Miles Gannett doesn’t sit still creatively. The Louisiana native, who now calls Maryland home, hears the seamless character of all music, blending and balancing strains of bluegrass with psychedelic folk textures, classic country phrasing with the propulsive notes of acid rock, and earthy blues with spectral ambience. His inventive lyrics marry the probing meditations of Jason Isbell with the story-song style of Townes Van Zandt and John Prine and the lilting rhythms of Willie Nelson.
Gannett’s songwriting grows out of a lifetime of listening to and playing a broad variety of music. “My dad was a guitarist and a songwriter, and he’s had a huge influence on me,” says Gannett. His father bought him an “old, junker guitar” when Gannett was 7. “I’d already been walking around the neighborhood singing ‘La Bamba’ at the top of my lungs,” he laughs. With that first guitar, Gannett learned one chord at a time, and once he learned one chord, he would write a one-chord song, he recalls. By the time he was 12, he asked his father for an electric guitar: “he told me he would buy me one when I learned to play the leads of ‘Purple Haze,’ ‘Johnny B. Goode,’ and ‘Pinball Wizard,’” he laughs. Gannett got his electric guitar, and he eventually started playing in bands and writing and recording his own songs.
He put together a group called Fractal Cat in early 2011, recording three albums of original music with them and building a reputation on Baltimore’s airwaves and live music scene. After meeting up with recording engineer/producer Frank Marchand (Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, We Banjo 3) to record his rock band Fractal Cat, Gannett started working on his “first countryish album,” which reflects his deep love of progressive bluegrass and classic country.
The result is Meridian, due out April 16th, a dazzling debut solo effort featuring members of the Seldom Scene dobroist Fred Travers and banjoist and mandolin player Ron Stewart. Gannett’s warm vocals carry listeners on shimmering waves of pedal steel through various musical landscapes.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the album’s title track, a tribute to Meridian, Mississippi and the ways the town’s beauty shines even through its broken-down historic buildings. It’s a snapshot based on Gannett’s first chance visit to the town, trying to avoid a storm while en route to Nashville. Letting a wave of twangy pedal steel wash over you, the immediately captures the spirit and feel of small town life. Gannett reflects on decline of this small town and what its downtrodden state might mean in the grander state of life. With his everyman folk singer sensibility, he sings about the glory of what once was, accenting his acoustic strumming with a mournful fiddle and plenty of lonesome steel guitar twang. Balancing country, folk and Americana, Gannett makes a strong impression with “Meridian,” signaling to the world that this talented troubadour is ready to make a big splash.
Gannett reflects on the inspiration behind the song:
This was the last song I wrote and recorded for the album. The album production was already underway; I think there had been two or three sessions at that point. My wife and I took a trip down to see my hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana and hang out in New Orleans for a couple days. From New Orleans we were driving up to Nashville to visit some friends, and at the same time, there was a really bad storm system with tornado warnings moving up the coast. When the weather got bad enough, we decided to pull off to the nearest city to find food and wait out the storm, and the closest city happened to be Meridian, Mississippi. I didn’t know anything about Meridian at the time, but we parked at a restaurant in front of a statue of Jimmie Rodgers himself. We met some nice folks that night, including the country singer Daniel Houze, who invited me to sit in on his set. In the morning we drove around and saw all these beautiful buildings and old fancy houses that were all in disrepair, so I decided to research the history of the town, and that’s how the song came about. One thing that I thought was poetic, especially considering the state of all the old buildings from what’s referred to as the city’s “Golden Age,” was that the word meridian means “midday,” and by extension, it’s used to refer to the high point in a civilization. Anyway, I thought it was a beautiful place, and the people there were some of the friendliest I’ve met in my travels. I hope the people of Meridian will find my snapshot of their city favorable. It was recorded really quickly upon our return to Maryland and ended up becoming the album opener and title track.
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One Response
Miles, we are honored to be apart of this story. Meridian means so much to us. It is a beautiful city, with country music as its roots.