radio is a station in the UK who have been very supportive.
One at a time I have sent the other eight songs on my first album Finally Crafted to them.
They have played them all but only I Don’t Care (my first single) ever made it to their Top 40.
I Don’t Care was first spun for a couple of weeks in rotation.
It eventually entered, and slowly climbed their chart for a couple of months before making it to #1.
The other songs on Finally Crafted were played in rotation but never made it to their Top 40.
(Two of them made Top Ten in Canada on the Canadian Independent Country Countdown charts though)
I am currently wrapping production on my second album. It still has a month or two of mixing, mastering, and album graphics left before it’s release, so I started looking for some little project to keep myself busy in the interim.
Since it was the only song I hadn’t sent to It Is Now, on a whim I wrote them a letter and sent them a copy of Mountain Man asking them to consider it for airplay.
They accepted the song and told me it would start on rotation immediately after Christmas.
They started it right into the Top 40 at #33 on it’s first week of airplay.
Their Top 40 ranking is decided strictly by voting results, and they usually tally over 100,000 votes per week.
My followers definitely accounted for some of the votes but not in the amount necessary to make a huge move up the chart.
On it’s second week it climbed to #7 and the third week it hit #1.
That week there was over 125,000 votes.
Nobody was more surprised than I was.
So I made a quick decision to send the song to the Canadian Independent Country Countdown.
I sent them a letter and simply asked if they thought it would do well on their chart.
I told them if not – no harm done, because my next album will be out shortly.
Their response was that they loved the song and within two days of my letter it was on their chart.
Based on that, I put together a campaign.
On ground hog day Mountain Man was sent out to 30,000 radio stations all over the globe.
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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