Falling is the lead track from the upcoming album Leave This World Alive, produced with Lincoln Parish from Cage The Elephant. The release details Winter's difficult journey, including mentorships and recent performances alongside major artists.
-- Today marks the powerful release of “Falling” by enigmatic singer-songwriter and poet Cordell Winter, now available on all major streaming platforms. As the first single from his forthcoming album Leave This World Alive, produced in collaboration with multi-platinum songwriter and Cage the Elephant founding member Lincoln Parish and released through Cranked Up Records, Distributed by Virgin Music Group. “Falling” distills years of unrelenting struggle, heartbreak, spiritual descent, and hard-won ascent into a visceral, cinematic anthem of survival and transcendence.
The track’s psychedelic edge, confrontational poetry, and soul-baring honesty capture the full arc of Winter’s life: the moments of shattering loss, isolation, physical and emotional pain, and the defiant faith that pulled him back from the brink. It is music born not from comfort, but from the raw necessity of staying alive through art.
Cordell Winter’s journey is a testament to endurance in an industry (and a world) that often punishes those who refuse to conform. Beginning with his childhood obsession, assembling his own paid youth band at age nine, music became his vocation and lifeline. Relocating from Wisconsin to Florida as a teen, he spent years immersed in surfing, existential literature, and poetry, forging a restless inner world that would define his magnetic yet solitary presence.
Tragedy struck early: the devastating loss of his high-school love hardened his resolve and plunged him deeper into the works of Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Kerouac, Nietzsche, and Blake. At 18, rejecting stability, he moved into a van, self-booked early tours tied to Grateful Dead shows, and performed in parking lots nationwide to build his audience from nothing.
Mentorship under rock legend Mark Slaughter sharpened his discipline and transcendent vocals, but Winter’s path demanded sacrifice. Arriving in Nashville with almost no resources, he lived out of his van for months, sleeping on the bathroom floor of an Anytime Fitness gym (using it as makeshift office and shelter) until he was forced out. Undeterred, he pushed his way onto Broadway and Music Row stages, delivering confrontational, ritual-like performances that blurred art and life, often teetering on the edge of chaos.
His intensity drew mentors like Kid Rock and the late Loretta Lynn, who co-wrote with him, welcomed him into her family, and shared stages at her festival and personal events. Yet even these breakthroughs came amid hardship: Winter famously slept on the doorstep of House of Blues Studios until multi-platinum producer Malcolm Springer relented and granted him access. For years, he lived in the studio (on floors and couches) writing relentlessly, building bands, and crafting his debut Chaos in Light.
The road brought triumphs; touring with Skid Row, Lita Ford, Quiet Riot, Warrant, Billy Gibbons, and Tim Montana; headlining festivals; appearing at Milwaukee Summerfest, but also crushing setbacks. Failed management, fractured bands, and major-label showcases that dissolved amid industry shifts left him in his darkest hours by 2023. Reaching profound isolation, arrests, clashes with authority, and physical breakdowns (including a recent shattered elbow and metal implants from injury) Winter turned inward for spiritual restoration, returning to poetry and solitude.
In 2024 and 2025, he reclaimed his path with unmatched ferocity: tripling his touring, performing at Sturgis Buffalo Chip (where Conor McGregor selected his music for a major event), Virgin Hotel Theater, Hard Rock, Skydeck Nashville, and alongside Jelly Roll, Staind’s Aaron Lewis, Ziggy Marley, Billy Corgan, Stone Temple Pilots, Hinder, and Marilyn Manson. Filmed for a documentary with Billy Bob Thornton and featured with legends like Randy Travis and Ronnie Dunn, Winter rejected major-label compromises and wrote Leave This World Alive, a brutally honest chronicle of survival.
By late 2025, he secured European representation, signed with Cranked Up Records, and set the stage for his first world tour launching April 2026. “Falling” emerges from this crucible: a song that refuses easy answers, instead urging listeners to confront their own falls, feel deeply, and choose authentic freedom rooted in empathy and lived truth.
“Falling” is out now on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and all platforms.
Stream & watch the music video here
For interviews, high-res photos, press kit, or additional details, contact:
Cranked Up Records
Email: Crankeduprecords@gmail.com
Follow Cordell Winter:
Website: https://www.cordellwinter.com/
Instagram: @cordellwinter
X/Twitter: @CordellWinter
Spotify: Cordell Winter
About Cranked Up Records
About the company: Cranked Up Records is powered by a global distribution partnership with Virgin Music Group and TLG, ensuring its roster of bold, high-energy artists reaches listeners worldwide. With a focus on long-term vision and creative freedom, the label serves as a movement for artists who pour their souls into their music and fans who crave substance over noise.
Contact Info:
Name: Dustin Stendal
Email: Send Email
Organization: DNA Booking
Website: https://www.dnabookings.com/
Video URL: https://youtu.be/ZvxQZy13eSA?si=fPSw8HdspfYXHM9c
Release ID: 89182210
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