Kevin Morby shares "Wander" & "Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun” from new LP
Kevin Morby has shared two more songs from his upcoming album Sundowner: the gritty, rootsy “Wander,” and the minimal, atmospheric “Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun.”
“‘Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun’ is my favorite song off of the new album, and the one I’m most proud of,” says Morby. “I consider space to be a prominent instrument on the song – and here it is as important as anything else you hear on the track. It was my goal to capture the vast openness of the middle American landscape sonically. To this end – there is a whole track of nothing but Texas air, birds and wind chimes living beneath the song.”
As for “Wander,” Kevin says it’s anchored by a lyric he’s had in his head for a decade. “The hook ‘I wonder as I wander why was I born in the wild wonder’ is even featured in the insert of the first Babies LP,” Kevin notes. “The song is meant to steadily gain momentum before coming to an abrupt halt. It is the shortest song I’ve ever written, and is intended to be played on a loop.”
The “Wander” video stars his partner, Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee, while the lyric video for “Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun” features plenty of gorgeous Midwest landscapes. You can watch both below.
Sundowner is out October 16 via Dead Oceans. Kevin is in the midst of his virtual tour where he’s playing all his albums in full. September 24 is Singing Saw, October 1 is City Music, October 8 is Oh My God and October 15 is Sundowner. Tickets are on sale.
Morby also contributed to the new Fleet Foxes album.
—
Must-Hear Folk Albums of 2020 So Far
Bill Callahan – Gold Record
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Reunions
Arlo Mckinley – Die Midwestern
Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
Neil Young – Homegrown
In a 1975 Rolling Stone interview, Neil called his long-shelved-and-now-finally-released album Homegrown "the darker side to Harvest." With more hindsight, he called it "the missing link between Harvest, Comes a Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon" in Jimmy McDonough's 2002 Neil Young biography Shakey. Those albums are all on Neil's folkier, more acoustic side, and Homegrown is indeed cut from that cloth. As soon as you hear the opening of "Separate Ways," you're transported right back to the warmth of the Harvest era. It's of the same proto-slowcore variety of that album's opener "Out On the Weekend," but even more haunting and melancholic. Just 30 seconds in, and Homegrown already lives up to the description Neil gave Cameron Crowe of it 45 years ago.
That same mood carries over into second track "Try," which -- like "Separate Ways" -- features The Band's Levon Helm on drums, and Levon really managed to capture the bare-bones, slow-paced drumming style that these types of quietly revolutionary Neil Young songs always demanded. "Try" is also one of two songs on Homegrown with backing vocals by Emmylou Harris (the other being "Star of Bethlehem"), and her soaring voice makes for a truly lovely contrast with Neil's more somber delivery. And as melancholic as those songs are, they've got nothing on the melancholy of the entirely-solo cuts "Mexico" (voice and piano) and "Kansas" (voice, acoustic guitar, and harmonica), or on "White Line," which features Neil, his acoustic, and his harmonica joined only by some lead guitar by The Band's Robbie Robertson. It's on those breathtaking songs where you can really hear why Neil -- coming right off the release of On The Beach -- might have felt like he was digging himself into a hole of dour, depressive music. But all these years later -- now that Neil has cemented his legacy over and over again and proven to be an artist who can evolve and adapt with the times without losing his own uniqueness -- those songs feel like buried treasure, especially for fans who gravitate towards his most hushed material. Full review here.