LISTEN: Tommy McLain, “Somebody” (feat. Augie Meyers and CC Adcock)

Artist: Tommy McLain
Hometown: Jonesville, Louisiana
Song: “Somebody” (feat. Augie Meyers and CC Adcock)
Album: I Ran Down Every Dream
Release Date: August 26, 2022
Label: Yep Roc Records

Editor’s Note: Tommy McLain co-wrote “Somebody” partly as an homage to lifelong friend Doug Sahm, a legendary musician and founder of Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados. Sahm and McLain met in the 1960s after McLain’s “Sweet Dreams” became a national pop hit and they began performing together on package tours across the country. McLain’s co-writers on the song are his producer CC Adcock and fellow Sir Douglas Quintet/Texas Tornados founder Augie Meyers. I Ran Down Every Dream is McLain’s first album in more than 40 years.

In Their Words: “Doug and I shared songwriting in common. Hearing something in the wind, or that someone says, and writing a story around it. Doug and I were both big melodies singers. I like to categorize our style as ‘Songer-Singwriter’! The last time I ever saw Doug he stopped by my house in Oakdale, Louisiana. He was driving a ’90s Cadillac and had this old Indian preacher woman riding shotgun, reading him the bible. Maybe he knew he was about to have to leave this place. He died not but a couple months later out in New Mexico. Doug was always so wound up and full of life and ‘big ideas.’ The last day we visited he asked me to join The Tornados. That never happened.” — Tommy McLain


Photo Credit: Dan Burn-Forti

LISTEN: Lew Card, ‘Baby Won’t Ya’

Artist: Lew Card
Hometown: Austin, TX via Chattanooga TN
Song: "Baby Won't Ya"
Album: Follow Me Down
Release Date: January 8
Label: Monomer Recording Company

In Their Words: "This little ditty was one of the first new songs I wrote for Follow Me Down — and it holds the line to the title of the record. Musically, it's a play on any of the countless blues songs that influenced me, but with a little bit of swampy funk thrown in. I really wanted it to be something simple that you could dance to.

Lyrically, I feel that everyone can relate to any one of the verses, in some way. The line 'Baby, won't you follow me down. Seems like every time I think I'm going up, turns out, I'm just fooling myself' — it really describes all of my friends over 35. Nobody really has a hold on getting older, and we're all just trying to get a little piece of the action by filling in the in-between." — Lew Card


Photo credit: Felicia Graham