Trey Pendley releases his debut album Signs of Life through Leo33

Trey Pendley released his first album, Signs of Life, on Friday, Aug. 28 through Leo33. It runs to 13 tracks and arrives without the long single campaign most debuts carry.

Pendley describes the record as a set of snapshots. "There's a lot of heart, a lot of family, and a lot of real life in these songs," he said, framing the album as a collection of places he has been and things he has lived through rather than a themed project.

Some of that material has a second weight to it now. Pendley co-wrote a couple of the songs with the late Ronnie Bowman, and said having them on the record makes them more meaningful to him, calling the chance to write with Bowman something he will always be grateful for.

The track list runs Small Potatoes, Signs of Life, Country Boy Friday Night, Family Man, As Good As It Gets, Spend My Time Lovin', Another Day Goes By, Devil Does, The Dog, Drunk As Any Rich Man, Like A River, Podunk and TV Tray. The titles alone tell you which end of the country spectrum he is working in.

Touring follows immediately. Pendley goes out this fall with Ashley McBryde, with dates booked in Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas and elsewhere, which puts a debut artist in front of an established audience rather than in front of his own.

Leo33 is a comparatively young label, and Signs of Life is the kind of release that tests whether an independent can build a country artist without radio doing the heavy lifting first. The album joins the rest of the autumn schedule on the release calendar.