“This is the story of what life is like for those of us somewhere in the middle of it all. It’s about the journey to get to this point, and the giant question mark-shaped path we’re following onward from here. Of how even the best-laid plans for your next big step have to so often be altered because life calls,” singer-songwriter Drew Kennedy says of his new album, At Home In The Big Lonesome. Released today, the 11 tracks find the husband and father in familiar territory, though he ventures into his most complex musical territory to date.“To be honest, I got tired of waiting for somebody to sing to me on the radio,” Kennedy said. “I kept wanting to hear someone tell a story that I could relate to at this moment in my life, but I couldn’t find it. So, I figured I’d sing it myself.”
No Depression premiered the Dave Brainard-produced album, which features layers of strings, lively percussion and lush piano pop. On At Home In The Big Lonesome, Kennedy evokes sharp images and strong emotions, casting characters including old men, devoted lovers and nostalgic loners to tell the album’s stories. West Texas skylines and the people who dot them are captured in “Open Road,” which PopMatters called “a picturesque Americana track.” The exhilaration and possibility of young love is punctuated by toe-tapping keys and crisp cymbal crashes on “24 Hours in New York City,” which premiered with American Songwriter. The Boot premiered moody “Cream and Sugar,” chronicling an unexpected spark. Walt Wilkins’ “Walnut Street” closes the album, and marks Kennedy’s first-ever inclusion of a cover on one of his albums.
Kennedy regularly finds himself at the same intersection, contemplating the selfishness of being a musician while wanting to remain a selfless father and husband. He’s often doing what he loves while who he loves most is 1,000 miles away. There is no doubt his family’s influence is weaved into the fabric of At Home In The Big Lonesome, along with that same conflict. In the middle of the first day of recording in Nashville, Kennedy’s wife Holly went into labor with their second child at just seven months pregnant. He made it home to help welcome his son into the world, but complications arose that required a 37-day stay in a Level IV NICU. The songs felt different then.
“We had to change quite a bit of our game plan for what was to become the record that will forever be exactly as old as Oliver because, quite simply, a life ended up changing what this record would become.”