The Pink Stones' 'Miss Wind Turbine' Arrived During a Road Trip

The Pink Stones' "Miss Wind Turbine" is a love song, but its origins are far from what listeners will expect. A road trip across the southern United States -- and a first glimpse at a familiar site on the Texas Plains -- inspired the new song, premiering exclusively on The Boot.

While lead vocalist and guitarist Hunter Pinkston's lyrics appear to honor a breezy, carefree sort of woman, it's all a metaphor. The person who prompted the idea for the song isn't a person at all, but rather a literal wind turbine -- something the Albany, Ga., native had never seen before.

Pinkston jotted down the first bits of this song in about 2014 -- before the Pink Stones were even a thought -- during a road trip from Florida to Arizona. He and one of his sisters were headed to see their other sister.

"It was my first time out west, and I fell in love with the wind turbines. As silly as it is, they just blew my mind, and I started writing a song about that love affair," Pinkston tells The Boot. "I had some friends tell me that same sort of story shortly after, which is pretty funny, but made me want to bring that idea to life even more. I haven't had a chance to see anymore since then, but I can't wait."

"Miss Wind Turbine" is the penultimate song on Introducing ... The Pink Stones, the band's debut album. In addition to Pinkston, the Pink Stones are pianist and vocalist Will Anderson, guitarist and vocalist Logan Brammer, drummer Jack Colclough, bassist Adam Wayton and John Neff -- a founding member of the Georgia-bred Drive-By Truckers -- on pedal steel.

Pinkston is the son of a drummer father -- who played in a number of local bands in the 1970s -- and a country music-loving mother, and his sisters are both guitarists. The former punk and hardcore rocker was a college freshman in 2015 when he discovered Gram Parsons by way of a Lemonheads cover of Parsons' song "Brass Buttons." It was his "a-ha!" country music moment, and he dove into Parsons' catalog and expanded his listening habits from there.

Pinkston transferred to the University of Georgia's music business program in 2016, and immersed himself in the Athens music scene. Anderson, Brammer and Wayton were college classmates, and they picked up Colclough from another band; Neff, who is a number of years older than his bandmates, sat in with them for a few shows and decided to stay as a permanent part of the Pink Stones.

Introducing ... The Pink Stones, a 10-track record recorded at Athens' Chase Park Transduction and produced by Henry Barbe, is due out widely on April 9, via Normaltown Records. It's available for pre-order and to pre-save now.

Listen to The Pink Stones' "Miss Wind Turbine":

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