Seven Year Itch: Tucker Riggleman debuts new single, announces new solo effort "Burn Out Too Bright"

Photo: Renzo Velez

Before he was in The Demon Beat, Prison Book Club, Bishops or RHIN, Shepherdstown’s Tucker Riggleman was doing acoustic stuff by himself. Roughly seven years after starting down his own musical path, Riggleman will release his seven-song sophomore effort, “Burn Out Too Bright” on translucent yellow cassette March 24 on Twin Cousins Records.

Tucker took some time to talk about the debut single, “Signal” and bringing the solo material to fruition with friend and longtime collaborator Paul Cogle…


“Burn Out Too Bright” was essentially seven years in the making. It was that long ago that my only other proper release, “Let You Down”, became the first Big Bullet Records project that was completely handled in house. That feels like a lifetime ago, and a lot of really great things have happened since then. I was very lucky to be a part of some awesome bands with some of my best friends throughout that time. During that span, and especially once Bishops got up and running, it became easy for me to forget about my solo material that got me started down this crazy path. Even though I am the songwriter in Bishops, my solo material has remained a separate entity throughout the years. This particular batch of songs covers that whole seven year span --- some were written that long ago, while the single “Signal” is my newest solo song.

While The Demon Beat, Prison Book Club, and Bishops received the bulk of my focus during that stretch of time, I continued writing songs that didn’t fit with any of those projects. I would play them alone in my room, at the occasional open mic, or keep them hidden in notebooks. I finally set aside a couple of days to track some of them for posterity’s sake with my good pal (and founding member of Bishops) Paul Cogle this past October. I went in with a bunch of ideas, but ultimately kept it incredibly simple. All of these recordings are one take with no overdubs. It is just me in a room with a guitar, the way all of this started. I thank Paul as always for being an amazing producer, and knowing just what the songs and the performer need to make the record be its best.

The result is an intimate collection of songs that were written on the sideline of my twenties, in which a lot of good and bad things happened, just like in anyone else’s life. This is what I was writing when I wasn’t out touring and playing loud music that I love with the people that I love, and I’m glad that it is now available for anyone to hear.



The release show for “Burn Out Too Bright” is 3.27 at Gene’s in Morgantown with guests John R. Miller and Tyler Grady, and it can be pre-ordered by clicking on any of the conveniently placed TCR links.