Tag: Steve McMurry

Artist: Acoustic Syndicate
Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina
Song: “All In Time”
Album: All In Time
Release Date: July 15, 2022
Label: Organic Records

In Their Words: “This song has a great story. I sat down one warm, sunny afternoon last fall and wrote this song down in about 15 minutes at my kitchen bar. It literally flew out! I had the chords all figured out, wrote the lyrics down, sang through it three or four times, then got up to go outside for a minute. When I came back…it was gone. I had the words there, the chords were all there, but the original rhythm was gone. I never got it back. To this day, I still haven’t stumbled back on that exact, original rhythm, which was kinda genius, if I may be so bold. I even went to Jay’s house one day and we searched for that original rhythm, based on my words, for like an entire afternoon. Nothing. What I wound up doing was recording a really square, very uninteresting demo one afternoon, after finishing up some of my other vocals at Crossroads Studios. I took that, passed it around to the fellas and we all thought about it for a couple of weeks.

“By the time we got together for rehearsals, I had somehow come up with an alternative rhythm that wasn’t so square and a little off-beat and wide open with tons of space. I left these spaces for Fitz to fill with selective, tasteful and powerful drum fills, eventually culminating in a giant yet tangible and driving rhythm. Serendipity! As luck would have it, we actually made one of our strongest tunes to date. I am very proud of this track, and grateful for Fitz’s magnificent drums, and Jay’s soulful, intimate and emotional bass work. It is important to note here that on the day that Jay recorded his solo — literally right before he walked into the booth — we had just learned of the passing of Taylor Hawkins, longtime Foo Fighters drummer and lifelong best friend of Dave Grohl, of Foo Fighters and Nirvana. Jay said he was doing that solo for Dave. (Read more below the player.)

“The words are just my account of needing to catch my breath. I have many character flaws. One of the worst is my perpetual propensity to commit myself to absolutely more than I can do on a daily basis. The job, the band, the farm, and until recently, aging parents… all of it. I always get myself with my back to the wall, and I always swear to myself that I will never do that again. I do it anyway…like the next day. All too often, I find myself completely overwhelmed, in a panic and exhausted. Many are the days that I forget to just pause, look around, breathe the air, appreciate my surroundings, have gratitude, recognize the love that I have in my life and try to turn down the volume of living for a moment. To quietly contemplate where I am, as an individual, where we are, as a people, and where all of this may be headed.

“‘All In Time’ is also a reflective appreciation for something my dad, Joe, would say when the times of the world become frightening, chaotic and without direction, like they are now. I’ve come to lean on these words more and more in recent years…now, more than ever: ‘When things become uncertain like this…when the world seems like it’s out of control and we can’t help but be scared and anxious about the state of things…no matter how bad it gets, unless there is something we can do about it, we just have to have faith, be patient, keep on doing the best that we can…and trust that people will eventually do the right thing in the end.'” — Steve McMurry, Acoustic Syndicate

Photo Credit: Sandlin Gaither