WATCH: John Scott Sherrill, “Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons”

Artist: John Scott Sherrill
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons”
Album: Copper Tears
Release Date: October 15, 2021
Label: Lobo Libre

In Their Words: “People often ask me how long it takes me to write a song, and some songs I can write in a couple of hours. But ‘Five Generations of Rock County Wilsons’ took 17 years to write. I got the inspiration when I was taking a bus back in my college years to Illinois from New Hampshire. It took seven days, so I was sleeping as we drove, and waking up at all hours of the day, not knowing where I was. I woke up one morning, looked out the window of the bus, and saw all these men standing around, trying to hold their maps in the wind. I thought they must have plans to do something with that cornfield. I made a note in my notebook and left it until years later, when I found the notebook in my mother’s attic. I opened it up and saw my notations and thought that idea was worth writing about.” — John Scott Sherrill


Photo credit: Rich Guglielmo

LISTEN: Rod McCormack, “Fingerprints”

Artist: Rod McCormack
Hometown: Terrigal, NSW, Australia
Song: “Fingerprints”
Album: Fingerprints
Label: Sonic Timber Records

From the Artist: “‘Fingerprints’ was written for my beautiful wife Gina. As I flew over to the States to record this album, she reminded my that I hadn’t written a love song for her yet — and after 20-odd years I thought it was about time. I was so glad to work with John Scott Sherrill on this song idea, and then to have Gina sing on it with me was a real treat. I really wanted ‘Fingerprints’ to have an Appalachian feel to it, and hearing the fiddle and banjo weave around the acoustic guitar still takes me back to our early years together. Along with the current single, ‘Shimmers,’ ‘Fingerprints’ is probably the most requested song from the album.” — Rod McCormack


Photo credit: Steve Kearney