Artist Spotlight: Brian Kittrell, the Voice Behind This Long Broken Road
Exteran Studios introduces Brian Kittrell -- vocalist, composer, and producer of This Long Broken Road -- a dark Americana project nearly thirty years in the making.
By Presented by Exteran Studios · October 2, 2026
Brian Kittrell is an American vocalist, composer, and producer recognized for a dramatic, text-forward delivery and a “push-pull” dynamic style that swings from intimate phrasing to full-throated power. Working out of Exteran Studios, he writes, performs, and produces across Country, Americana, Singer Songwriter, R&B, Holiday, and Christian/Gospel – most prominently on his flagship project, This Long Broken Road.
This Long Broken Road wasn’t written in one sitting. Fragments and ideas for many of its songs were sketched across nearly three decades before Kittrell shaped them into a unified album, released February 6, 2026. The record leans into a dark country and Americana aesthetic over glossy Nashville polish – 12-string acoustic guitars, heartbeat-like percussion, sparse piano, and raw vocal performances built around survival, heartbreak, and resilience. Since the original release, the project has grown into a full catalog: a Contemporary Country Edition (Aug 24, 2026), a hard-rock reinterpretation of the title track (Aug 28, 2026), and Concertos on This Long Broken Road, a 10-track instrumental companion album (May 15, 2026).
What sets the project apart is its dual-persona structure. The same songs are also performed by Dawson McCoy and Sadie McCoy – two distinct vocal personas Kittrell writes and produces for – giving This Long Broken Road a “His” and “Hers” counterpart edition, down to an R&B rework of McCoy’s. That same studio approach carries into This Big Broken World (2025), which widens the lens from personal struggle to cultural and societal fault lines, again voiced through both personas.
Vocally, Kittrell works in a core baritone, favoring emotive phrasing and controlled grit, with melisma used sparingly as punctuation rather than constant ornament. In the studio, the mix stays vocal-forward – presence before width – with arrangements built to leave room for lyric clarity and a slow build toward chorus impact.
Hear the catalog on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube, or read the full artist profile – discography, vocal characteristics, and studio setup – at exteran.com.