Chad Harvey is a true American original born in Evansville, and raised in nearby Lynnville—that’s Southern Indiana to the uninformed—just down the highway from Indiana’s most famous musical export, John Mellencamp. . . an artist to whom Harvey has been compared. However, Harvey is far from a knock-off, Harvey delivers his self-penned emotive stories with an inimitable whiskey-stained voice.
A gifted writer and performer equipped with a six-string Gibson and a Midwestern drawl, Harvey also sports rough and tumble good looks reminiscent of a young Elvis Presley and a cool swagger that calls to mind another Hoosier native named James Dean. Through his songs, he says what he means and means what he says.
On one cold winter night, a pivotal moment happened, Chad tuned in to Austin City Limits to watch John Prine perform; and on the same show he discovered an artist who would help guide his musical direction: Todd Snider. Considering this a sign, Harvey picked up and moved to Austin to walk the same Texas soil as his heroes and to develop his own songwriting chops and performing skills.
Through Snider, Harvey was introduced to the Texas music scene that included Jerry Jeff Walker, Jack Ingram, Guy Clark, Chris Knight, Billy Joe Shaver, Charlie Robison, Bruce Robison to name a few. Chad proceeded to play every honky-tonk, voodoo haunt, and BBQ joint with a makeshift stage on the same trail blazed by Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt years earlier including being a regular at the prestigious Kent Finlay’s open mic night at Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, TX.
Chad Harvey eventually moved back to Indiana to record his first full-length effort, Get Lit, backed by an amazing cast of supporting musicians including Mellencamp-alum Dane Clark on drums, GRAMMY®-winner Lloyd Maines on steel and three-time GRAMMY®-winner Larry Franklin on fiddle. The end result was an astonishingly cool slice of Americana. Get Lit was released in 2008 and broke into the Americana top 100 and Chad toured extensively throughout the southeast and Midwest supporting the release.
On the heels of the successful release of Run From The Sound (2020, Indie 500 Records), which made its way onto the Americana Top 100 chart, Chad Harvey continues the momentum with “Get A Leg Up,” his new single, set for a September 18 release via Indie 500 Records. At his core, Harvey is a heartland rock leaning singer-songwriter so it’s a fitting song choice. The song-—penned by John Mellencamp and released on his Whenever We Wanted (1991) album—came across Harvey at a young age. “Mellencamp’s Whenever We Wanted album is my favorite of his and ‘Get A Leg Up’ was the lead single,” says Harvey. “The record came out when I was a teenager and I loved it!”
Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of the single “Get A Leg Up.” Inspired by stripped-down production and in-your-face guitar riffs, Harvey decided to take “Get A Leg Up” into another dimension by arranging it as a duet with female soul singer Alaina Renae. The result is a gritty, searing roots rocker that brings together Rolling Stones bravado with a soaring blues and soul sound. There is an explosive energy to the music that is amplified by Renae’s vicious vocal power, and the interplay between her and Harvey gives the song a free-flowing conversational feel in between the tight, catchy choruses.
Harvey describes the process behind the song:
“I started working on the song and we tried a few different styles including more of a roots-rock feel. However, I missed the edgy guitars that was in the original. We ended up keeping it similar to the original. With the song being similar, I wanted to do something to make it different. So, I was like let’s make it a duet. That is when Marc suggested soul singer, Alaina Renae.”
LISTEN:
