Artist: Billy Raffoul
Hometown: Leamington, Ontario, Canada
Song: “In My Arms”
Album: For All These YearsĀ
Release Date: July 28, 2023 (single); October 20, 2023 (album)
Label: Nettwerk Music Group
In Their Words:Ā “‘In My Arms’ is a special one for me, because itās something I wrote with my brother. For the first half of 2022 I was writing nearly a song every other day getting ready for this album, and there were about two weeks that Peter and I wrote at our place in Nashville. We would get six songs, and ‘In My Arms’ was one of them.
“I wrote it on my ’59 Gibson 335. Iām a lefty who plays right-handed guitars upside down and this song requires me to get pretty high up the neck for some of these chord shapes. Needed something with a double cutaway and the 335 did the trick. Thereās no real picking pattern to this one. Just kind of raking into the chords and quite a bit of palm muting. This one was more about the tone, a ’40s tweed deluxe right at its breaking point.
“Playing the guitar upside down can be super inspiring when Iām writing. Having the bass strings on the bottom allows me to use my index, middle, and ring fingers to make some different bass patterns while my thumb plays the melody on the higher strings. These patterns are found all over this new album, particularly in songs like ‘Jim Carrey’ and ‘I Canāt Love You Anymore.’ Iām thrilled about this new album, because itās the first time all of my influences are rolled into one record. Recording songs has always just been a vehicle to get people in a room together to hear them live, and the dynamic of this album is a good representation of what youād hear from me in a live setting. I canāt wait to bring these songs to life on stage.” ā Billy Raffoul
Photo Credit: Vanessa Heins
