Song Premiere: Grant-Lee Phillips, “Cry Cry”

Grant-Lee Phillips by Denise Siegel
Photo by Denise Siegel

Grant-Lee Phillips has released the first track from his upcoming eighth studio album The Narrows, out March 18, 2016.

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The song, “Cry Cry,” was recorded at Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, with Phillips on vocals/guitar, Jerry Roe on drums and Lex Price playing electric and upright bass. Lyrically, it sees the singer-songwriter tackle a historical topic that’s near and dear to him: the Trail of Tears.

This song is grappling with the Trail Of Tears, an issue I’ve spent much of my life contemplating,” Phillips says. “It’s a deep scar on the nation and Tennessee. As a person of Muskogee Creek and Cherokee ancestry, I’m a descendent of those who experienced the Indian Removal firsthand. It’s shaped my sense of self and of history. It’s a story too big to be told in a film, a book, let alone a song, but ‘Cry Cry’ touches upon some of the bolder strokes – the severance from one’s homeland, one’s language, and one’s culture.”

Listen to Grant-Lee Phillips’ “Cry Cry” below, which is instantly downloadable if you pre-order The Narrows.

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