SEVENDUST's LAJON WITHERSPOON Has Been Writing With Country Singer JIMMIE ALLEN

In a recent interview with RadioactiveMike Z, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program "Wired In The Empire", SEVENDUST frontman Lajon Witherspoon spoke about the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for his long-in-the-works debut solo album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've still been doing some work. And I actually got to work with my buddy, a country artist, Jimmie Allen, and we did some writing. And I'm just real excited. I've got a couple of more writing projects that I'm gonna take my time to do. After the SEVENDUST run, I'll go back in the studio again and finish up some stuff. But, yeah, there's some good stuff there. Actually, somebody sent out an e-mail today talking about me signing to a label. So I'm just taking my time. I like to court 'em for a while before I do something. [Laughs]"

Asked if his full-length solo debut will arrive in 2022 or 2023, Lajon said: "Probably this year, I would think."

Most of the early sessions for Witherspoon's solo LP were overseen by RA's Daniel "Sahaj" Ticotin.

In January 2021, Lajon released a solo single, a cover of British singer Jacob Banks's 2017 song "Chainsmoking".

In September 2020, Lajon told Talking Metal that working on his solo LP has been fun. "I've not had any pressure," he said. "It hasn't been something that, 'Oh, I have to do this.' This is something I've done on my own.

"I've been working with a very close friend of mine, Sahaj, [who] is the lead singer from the band RA, which I think a lot of people out there would know," he continued. "[He's] an incredible friend and artist, and we write well together."

Asked about the musical direction of his solo material, Lajon said: "You can be on the avenue and hang out with my solo stuff. It's rock. It's a little bit of heavy, but I think it lends more towards a bluesy, soulful, more radio friendly… I'm not saying SEVENDUST isn't radio friendly, but I think this is more of a radio friendly… I don't know. It's a lot, a lot, a lot of melody. It's cool."

Witherspoon released the standalone solo single "Love Song" in 2017.

SEVENDUST's 13th studio album, "Blood & Stone", was released in October 2020 via Rise Records. The follow-up to 2018's "All I See Is War" was once again tracked at Studio Barbarosa in Gotha, Florida with producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who has previously worked with ALTER BRIDGE and SLASH, among others.