Videos by American Songwriter
ARTIST: The Leavelles
SONG: “Something Old”
HOMETOWN: Durant, Oklahoma
CURRENT LOCATION: Atoka, Oklahoma
AMBITIONS: To write a song that gives someone listening hope that things will get better and helps them understand that they’re not alone in this world.
TURN-OFFS: Self-righteous folks.
TURN-ONS: Music on vinyl, black coffee and Fender Telecasters.
DREAM GIG: Playing the Ryman Auditorium. The sheer weight of that place and its significance in history (not to mention its incredible sound) make it the ultimate venue.
FAVORITE LYRIC: “The doctor said Daddy wouldn’t make it a year / But the holidays are over and he’s still here. / How long can they keep you in the ICU? / Veins through the skin like a faded tattoo.” Jason Isbell’s song “Speed Trap Town” breaks me every time I hear it.
SONG I WISH I WROTE: “The Boxer” (Simon & Garfunkel)
5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Ernest Hemingway, Bill Murray, Jeff Tweedy, Adam West and Keith Richards
MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: I saw Wilco at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis in 2009. Everything was perfect that night: the show, Jeff’s interaction with the crowd, the band.
I WROTE THIS SONG BECAUSE… It seems like so many young women I’ve known got pregnant in high school or right afterward. Several of them ended up married and on a totally different path in life than they’d planned. The first reaction a lot of people have is that this is a terrible mistake. Just because something wasn’t intentional, however, doesn’t mean it’s a mistake. Sometimes the little detours in life turn out to be special and beautiful in a way we couldn’t have predicted.
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