SONG PREMIERE: Prateek Keeps Rolling with Bouncy Roots Rocker “If You Want a Man”

With his heartbreakingly powerful voice and incisive lyrics, Prateek (pruh – TEEK) has been described as “Not just any guy with a guitar…” by The Boston Globe. When you hear his music, you’ll believe it too. Evolving away from the spare, Dylan-esque sound of his first EP, Prateek’s forthcoming full length ‘Til June, due out April 7, adds gritty electric guitars, silvery backing vocals, and a driving rhythm section, all in service of his tightly written, evocative songcraft.

Prateek has been a Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Finalist and has been nominated for Singer-Songwriter of the Year at both the New England Music Awards and the Boston Music Awards. His music has seen rotation all over the radio including Sirius XM, 98.9 WERS, and 92.5 The River.

Today Glide is premiering the heartfelt Americana tune “If You Want a Man,” which switches tempos and time signatures to make for a warmly compelling listen. Indeed, the song jumps from a quieter folk sound to more of a rambling roots rocker and back to a honky tonk-influenced sound. This is a lot to pack in during four minutes, but Prateek executes it naturally and one can only imagine how a tune like this would keep a live audience on their toes as they eagerly waited to see where the band would go next. By the time the band gets to a blistering and twangy guitar solo intertwined with barroom boogie piano, it’s a full on party.

Prateek describes the inspiration and process behind the tune:

“If You Want a Man” was the last song I wrote for the album and came about in an interesting way: Sean (McLaughlin, the producer) challenged me to write a song that used different time signatures in the verse and in the chorus, like Jason Isbell’s “Palmetto Rose.” “Palmetto Rose” starts out as a blues-rock shuffle and then goes into a waltz for the chorus, so I had the idea to flip that around and make it a waltz in the verse and a barnburner in the chorus. Took an existing lyric fragment I had kicking around and wrote the rest of the song in an afternoon.

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