Ultimately, “The Fear of Standing Still” is a record about growing up and growing older. I am not the wild partying 21 year old rock n roll front man that I used to be. I'm a husband. I'm a father. I've been sober for a decade now. It's a record that proves you don't have to always be going 100mph to find success in this business. It's a record that says “it's ok to take a minute to reflect on how far you've come, not worry about how much further you have to go”. For the longest time I thought that if I took my foot off the gas for even a second, I would lose all the ground that I had gained. Fatherhood changed that. I've found a really beautiful balance between rock n roll and family and I wanted a record that showcased that freedom. In the studio, I've always strived to find the perfect balance between showcasing the songwriting and the fact that I have a really great rock n roll band. This record is the closest we've ever come to that intersection. These songs are big, anthemic rock songs but also stand on their own two feet when they are played on an acoustic guitar. We have always taken a lot of pride in that fact. Thematically, I cover a lot of ground on this record: nostalgia, death, regional identity, marriage, fatherhood, redemption, mental health. My records have always been a snapshot of the person I was when I wrote it and this record really finds the band and my songwriting both really hitting a stride. I feel extremely confident that this batch of songs will be in the set for years to come.
IG1 “Crier”: Crier was one of the very first songs written for this record. I wrote this one with my buddy Stephen Wilson Jr and it's a song about breaking the stigma that some men, especially Southern men, have with showing emotions. From the time I was born, I was taught that boys don't cry. The man is the emotional rock that other's lean on. I never thought to ask “then who does the man lean on?” Throughout adolescence we learn to suppress these emotions not knowing that they will eventually find a way out and it's usually to the detriment of ourselves. Whether it's drinking, drugs, anger issues or broken relationships, the negative feelings that come with being a human being will always find their way out. It's a song about mental health that addresses some of the more toxic sides of the societal definition of masculinity. My favorite part of the song is that the message is dressed up in the most rock n roll song on the record. From the time the bass line comes in, the song moves in a really aggressive way that I love. As soon as we recorded this tune, we all looked at each other and knew it would be the lead single for the record. It's a powerful message that is matched sonically by a freight train of a band.
IG2 “Cherokee Purples”: There are many strains of heirloom tomatoes grown here in North Carolina but the best, in my humble opinion, are Cherokee Purples. They are a hearty fruit. Whether sliced as a side dish or on display as the centerpiece of a tomato/mayo sandwich, they immediately take me back to my childhood in Reidsville,NC. “Cherokee Purples” is a song about nostalgia and the power of sensory memory. How a sound or the smell of a tomato sandwich can transport you back to a very specific time and place. For me, it’s my grandmothers house. As silly as it sounds, every summer when I make this sandwich I can’t help but think of the summers spent at my grandmothers house. The sandwich is painfully simple: two pieces of white bread, thick sliced tomatoes, salt, pepper and Duke’s Mayonnaise, but I believe the perfection is in the simplicity. One bite and I’m immediately taken back to the early 90’s. Spending our days outside, drinking from a water hose, eating fruit and vegetables straight from the garden and having homegrown tomatoes at every meal.
IG3 “Messy As A Magnolia”: There is large Magnolia tree right outside of my office window that is the bane of my existence. It is constantly dumping something on the ground for me to pick up. blooms in the Spring, seed pods in the summer and leaves in the fall. It is by far the messiest tree known to man and it laughs at me at every morning when I sit down to write. It also happens to be my favorite tree. When its leaves are bright green and its branches are in bloom, it’s one of the most beautiful things in our yard. In those moments, all the year-round work that goes into keeping the yard clean is totally worth it. “Messy As A Magnolia” is a song about the work we have to put into the relationships that matter. At its root, it’s a love song. Not the kind of love that Disney movies try to sell us, but real love. Real love is hard. Real love can be ugly. It requires year-round attention and dedication. For every moment we get to marvel at love in bloom, we must also appreciate how much work went into that love. This song is for my wife and the love that we have nurtured over the last thirteen years. A thank you for seeing the good in me, even when I couldn’t. It’s a song for the people in our lives that put in the work of nurturing the look instead of just cutting down the damn tree.
