Tag: Los Angeles

LISTEN: The Williams Brothers, “Tears Only Run One Way”

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Artist: The Williams Brothers
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Tears Only Run One Way”
Album: Memories to Burn
Release Date: October 21, 2022
Label: Regional Records

In Their Words: “The record is a snapshot of where we were at the time. The entire album was recorded in two days, all live and off the cuff in my small one-room studio. It was a breath of fresh air after spending months and even years on our earlier records. We went back to our roots of growing up singing the Everly Brothers’ hits, and we think that’s why we were able to capture the songs so quickly and easily. ‘Tears Only Run One Way’ fell into our laps from a close friend, who happened to be Robbie Fulks’ publisher. We became instant fans of Robbie’s as soon as we heard his songs. The musical arrangement was done on the spot, with everyone coming up with their own parts. We especially like Marvin Etzioni’s descending solo bass line into each chorus and Greg Leisz’s masterful lap steel throughout.” — Andrew and David Williams, The Williams Brothers

LISTEN: Rose’s Pawn Shop, “Gratitude”

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Artist: Rose’s Pawn Shop
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Gratitude”
Album: Punch-Drunk Life
Release Date: November 4, 2022
Label: KZZ Music

In Their Words: “The song came to me in a solo writing session when I had sat down with my guitar hoping to write something. I started strumming some chords and humming a melody that fit the chords and a feeling started to emerge. That melody slowly morphed into the words ‘my eyes are raining blue, my heart’s a drawer full of IOUs and gratitude.’ And I realized I was writing a song about several people I had lost in my life in the past few years. And how the pain of those losses is often intermingled with a sense of love and gratitude for loved ones who have given us so much you feel they can never be fully repaid, and now they’re gone.” — Paul Givant, Rose’s Pawn Shop

Photo Credit: Scott Chernis

LISTEN: The Dales, “Burn It Slow”

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Artist: The Dales
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Burn It Slow”
Album: Multi Trick Pony
Release Date: September 23, 2022
Label: DB Records

In Their Words: “The song is inspired by a movie star I was working with last year. She’s extremely successful, yet so down to earth and easy to hang with. It seemed like we had known each other for a long time. We had a lot in common, including our love for nature. While working on the song, we tried a couple of different chorus ideas and came up with the simpler ‘oh oh — nice to know — someone who likes to burn it slow.’ It’s an homage to people who don’t come off too strong, don’t try too hard and instead present themselves authentically.” — Drew Lawrence (co-founder, The Dales)

The Dales · Burn It Slow

Photo Credit: Stacy Hunter

WATCH: Tim Baker, “Echo Park”

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Artist: Tim Baker
Hometown: St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Song: “Echo Park”
Album: The Festival
Release Date: October 21, 2022
Label: End Times Music

In Their Words: “This is a simple song about moving from Newfoundland to Los Angeles, losing track and getting lost in all the clear skies and windless days, waiting for a big break that never seems to come, yearning for it, and of course, in turn, for your home so unlike it, so far away. I wrote this song in almost one single sitting in a rare hotel room to myself, somewhere in the sandy southwestern states, on tour with Hey Rosetta years ago.

“Since it’s a song all about being buoyed up by winds of change and hope through heavy homesickness, I really wanted to film myself singing it while hang-gliding. When in Florida visiting family, I noticed boats parasailing back and forth along the beach everyday. I called around and found one company (with the stars-and-stripes chute to boot) whom I convinced to let me fly with a guitar and have my brother film me on his drone and whattayaknow it actually worked! Here is the cinematic magic from that hour on the Gulf.” — Tim Baker

Photo Credit: Jason Burns

LISTEN: Brandon Jenner, “One of a Kind”

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Artist: Brandon Jenner
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “One of a Kind”
Album: Oversized Soul
Release Date: September 2, 2022
Label: Nettwerk Music Group

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘One of a Kind’ after having a very realistic dream. In that dream, my lovely wife decided to move my truck to a field next to our house when she misjudged a pile of rocks and broke my truck in half. I ran over to see if I could help and then woke up. I thought it was funny that at the time in my dream all I was worried about was the state of my truck and not of whether or not my wife was OK. It sure sounded like an idea for a good country song.” — Brandon Jenner

Photo Credit: Magdalena Wosinska

LISTEN: Chris Pierce, “45 Jukebox”

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Artist: Chris Pierce
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “45 Jukebox”
Release Date: July 22, 2022

In Their Words: “A traditional 45 Jukebox is a coin-operated phonograph with an illuminated cabinet, having a variety of records that can be selected by the drop of a dime and the push of a button. This song examines the journey as a songwriter and the internal process of the spirit for the songs to come to surface. It’s about the rigorous and demanding road of putting the truth on the line and wearing your heart on your sleeve day by day, night after night. There is a road to freedom in songwriting, recording and performing. It’s about being vulnerable and standing on the edge with your finger on the pulse, awaiting that drop of a dime and dedicating the soul and spirit to that moment when your song makes its way through the speaker and into the heart.” — Chris Pierce

Photo Credit: Mathieu Bitton

LISTEN: Whitney Lockert, “Long Way to California”

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Artist: Whitney Lockert
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Long Way to California”
Album: Long Way to California
Release Date: July 15, 2022

In Their Words: “‘Long Way to California’ was written at a time when I was indeed far from California, and also felt a bit stuck; in fact at the time, I was literally stuck at home with a stranger I didn’t particularly like, a friend of one of my roommates who was staying there while my roommate was on tour. It was written as more of an imagined escape than anything else; little did I know that it would foreshadow moving back to California with someone I love a few years later. Ultimately it’s a song about California and the West as a place of openness and the possibility of a better life, the promise it might have held to my grandparents when they moved there from Ohio in the ‘40s. For me it took living on the East Coast for several years to really understand and see California that way.” — Whitney Lockert

Photo Credit: Jeni Magana