“Our stories are where we meet. They are the crossroads of human experience,” journeyman singer-songwriter Doug Levitt says describing part of what he’s learned since setting out more than 12 years back with nothing but an initial six-week Greyhound pass, a beat up Gibson J-100, a copy of Woody Guthrie’s Bound for Glory, a country to cross and an American story to tell — one about life from the margins in. “But more important, I see now,” he says, “we share our stories to know we’re not alone.”
More than 120,000 Greyhound miles on from that first tour — with stops along the way playing in everything from prisons, VAs, and shelters to the Kennedy Center and Woody Guthrie Center, and Martin Luther King’s church — the result is the lush, expansive and moving opus that is Edge of Everywhere, produced by legendary multi-Grammy-winning producer/engineer Trina Shoemaker.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the standout track “Cold Comfort,” a sweeping and poignant work of rootsy Americana that brings to mind the likes of Jerry Joseph, Chris Stapleton and The Black Crowes. Levitt allows his soulful vocals and vividly autobiographical as well as observational lyrics shine, backed by soundtrack that is simple yet lush with its combination of acoustic guitar, piano and a steadfast beat. It also captures a side of America not seen by many. For those not hip to Levitt, “Cold Comfort” makes for a perfect introduction.
Levitt describes the inspiration behind the song:
“‘Cold Comfort’ is a song that speaks to the wide range of vices that one finds on the bus, people getting over one, through one and while it says ‘another shot of cold comfort,’ there are many other reliances that have been central to people who travel by bus. Often it’s the vice most drawn upon in the wake of a breakup.
There are people like the petty thief Tony Rhodes, who, facing a breakup found himself back on heroin and near the verge of death. There’s Edward who having smoked weed in the face of a breakup ended up violating parole and going on the run. I had been through a hard breakup with a fiancee before I set out by bus. So in some ways it’s that energy. I woke up on the wrong side of myself again. Sometimes it’s a matter of days. Sometimes it’s a matter of going our separate ways. And so also on the bus are people relocating after a breakup, and who doesn’t know that feeling of another shot of cold comfort. It’s a cold comfort, not the comfort of connection. It’s not the comfort of others. It’s the way you always bring me around for bringing me down.”
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