“I had $3 in my bank account but I thought, ‘I’m working on Tuesday, I’ll be ok. Then the tornado hit and that didn’t happen.’” Last year, Kashena Sampson had plans in place for her new album Time Machine, but then — well, life happened.
The Nashville-based singer-songwriter had already finished her forthcoming album — an 11-song journey through her struggles with co-dependency and finding herself, illuminated by a voice that harkens back to a time when Linda Rondstadt and Fleetwood Mac reigned supreme — and then her path shifted, as did that of so many other musicians over the past year. A singular part of her story, though, is that Kashena also funds her music through a bartending job at The Basement East, which was destroyed by the March 2020 tornado that hit Nashville just a few weeks before the pandemic did.
Time Machine was recorded in February 2019 with producer Jon Estes, who played bass, piano, cello and organ on the album, and with whom she also worked with for 2017’s Wild Heart. They tracked everything to tape over two days, along with Jeremy Fetzer on guitar, Jon Radford on drums and Elizabeth Estes on strings.
It’s been a little more than a year since Kashena Sampson’s life shifted, since her plans changed, since she re-grouped and found a way amidst incredibly difficult circumstances. If Time Machine is Kashena discovering her own resilience, its release may just be the strongest example of doing just that, on her own terms.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for “Whole Lot Better,” (PRE-ORDER) a driving anthem of self-assuredness, celebrating new beginnings. With a spunky groove and guitar, Sampson layers in her 70s folk-soul vocals as she rambles about and assures herself that everything will be alright. Bringing to mind Dusty Springfield but with more soul, Sampson keeps the good vibes flowing as she dances around her yard and croons with abandon. Of course, there is plenty of rocking to back her up and make this one hell of a fun tune.
Sampson describes the inspiration behind the tune and the process behind the video:
I had just moved into my very own place for the first time in about 8 years. I could finally afford my own spot and it was GREAT, that’s what the song is about. The song is about what was happening at that time, it just came to me, I wrote it in an hour. We filmed the video at my house — it co-stars my dog Otis — and I wanted to make a feel-good video that went along with the vibe of the song, that also showed a little of my day-to-day over the past year. Adam Jones directed the video, and I produced it.
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Photo credit: Laura Partain
