Cigarettes @ Sunset Return Home With New Single Appalachian Raised

North Carolina five-piece Cigarettes @ Sunset have returned with their powerful new single Appalachian Raised, out now via Lost Highway Records. The track arrives as a complicated love letter to the band’s homeland, honoring the people, places, and experiences that shaped their lives in western North Carolina.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0blyxTzPUCY

Appalachian Raised marks the first new release from the group since their March Lost Highway debut, Possum Rock. The six-song EP introduced listeners to the band’s self-coined Possum Rock sound, a raw and emotionally charged blend of Americana, indie rock, and Appalachian folk.

A Love Letter to Boone and Western North Carolina

For Cigarettes @ Sunset, Appalachian Raised is deeply personal. The song is dedicated to their hometown of Boone and the surrounding hollers where the band members grew up, capturing both the ache and pride that can come with learning to embrace where you come from.

Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Garrett Dellinger describes the song as a reflection of life in western North Carolina and a celebration of coming home instead of running from where you come from.

Raw Storytelling Meets Possum Rock Energy

Produced by Taylor Kimball, Appalachian Raised leans into the band’s gift for raw yet poignant storytelling. Sarah Vann’s soulful violin melodies cut through hard-driving rhythms, giving the track a mood that feels nostalgic, devastating, and life-affirming all at once.

The band, made up of Dellinger, Wells Whitman, Ethan Moore, Sarah Vann, and Ryland Bagbey, has built a reputation around explosive live shows and emotionally direct songs. With Appalachian Raised, they channel that same live-wire energy into what feels like a defining anthem for their catalog.

The Official Video Brings the Blue Ridge to the Screen

Directed by Will Allen, the official music video expands the song’s portrait of Appalachia by placing the band in a wide-open field with the Blue Ridge Mountains stretching across the horizon. The visual gives the song’s regional pride and emotional weight a vivid sense of place.

A Busy Touring Year Ahead

Cigarettes @ Sunset are also bringing their sound to a wider audience on the road. The band begins a UK and Ireland tour supporting Rainbow Kitten Surprise at O2 Academy Leeds before returning to the U.S. in June for dates with Dexter and The Moonrocks.

Their upcoming schedule includes major festival appearances at Summerfest in Milwaukee and Master Musicians Festival in Somerset, Kentucky, along with additional support dates for Rainbow Kitten Surprise across North America this summer and fall. They are also set to head to Australia for Strummingbird Festival in October.

Rooted in Resilience

Formed in Boone in 2021, Cigarettes @ Sunset found their sense of purpose deeply impacted by Hurricane Helene in 2024. The storm’s effect on their hometown only strengthened their commitment to making music that connects, endures, and offers shared catharsis.

With Appalachian Raised, the band turns that commitment into a galvanizing anthem that honors home without simplifying it, balancing pride, pain, memory, and survival in one of their most powerful releases yet.