Shrunken Elvis - Shrunken Elvis

Shrunken Elvis is a Nashville-based trio formed by Spencer Cullum, Sean Thompson, and Rich Ruth - three seasoned musicians united by a love of genre-defying instrumental music. The group emerged from long European drives, winter jam sessions, and a shared commitment to making music guided by instinct rather than ambition.

Cullum, an East London-born pedal steel guitarist, has played with Angel Olsen, Lambchop, Miranda Lambert, and Billy Strings, while releasing two solo folk-psych LPs on Full Time Hobby. Thompson came up in Nashville’s DIY scene with Gnarwhal and Promised Land Sound, later touring with Margo Price and Skyway Man. Ruth, under the name Rich Ruth (Third Man Records), creates immersive solo work blending spiritual jazz, ambient, and post-rock.

Their origins trace back to a 2022 European tour behind Cullum’s solo album. Crammed into a VW Passat with a compact setup of guitars, pedal steel, and synths, they began composing on the road—shaping a shared musical language that carried into winter sessions back in Nashville. Recording around a space heater in a shed studio, they captured the spirit of those travels with spontaneity and trust. Their debut album aims not to spotlight individual prowess, but to let the instruments merge into something entirely new. Embracing a “no goals, just ideas” mindset, they created music that feels unforced, exploratory, and alive. Rooted in kosmische, jazz fusion, electronic, and ambient traditions, Shrunken Elvis draws inspiration from Alice Coltrane, Michael Rother, Pat Metheny, Ashra, and KLF—along with visual influences like ECM album covers and the films of Kurosawa and Bergman. Mixed by Jake Davis (William Tyler) and featuring artwork by Max Kinghorn-Mills (Hollow Hand), their debut is a quietly urgent, deeply collaborative record—music made without expectation, but full of purpose.