SONG PREMIERE: Nashville Singer/Songwriter Derek Hoke Sports Mojo & Vulnerability With “I’m Just a Man”

Dark times call for dark songs. At least that’s how East Nashville based singer/songwriter Derek Hoke sees it. On his new album, the portentously titled Bring the Flood (10/13 via Little Hollywood), Hoke dives into a sound far more ominous, threatening, and anxiously introspective than the music on his previous three full-length releases would suggest.

“So much pain and sorrow/more than I’ve ever seen,” sings Hoke on the opening “Love Don’t Live Around Here,” an exploration of life passing by for people stuck in their small town existence. And for most of the next 40 minutes, he explores various shades of unease, if not quite the gloom, of the characters that populate this world with the confidence and musical prowess gleaned through years of working in Nashville, one of the toughest, most competitive songwriting scenes in the nation, if not the world.

Assisted by contributions from friends and neighbors such as Elizabeth Cook, Langhorne Slim, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Luther Dickinson, then molded into a cohesive whole by longtime producer and friend from childhood Dex Green, Bring the Flood finds Hoke more visceral, honest and intuitive than at any other point in his career.

Never one to release the same record twice, this album nevertheless marks a substantial shift in Hoke’s approach away from the rootsy, singer/songwriter vein and towards a more edgy, low boil, subtle country infused rock oriented style. It was inspired by Hoke watching the news, often with the audio turned off, in the heated political atmosphere of late 2016.

“It seemed like a dark cloud coming over America, watching a lot of people hurting, going through hard times, harder than ever.” He lodged those visual images into musical protagonists, flowing melodies and, with Green’s assistance, an overall conceptual world where each track feels connected to the last. That creates an austere, rugged but not stripped down landscape, both hypnotic and earthy in its atmosphere.

Hoke looks to artists like Tom T. Hall and Roger Miller, known for their directness and simplicity, for inspiration. “I’m a big fan of getting to the point and saying what you mean” he explains, and that informs tracks like the blues based ballad “I’m Just a Man” with its swampy, humid texture and “She Never Loved Me” featuring wiry, sinewy funk pushing nervy, dreamy/nightmarish strings.

Glide is thrilled to premiere “I’m Just a Man” (below) off Bring the Flood, a moving number with a twangy blues purism that sounds hauntingly passionate. When Hoke sings “I can be strong, I can be weak,” he purveys a sense of veracity and acuteness to that of Jim James and Ryan Bingham, keeping listeners pinned for the next confessional pang. 

“I’m Just A Man” was written on an acoustic guitar that I put a fuzz effect on,” explains Hoke. “The intro that you hear is actually from my demo of the tune. The idea of a guitar and blues vocal line played at the same time was the jumping off point. Then came the lyrics. I wanted to write about what’s it feels like to be a man. James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s World” was in the back of my mind the whole time. Producer Dex Green (Collective Soul, Leslie Mills, New Medicine) came up with the string arrangement and played bass.”

“The song is about opening yourself up: believing in who you are, but also being a bit vulnerable,” continues Hoke to Glide. “The line “All that I want is your love..” is my take on Brown’s “It wouldn’t be nothing without a woman or a girl.” As strong as I am, I still need you. That sort of mood. Mojo and vulnerability in a minor key. Dex played a killer guitar solo, too, and the strings add some sorrow and sweetness to the proceedings. A 1970’s style soul/blues ballad for the modern man (and the woman he loves).”

 

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