Liam St. John’s Man Of The North is a fearless debut that blends raw storytelling with guest turns from Molly Tuttle and Houndmouth, marking him as one of 2025’s most compelling new voices.
Liam St. John has arrived with his most ambitious work yet, Man Of The North. The album builds on the honesty that made his 2021 single “Dipped in Bleach” a breakout, a moment when he first stripped away all hesitation in his songwriting. Based in Nashville, St. John has found stability and success, but he hasn’t let that comfort soften the edges. The record is unflinching, pulling from a childhood marked by an absent father, battles with faith and depression, substance abuse, and the resilience he inherited from his mother and his hometown of Spokane, Washington.
The title track introduces us to the album with a fiddle line rooted in folk tradition before sliding into a mix of gritty guitar and St. John’s commanding voice. It’s a declaration of endurance, a song that reflects both the harsh beauty of the Northwest and the storms he’s weathered to stand where he is today. Songs like “Greyhound Bus Blues,” featuring Grammy-winner Molly Tuttle, chronicle his journey from Oregon to Nashville, while “Devil in Disguise,” recorded with Houndmouth in a Montana cabin, dives headfirst into darker corners of his past. Even when he confronts demons, St. John tempers the weight with his humor and relatability, giving the songs a campfire intimacy.
Man Of The North isn’t without lighter moments. “Sweet Like” flips his morning ritual of sweetening bitter coffee into an unexpected love song, with guitars and drums that swell well beyond the lyrics’ tenderness. Across the album, St. John balances grit and warmth, pain and joy, always circling back to resilience as the core of his story.
For St. John, this debut is the culmination of years of writing about where he comes from and what shaped him, pulled together into a portrait of survival and growth. As he explains, “I’ve got a better relationship with myself now, and I’m surrounded by people who are incredibly important to me here in Nashville. I’ve finally found a home.” That sense of belonging is the foundation of Man Of The North, an album that speaks as much to listeners’ struggles as it does to his own.