Artist: The Mammals
Hometown: Woodstock, NY
Song:Ā “Sunshiner”
Album: Sunshiner
Release Date:Ā April 20, 2018
Label: Humble Abode Music
In Their Words:Ā “I woke up with the chorus in my head: ‘Yes, my daddy was a miner, but Iām gonna be a Sunshiner.’ I was sick as a dog, but I got myself out of bed, marched myself up to our funky little studio above our garage, and began croaking out the lyric into my phone with what little voice I had. I tried to not overthink it, and the verses came together about as quickly as I could sing them. Because of my compromised singing voice, I was playing in a very low key. Something about the lazy, hushed vibe really worked for the song, so I kept it down there, even when I had my full voice back. It falls somewhere between a lullaby and a prayer, and makes for a wonderful sing-a-long at shows.
‘Sunshiner’ was actually the very last song we recorded for the album. It went over so beautifully in concert and felt so relevant to the times that we knew it had to be on the record, maybe even the title track. Ruthy and I recorded it very quickly — just ourselves playing all the instruments — and we were lucky to have some very special back-up singers come in to fill it out — Sarah Jarosz and Connor Kennedy. To change everything, we need everyone.” — Mike Merenda
Photo credit: Tom Krueger
