Last week, Cady Groves’ team shared the anthemic title track off the late singer-songwriter’s forthcoming EP, Bless My Heart. Today we are thrilled to share another track off the EP—a soul-stirring country take on James Blunt’s “Bartender.”
Videos by American Songwriter
“It’s a little after midnight / There’s a couple in the corner / And I wonder what he said because she’s crying,” Groves sings in the opening verse over guitar and percussion. “And I guess they won’t remember When they wake up in the morning / With the headache from the whiskey and the wine / I know that I have said things I regret when I am sober / ‘Cause we always hurt the ones we love the most / I messed up and I know it if I hurt you girl I’m sorry / But it’s good to see the girl I used to know.”
Groves’ version of “Bartender” builds into a grand country pop number that pairs Groves’ rich vocals with explosive production. The last lines are delivered with gusto before a short instrumental outro: “Bartender, can you pour some love?”
“Bartender” is the second song that Groves’ team has released since her unexpected death, at 30, on May 2.
“Details are limited right now but family is trying to get them and will keep people updated,” Groves’ older brother, Cody, wrote on Twitter. “Rest In Peace little sis.”
Later Cody explained that his sister “had some medical problems last fall and our best guess at this point until further testing is complete is that they had resurfaced.” He also said that “Cady was really looking forward to the next few months and release of her new album.”
Bless My Heart will arrive as Groves’ fifth EP, following 2015’s Dreams, 2012’s This Little Girl, 2010’s The Life of a Pirate, and her 2009 debut A Month of Sundays. The Emporia, Kansas-born singer-songwriter is known for her hits “This Little Girl,” “Forget,” “Crying Game,” and “Love Actually,” among others.
Groves knew from an early age that she wanted to be a musician. “I actually always wanted this,” she said in 2016. “I got my first drum set on Christmas when I was 4. I always had wide eyes for music.”
In the same interview, Groves shared what she hopes fans take away from her songs. “I just hope that I can help them throughout the little or big pot holes they hit,” she said. “I want to be the song they put in in the road trip of life. I want to have a song for when they drive through rain or break down on the side of the road. Or just when they roll the windows down and put their hand on the leg of the person they love next to them. All of that is so beautiful and I want to be in the background when they do it.”
Two of Groves’ brothers—Casey and Kelly—also passed away at early ages in 2007 and 2014, respectively. Both were 28.
Groves released Dreams in the wake of Kelly’s death, which had a profound impact on her.
“Amidst the hardest year I think a person could endure in my life—I was left with nothing,” she said in 2016, reflecting on her experience making the EP. “I was a complete shell of a human. I took the scraps and moved back to LA when my back was against a wall and my heart was like a shriveled little prune and tried one more time for it. My dream saved my life. I mean that. The journey back to music saved my life.”
Bless My Heart is out tomorrow via Vel Records / 30 Tigers.
