TORONTO, Dec.

Ryan Bingham was a bull-rider on the rodeo circuit, not even 20 years old yet, when he wrote a world-weary song about death, being a West Texas desperado and praying for change.

The Steepwater Band and Marc Ford will enter the studio together in May to record the follow-up album to the band's 2006 effort, "Revelation Sunday." The band plans to release the album, tentatively titled "Grace & Melody," in late summer or early fall and tour the United States and Europe extensively to support it.

By Preston Jones, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas Mar. 4--Ryan Bingham, who's only 26 years old, sounds like he's 75, and in this case, that's a good thing. The singer/songwriter has a wonderfully worn voice, lined with dust and soaked in whiskey.