Slow Packer

‘The Taste of Life’ is OUT TODAY! Listening to these songs now, I am struck by waves of nostalgia for the people and circumstances that led to this album. Every lyric can be traced back to a specific moment of inspiration. I have a collection of these moments stored in my memory like little treasures. For example: I’m staring out my bedroom window on a sleepless night of a new romance, watching the sun begin to rise; or speaking to a friend outside of a bar in Asheville when I suddenly become inexplicably sad, and rush home to write down my thoughts; or looking at old pictures of parties from my high school years and realizing how far away everyone seems to me now. These moments of inspiration often hit me unexpectedly, like stumbling upon a very interesting bug while walking in the woods. Something about the songwriting process helps the memories stay vivid. When it was time to start working on this record, Mike thought we should take a different approach than we have in the past. He suggested that we play with a band in the studio with everyone tracking together, so that it felt like a real performance. At first I was nervous about this idea because it felt like I was giving up creative control. It’s much harder to edit and perfect the parts when everyone is doing live takes (especially without a metronome). But we committed to this approach, and the end result was more expansive and beautiful than either of us could have imagined on our own. All of the folks that played on this record added so much to the direction of the songs and the overall sound. It’s full of spontaneous ideas and accidental genius. It’s also made by humans reacting to each other in a performance, at a time when society is increasingly driven by machines and algorithms. Zack Kardon @southernpinemusic - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals @maddieshulermusic - lap steel, bass, vocals @lyledevitry - cello @bridger.dunnagan - violin @chrissimmonss - drums @miiikejohnson - guitars, bass, vocals, mixing @jackvictorsongs - piano, vocals Recorded at @_dropofsun_ by @alex_farrar Mixed by @miiikejohnson Mastered by @amy__dragon Album photo by @lia__june

Our photo shoot for The Taste of Life was literally just Mike and I grilling some veggie burgers at a campground 😆 Thanks @lia__june for capturing this

Vinyl records have arrived! Shipping out this week for anyone who bought one already. If you want a vinyl, CD, or digital download of The Taste of Life - head to our bandcamp. Hope y’all are enjoying the new record! 🎸 #vinyl #album #ashevillemusic #newrecord

Great times playing at @goldenfolk.avl last week! Songs like this and many more on our new album out FRIDAY!!! Video by @iamavl

We play @goldenfolk.avl tomorrow night! Mike and I will be playing a few songs off of our upcoming album (out May 8th). Tomorrow’s line-up is stacked with great piano-based songwriters for “Piano Night”.

Just a few short weeks until our first album is here! ‘The Taste of Life’ out May 8th.

Our first full-length album, The Taste of Life, will be out on May 8th! For those who have been following this project, you know we’ve been working towards releasing this music for quite some time. In fact, we did most of the recording about two years ago, and started pre-production on these songs long before that. It’s reflective of many memories and lot of evolution, both musically and in our personal lives. All that is to say that we’re beyond thrilled to finally have this album out so that everyone can hear it. It’s a big step up for us! For anyone who pre-ordered a vinyl or who might like to do so — we’re still waiting to hear back from the record pressing facility about when those will be finished. There’s a chance it will take slightly longer than our official release date, in which case we will ship those out as soon as we possibly can. We’re also waiting on that info to schedule a release show so that we can have our records available at that performance. More info soon! Thanks to everyone who’s supported us on this journey! #newalbum #ashevillemusic

We have a lot to look forward to with Slow Packer this year! Our first full length album is done and we’re just waiting for it to finish being pressed to vinyl. Unfortunately the vinyl pressing phase has hit a few snags and has been delayed, so we are pushing our release date back to May. For anyone who has pre-ordered our record - we will send you a private link so you can listen to the album, as a thank you for supporting our project. If you haven’t pre-ordered it yet but want to, you can do that on the merch section of our bandcamp page. We truly can’t wait for y’all to hear this record! 🎥by Jamie Linder #2026 #newalbum #vinyl

Another awesome video by our friend Jamie Linder from our show at Eulogy in Asheville last year. This song is called Taste of Life, and it’ll be on our upcoming album. Full video on our YouTube channel! Also reminder that we have shirts now. Yay! You can order one on bandcamp or message us to buy one. Thanks for all the support in 2025 and here’s to a great 2026! Happy new year!

Slow Packer shirts are in! We’re so happy with this design by our friend Lauren Hewer (@auntantband ). She managed to incorporate many of the themes from our music into this beautiful image. For a long time, band t shirts have been my favorite merch item. I love discovering new artists at a show and buying their shirt and getting wear it around. And now you can wear one of our shirts around! If you’d like to order a shirt you can do that through the “merch” page on our bandcamp, or you can dm us and buy it directly from us. Also thanks @chrissimmonss for the great work on the print job! #tshirt

Some shots from our recording session at @_dropofsun_ a while back. We’re so pumped that parallel lines is out and can’t wait for y’all to hear the rest of this record! Also reminder that you can pre-order vinyl and CDs of the upcoming album on our bandcamp page 🙏 Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving!

Happy Friday! We have one final song we want to share with you before our whole record comes out in January. Behold… Parallel Lines! I started working on this song four years ago when I met my partner Mary. It’s a snapshot into the sweetness and magic of new love, and also the fear of vulnerability and loss. Let’s put this one on full blast! Have a great weekend 😊 -Jack Band: Maddie Shuler - bass/vocals, @southernpinemusic - electric guitar, @chrissimmonss - drums , @miiikejohnson - acoustic guitar, @jackvictorsongs - piano/vocals Recorded at @_dropofsun_ Mixing by @miiikejohnson Mastering by @amy__dragon