Michael McDermott Premieres In-Your-Face Title Track “What in the World”

Singer-Songwriter Michael McDermott is anything but a reserved, obedient, listen to your producer kind of musician, instead he presents a rugged and insistent side of Americana music.  Hailing from the streets of Chicago, McDermott has a few strong opinions about the current social climate and he does nothing short of shouting them loudly on his latest single “What in the World”.

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“’What in the World’ came about from a few pre-dawn writing sessions I imposed upon myself,” McDermott told American Songwriter.  “With sleep still in my eyes, I would generally begin with an array of images in a stream of consciousness.  Most were seemingly disjointed and inconsequential. However, in my manner I would plow along and not consider even looking at it until the session with myself was done. After a couple days, I had found a thread of images that had worked together, but without anything to tie them together, it was really just that, a string of cool verses. 

“I moved on to other things and would check back on this string of verses and tidy them up a bit, but without that chorus I feared they were destined to a life in a forgotten pages doc,” the songwriter explained.  “Watching the norms of this country be deconstructed and the behavior of he who will not be named, I often just found myself saying aloud ‘What in the world?’ I was in a cab on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago shooting a video for my last record when the chorus of this came to me.  The next day, I immediately went to see if those rapid-fire lyrics would fit and lo and behold I had myself that downtrodden anthem I’d always dreamed of.”

The single comes from McDermott’s anticipated record What in the World out June 5 on Pauper Sky Records.  The outspoken title track is a rally song, calling people to listen and presents McDermott’s politics in straight-forward lyrics like: ‘Hey hey what do you say/tired of hearing everything will be ok/ what in the world is happening here?/ Hey hey what do you say?/ Dark days are coming for the USA.   The bluesy-rock guitar licks and accented chord transitions are what empower the stark lyrics, adding an outlaw country/rock vibe which work perfectly to portray the fed-up and angry character of the song.  

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