ch. 3: the high
disclaimer: there will be no pop country shit in this adventure
(you’ll understand when you hear the first song)
Now that you’ve listened to this song, I want to make something clear - I’ve got nothing against ANYBODY out there making music, nor the people who listen to those anybodies. Sure, I like particular veins of music (southern rock, Red Dirt, classic country) and despise other veins of music (well…pop country, for starters). BUT, if that’s your jam, I’m completely okay with that.
Some people get so upset, marching the perimeters of the lines they’ve drawn in the country music sand, shouting abuse, waving homemade signs and guarding what they consider the sacred core of “real country music.” That ain’t me. No matter what this song says.
Sure, I went through a phase in my mid-twenties where I was pretty passionate about this topic, and if you dug far enough back into my Facebook timeline, you’d probably find evidence to this end. And it was in that angsty stage - let’s say, approximately March 28, 2009 - when I penned “Pearls to Pigs.” Originally, I targeted Kenny Chesney in the choruses. Eventually, Rascal Flatts got the brunt of this song’s abuse. As the years went by, though, I became much less passionate on the subject. Who am I to decide what’s good or “real” music? Like what ya like. Listen to what you listen to. If you get upset at someone else for something as arbitrary as their opinion on music, you’re spending unnecessary negative energy.
That said, this song is still fun. And during live shows, we always let the audience pick who we plug into the choruses. In fact, for the studio version you just listened to, we let you all decide on Facebook. Here’s how the results came out:
“Stain” Brown just barely edged out Florida Georgia Line to make it into Chorus 2
As for the final chorus…well, like I said, I didn’t want anyone takin’ it too serious, so I thought I’d throw my own solo projects under the bus :)
midwest fable, Ch. 3
christian name: Francis redding
Goes By: Frankie
Nicknames: Red, Pole Sitter, Signpost
Birthplace: Lone Tree, Iowa
Prominent Features: Red tail, Large pupils, Cottontail mouth
Skills: Seeing into the heavenly realms, Soaring, Hearing nature’s tiniest voices
Midwest Fable: Frankie was the last of her brood to hatch and the first to fall out of the nest. Never close with her squabbling siblings, and always the last to get a morsel from mom, Frankie was small and weak and didn’t learn much of the world before it suddenly rushed up underneath her one morning in early Fall.
She found herself tripping through tall grass, awkwardly flapping useless wings, utterly alone, and growing hungry. So she started hunting the only way she knew how - by crawling around.
But outside a slow cricket here and there, or a lazy worm on occasion, she wasn’t quick enough to catch any meat. She could hear mice and rabbits rummaging through the brush, but could never catch up to them. Too often, she resorted to fruits, nuts, and whatever else she happened upon.
Many days, she simply went hungry. And it was one such day that found her stumbling through a cow pasture, hopelessly poking her head into vole holes. Walking from one hole to the next, she paused, noticing one particular pile of cow shit. There was an odd group of plantlike protrusions growing from the dung heap. Any other day, she’d have walked on by. But times were desperate. Fruits and nuts were no longer abundant, and she hadn’t eaten since the day before. She slowly reached her neck across and plucked a couple of the round-headed oddities from the cow shit. They tasted as expected, offering little sustenance. So Frankie wandered back over to sit by a vole hole.
A short time later, the landscape began to shift. The colors came alive. The sky - now a deeper shade of blue than she’d ever noticed - beckoned her with an urgency she couldn’t ignore. The heavens called her, and she realized, if she could only be there - up there - she could see farther, hear better, surprise her prey and react faster. In a moment she was running across the cow pasture, wings spread, skipping a little further ahead with each leap. She started flapping her wings and her feet left the ground. Before she knew what was happening, Frankie was in the air for the first time, climbing higher, soaring, all of her senses coming to a precise and sharp edge. She smelled, heard, then spotted a cottontail rabbit, sitting along a stretch of tall grass. Frankie dove, extended her claws and struck. She never went hungry again.
Where Is Frankie Now?: Standing stoically fat and happy on an exit sign along I-80, just outside Iowa City
Moral of the Midwest Fable: Sometimes, you may just need a fresh perspective in order to tap into your full and true potential.
a red-tailed hawk on a signpost…
If I ever did a music video for this next song, I’d have one perched in every scene:
This is one of those songs that I feel you need to listen through a bunch of times to appreciate and to get a sense of what’s really going on in the storyline.
American Songwriter called “Wild Imagination” a
“foot-stomping outlaw country number that traces a night of boozy shenanigans.”
But that’s not really how I hear it…at least that’s not all it is.
so what do you think this song is about?
submit your explanation:
how ‘bout a video?
did he get the girl?
post your thoughts, along with the video, to facebook.
(Here’s the link for posting: https://youtu.be/2XQRUUMWzBw)
here’s what farce the music said about “Bottle You up”:
“Joe’s rich, character-filled voice is the centerpiece of the band’s new single “Bottle You Up,” a love song from the heart. It’s a commercially accessible sound without kowtowing to the trends of the day, instead keeping it real with an in-the-pocket rock ’n roll band playing the hell out of this catchy country rocker. (Sep. 2, 2020)”
and here’s what i had to say:
"There’s been a grand total of two times that I’ve done one of them, “I just wrote this song and now I’m posting a video of me playing it to Facebook” type of things. One of those times was just yesterday (as I’m writing this up). The only other time was a couple years ago and the song was 'Bottle You Up.'
I’d just got home from a Sunday afternoon gig, and I sat down at my kitchen table with a little glass my mom had recently purchased for me. It said, “Apple of My Eye” on the side of it. I started pouring Busch Light down into it. Then emptying it. Repeat. Pretty soon I was writing a song and about 25 minutes later, I had “Bottle You Up” down on paper.
All them beers convinced me I should take the song straight to social media. So I did, and pretty soon folks were requesting “Bottle You Up” at shows. It didn’t take long to realize we were going to have to cut it on our next record.
While you can still find that old acoustic performance on YouTube, we did decide to go down to Nashville and have our buddies at Midtown Motion put a bonafide music video together for the song. We’re pretty happy about the results. Though I’m not sure the feller in the video was by the song’s end…"
bonus round!
Before we move on, here’s that video I just mentioned earlier - the one I shot and posted right after writing “Bottle You Up”…now you’ll hear the full evolution from kitchen to recording studio:
Ch. 3 merch feature
Frankie said, “Since we’s gettin high today, hows about showing the good folks them “Pearls to Pigs” and them “Midwest AF” products?” You got it, Frankie:
in ch. 4, we’re gonna:
fall off a wagon
get randy
reveal an unreleased surprise
discover your true colors
get access to an exclusive opportunity just for you
