Lou Hazel grew up along the Allegheny River, where New York meets Pennsylvania and Northern Appalachia slips into quiet obscurity. In a landscape of cold towns, blue-collar fatigue, and early brushes with hardship, music wasn’t inherited—it was uncovered. There were no venues, no mentors, no real sense of a scene… only what you could scrape together with curiosity and a cassette deck.
That absence—of direction, of mentors, of art—shaped Lou’s songs as much as any influence. His music echoes the loneliness of those forgotten towns and the strange resilience it takes to create something where nothing was planted. Blending folk, indie, and an eye for the overlooked, Lou writes like someone who’s learned to pay attention. His songs are spare, vivid, and weathered with warmth.
After years of solo touring and home recording, Lou found grounding in Durham, North Carolina, where a vibrant music scene and chosen community have helped shape his recent work. His latest record, Riot of the Red, captures the urge to get away from all of it—the news, the noise, the weight of a world gone sideways—and find stillness in the simplest things: a long drive, a bare sky, a familiar chord. Lou Hazel makes music for those who had to teach themselves how to listen.