When Gary Stanton and Charlie Muncaster of Muscadine Bloodline started putting together the arrangement for their song “Porch Swing Angel,” they knew they had something good… but they had no idea just how impactful and resonant the song would become for so many.
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“This song has been the backbone of our career,” Stanton reflected on a recent episode of American Songwriter’s Twitch show, Off The Record Live. “Just to see what it’s become to people means a lot. When we put it out, we never had a clue this would happen… but it’s really changed our lives.”
Written when Stanton was a freshman in college, the song’s stripped-back arrangement laid the foundation for Muscadine Bloodline’s colorful career after it dropped in 2016. Built around a warmly pensive electric guitar line, the chill vibes of the tune introduced a whole new sonic energy to the world of country music.
“Now in pop music, you hear it more—but back then, you didn’t hear a lot of electric guitar in songs,” Stanton said. “The first time we ever went into the studio, we didn’t know where we’d fit in the cog of country music. So, we took three different songs and said ‘Let’s put out these three things and see what people gravitate to.’ One was a song called ‘Shut Your Mouth,’ another called ‘Southern Boy Cure’ and then the last one was ‘Porch Swing Angel.’ That was the start, the jump-off point for us.”
Now, five years later, the song has somewhere north of 50 million streams across all platforms… and Muscadine Bloodline has been riding the wave with even more exciting releases. Two weeks ago, they unveiled their latest single “Dyin’ For A Livin’” which shows off their stellar, rowdy honky-tonk chops.
Sitting down with American Songwriter for Off The Record Live, the duo talked about everything from their backstories to their songwriting methods to their favorite food to eat on the road (spoiler alert: if Chipotle is looking for artists to sponsor, they should look no further). Watch the full interview and performance below:
