In early 2020, Micah P. Hinson almost walked away from his music career. The esoteric Americana / folk singer-songwriter – who divides his time between Texas and Spain – had released ten critically acclaimed albums and built up a loyal fanbase (particularly in Europe), yet he felt trapped and deeply depressed.
“It hit me that all I was doing was writing about my previous relationships and situations, and that meant I had nowhere to go,” Hinson says. “How can you progress as a human being into the future if all you’re doing is writing about all the shit that chains you to the past?”
The COVID-19 pandemic’s onset was something of a blessing in disguise, as it gave Hinson the time to reflect and recalibrate. He vowed, from then on, to only write about things happening to him in the present – but first, he would gain closure by reworking and recording all of the remaining older songs he’d been saving from the previous twenty-five years. This approach utterly revitalized him, prompting him to create I Lie to You (out December 2nd via Ponderosa Records), his eleventh studio album, where he takes the listener through one final look back at his remarkable life story so far.
While Hinson has earned much acclaim by creating songs about his past – and no doubt I Lie to You will continue this tradition – it will be fascinating to see what he creates now that he can move on, free from all the things that had been weighing him down for years.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the track “Carelessly” and its accompanying lyric video. The song is a mournful work of delicate and orchestral folk that finds Hinson reflecting on the experience he had with a partner having an abortion. With lush and textural strings backing the simply strummed guitar, Hinson channels his inner John Prine as he offers a humble and poignant perspective on an issue that is once again in the spotlight.
Hinson describes the inspiration behind the song:
“This song, Carelessly, was written half a lifetime ago- I was a young human and I pinned this after my girlfriend, at the time, and I found out she was pregnant. And, being young humans, we took measures that, at the time, we had little understanding of: she had an abortion. Only in the form of a song was I really able to get down my emotions and thoughts on the matter. It hung on my neck heavily, as it would to a human raised around The Cross. and, though, it felt heavy at the time, as it certainly was, as i grew up, I realized the reality of such a situation and came to terms with that reality. And, standing here now, half a lifetime later, it stands for me as a monument to pain and decisions and morality and humanity and, lastly, it is a monument to a place where humans have the ability to be humans and the ability to make decisions that best form their lives, which, in the times, and place, I am standing in now has become more of an impossibility. It has become something wrapped around a book, and wrapped around a flag.”
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One Response
This song is incredible. I always can count on Glide’s taste.