Alex Kilroy finds personal meaning in a familiar blues crossroads

The crossroads has accumulated generations of meaning in blues music. Alex Kilroy approaches that image with an unusually literal history behind him. His new single, “Crossroads On My Mind”, follows a sequence of decisions that carried him from Transylvania to American clubs, recording studios, and stages.



Kilroy’s lyrics look back to Bistri?a, where he grew up in a musical family and began studying classical piano. Even before guitar entered the picture, America occupied a prominent place in his imagination. At six years old, he asked for an American flag to hang above his bed and described his Romanian childhood as a temporary stay before an eventual move across the Atlantic.

The bridge between that belief and a musical career appeared in an imported car. Kilroy’s father found a copy of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Live at Montreux inside the vehicle, and the performance opened a different expressive possibility for the young pianist. He began learning Vaughan’s material on guitar, ultimately earning his father’s permission to change instruments by mastering three songs during one summer.

Success did not produce a direct route west. Kilroy played hometown bars, performed at weddings to raise money, competed on The Voice Romania, and earned a scholarship opportunity for Berklee’s summer program. A self-booked appearance at Buddy Guy’s Legends followed, along with visa complications that sent him back to Romania to wait for the necessary paperwork.

“Crossroads On My Mind” draws from those episodes without separating musical development from practical struggle. The song’s traditional blues feel provides continuity between the artists Kilroy studied and the life he later constructed in Nashville and Florida. Its story remains particular to a musician whose understanding of the genre formed thousands of miles from its American birthplace.

The single also signals a change in scope after Kilroy’s debut album, Break My Chains. That record reached across blues-rock, pop, gospel, and Southern grooves, with Vince Gill appearing on the original “Let The Good Times Roll.” The forthcoming New Shade of Blue EP concentrates more closely on blues phrasing, guitar playing, immediacy, and groove.

Due October 23, the seven-track EP includes “Crossroads On My Mind,” the title song, “Sacred Ground,” “Make It Stop Raining,” and two notable interpretations. Kilroy revisits Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City” and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Life by the Drop,” with the latter recorded on August 27, 2026, in recognition of Vaughan’s life and legacy. The track list places Kilroy’s own story beside the artists who helped him find the road toward it.