Behind the song. 49 Winchester fans are looking forward to a big year with lots of new music on the way, but the Virginia-founded band isn’t forgetting about their beloved songs of the past. Closing out 2025,  49 Winchester announced they had signed with MCA Records through their Lucille Records imprint, which is run by producer extraordinaire Dave Cobb, the Chief Creative Officer. No one has put in more work than they have to get to this point, and frontman Isaac Gibson says they’re “thrilled” to be working with Cobb: “We’re thrilled to be joining the MCA and Lucille family. Working with Dave Cobb is a dream, and we can’t wait for our fans to hear the new music we’re creating together.” Chase Chafin, 49 Winchester bassist and co-founder, thanked the fans for all of their support in helping get to this point: “So grateful to the fans and team who helped us build this to where it is today. We couldn’t be more excited for MCA to be the home of future 49 Winchester releases, and to share this next chapter with those who made it possible.” If you’ve been a fan of 49 since their early days, then you know watching their evolution has been nothing short of extraordinary. They are true road dogs, lyrical wordsmiths, and have cultivated a fanbase that is loyal to the bone. And despite how popular they have gotten, they have never strayed far from what makes 49 Winchester 49 Winchester. Recently, lead singer Isaac Gibson revisited a fan favorite from their third studio album, “Hays, Kansas,” offering insight into what inspired the tune. “I wrote ‘Hays, Kansas,’ I was on a cross-country road trip right after I finished high school. Me and my now ex-girlfriend went on a little trip to Los Angeles. We wanted to see L.A., we wanted to see what the West Coast was like. The van that we were in broke down in the middle of nowhere, and so did we, honestly. It was a terrible time. It was one of the worst days of my life. It was stressful. It was hectic. Everything was just kind of going against me, and I decided to write a song, and it was in a little town called Hays, Kansas. That’s where the song came from. It just really stemmed out of, kind of, a moment of despair, honestly. It was another one of those songs that was kind of like our song ‘Tulsa,’ it was a song I kind of wrote to get something off my chest and to make myself feel better. And I feel like a lot of my best songs have always been that way.”   View this post on Instagram The story of how the song came to be captures the feeling of defeat that Gibson sings in the lyrics. From the opening line to the last verse, Gibson soulfully wails that he is fed up with trying and nothing going his way, wanting to fade into the background where he feel like he can finally win for once. “Well, I wanna do good, I’m sick of doing badI wanna have all the things that you’ve hadHoney, like an inability to feel the way that I doWell, I wanna get out of bed on the right foot for a changeI wanna be able to act my own ageBut the liquor keeps throwing a wrench into thingsAnd I feel like going to bed…” It’s been over five years since 49 Winchester put out this tune, and it still slaps. Fire up the live version of “Hays, Kanas” from The Caverns before you go: The post “One Of The Worst Days Of My Life”: 49 Winchester’s Isaac Gibson Says “Hays, Kansas” Was Written Out Of A Moment Of Despair first appeared on Whiskey Riff.