MIDLIFE PRICELESS - OUT NOW
EXPLORE THE SINGLES
“WANNA FEEL SOMETHING”
[Excerpt from American Songwriter article]
“Out of the ether,” Bryan says, “I wrote the first line of the song, ‘Tonight we ride again, just like we did back when we were best friends and it would never end.’ I wasn’t doing it intentionally but I liked the way it sang. When I read it back I thought, ‘Holy shit!’ We were getting ready to go back on tour – maybe that’s what I was writing about.”
With the inspiration of his extended reconnection with the band, Bryan wrote more. He filled out the verses of the new song. He wrote about the excitement and the eruption of the live audience at shows. He wrote about the thrill of taking the stage, seeing the swath of faces in the crowd light up in front of the band. He wrote about the comradery going through shows like this night after night engenders. At the end of the day, he and his band mates are friends, family. That matters most of all – it’s the origin of their magic.
“The squabbles we may have had in the past don’t matter once you’re out there doing your thing,” Bryan says. “Before every show, we do a toast to all our friends, living and dead. We all do a shot, or whatever. That’s become a really big tradition, so that’s in a verse of the song, as well.”
“EXPLAIN THAT TO A HEART”
“I’ve always wanted to write one with just two chords,” Phillip Lammonds said to me and Wyatt Durrette, right before he started picking the tasty little lick on “Explain That To A Heart.” Phillip also got us going on the concept of how when you really love someone, it’s hard to let go; “You can tell the rest of me why we fell apart, but how do you explain that to a heart?” It felt sadly comfortable to write on the subject, and ultimately I also emerged as my alter ego (‘Marquis B,’ if you will), rapping back to the guy singing the song.
The two-chord song was also really fun as a producer, knowing that you have to try different things with the arrangement in order to create dynamics. Matt Zutell got us started with a sick combination of live and sampled drum loops, and engineer Mikey Costanzo helped put together a bumpin’ track. Tim Nielsen from Drivin N Cryin played bass, and I laid down some funky Clavinet to go along with the guitar lick.” - MB
“A LITTLE MORE ROCK N ROLL”
“It was May of 2019. Hootie was about to embark on our first U.S. tour in over ten years, and we had just made our first full-length album in over ten years. Capitol Nashville decided a single for country radio would give us the best shot at getting played.
I immediately thought of my ridiculously talented friend, Steven Fiore from the band Young Mister. I’m a huge fan of the tunes that he writes for his band, but he also has this stealth ability to craft a perfect pop-country song. So I told him about the situation with Hootie, and Capitol, and he sent me the demo for ‘A Little More Rock N Roll.’ I felt an immediate, nostalgic warmth when I heard it. Capitol sent us some other songs, including a gem Chris Stapleton had written, ‘Hold On,’ and there was no denying it was a solid choice, but I couldn’t get Steven’s song out of my head.
In March of 2020, I started tracking for Midlife Priceless. I laid a couple of 12-string guitar tracks down for ‘A Little More Rock N Roll,’ and it was already special. I had my friends Tim Nielsen (Bass), and Matt Zutell (Drums) come over, and I played lead, electric guitar as we tracked along with the 12-strings. I felt like I should add lap-steel to the track, to try and mix a little twang in with the rock ’n’ roll we were creating. We put it through a Leslie speaker cabinet, and it just put this sweet icing on everything. It started to sound like a single!” - MB
“LET YOUR SOUL LIGHT SHINE”
[From Holy City Sinner article]
“This song is a call to lead with whatever spiritual divinity exists in that humble, husk of skin we call ourselves,” Bryan said. “Right before I turned 40, I was suddenly divorced, and facing an extended hiatus from the band I had been in since I was 18. It was a sobering experience, and I realized I had to figure out who I was beyond the roles of husband, and guitar player; to which I had vested so much of my identity. It was midlife crisis, and it was bigger than me”
“I sobered up for a while, went to church, met with therapists, journaled and read extensively. I came out of it with a strong realization that our purpose here is to serve, humbly, with whatever gifts the universe has so graciously bestowed upon each of us. I also learned that you will never find true joy through another person. The secret is to find it in yourself, and then you have something to share. I tried to dig deep in this song, to share what I had been through, in the hope that it might either help someone before it’s too late, or at least know that they aren’t alone if they’re going through it. The only option is midlife priceless.” - MB
“GOTTA GET OUTTA TOWN”
“This song was inspired by a young artist here in Charleston named Sarah Cole. I invited her to come and jam and write music one day, but she called me that morning and was so bummed because she had to work. Not even an hour later, she called back and said, ‘I can’t be here, I need to be there writing music. I just told my boss I had to leave.’ She was so passionate, it fired me up! In my mind, I could just see her speeding out of the parking lot to get here. And in the time it took her to get to my house, I had written ‘Gotta Get Outta Town.’”
MARK BRYAN + MIDLIFE PRICELESS
Midlife Priceless is the title of Hootie & The Blowfish guitarist Mark Bryan’s fourth solo album.
It’s also how he rolls.
Three years since the release of Bryan’s previous record, a lot has happened: His 20 million selling, two-time Grammy®-winning band got back together for a sold-out arena tour that meant as much to Bryan as it did to the fans that came out by the tens of thousands.
“Wanna Feel Something” is the new album’s first single for a reason.
Tonight we ride again
Just like we did back when
We were best friends, and it would never end
It’s right there.
Mark Bryan is about feeling something and making you feel something. The energy in the buildings around the country that rocked again with the songs that made Hootie one of the biggest-selling acts in music history, is all here on Midlife Priceless.
When Bryan gets to the guitar solo on “Wanna Feel Something,” it’s a done deal.
The album’s title draws a deep parallel, metaphorically, with a lyric from another of the record’s standout tunes, “Takin‟ A Ride,” a duet with Wyatt Durrette, writer of the #1 single “Beautiful Crazy” by Luke Combs and author of many of the Zac Brown Band‟s hits.
“Die young as late as you can”
It’s a beautiful statement. It’s a mission statement.
“That line speaks to the point I am in my life and why I’m still making music,” Bryan says.
Even before Hootie got back together to be met with love-filled venues as if it were the 1990’s again, Bryan was living this way. Through good and bad – especially bad – he was connecting with his youth, wonder, curiosity, and joy.
As defined, “priceless” is something so precious that its value cannot be determined. A record album has to provide value though, right?
One of the reasons that Bryan chose to lead up to the release of Midlife Priceless with a long string of singles is because so many moods and styles are represented. He thought to give ‘em a chance to shine on their own, in a different way than they do as a collection.
This might not be an auspicious plan for some artists, but Bryan’s track record dictates that he knows his way around a single.
In addition to “Wanna Feel Something,” the upcoming “A Little More Rock n Roll” is that song you’ll learn and sing along with immediately. It’s a nostalgic tune that must be looking with eyes in the back of its head because, like the entire vibe of Midlife Priceless, it’s so damn optimistic and full of hope.
“Let Your Soul Light Shine” takes a longer path to that place.
“It was like my identity, everything I knew over the past 20 years as Mark Bryan,‟ was stripped away from me,” he says about how the song reflects on a time in his life where his marriage was breaking apart and Hootie was on indefinite hiatus.
Even with difficulties in his home and career, Bryan’s enormous love for his children permeated his songwriting.
“The music was written separate from the melody, and when I put the two together, her name just fit perfectly,” he explains of the album cut “Madelynn Claire,” saying, “it almost feels like I’m calling out to my daughter, like a lullaby.”
“Growing Wild” might be more about Bryan’s other kids, Marlee and Kenny, who are both making their own forays into music.
Climb across the forest baby
Make your way across the land
Free fall off the canvas maybe
Only hold on where you can
I see you growing wild
Bryan’s strength through this period of his life, the love of his kids, and his songwriting, got him to the resolve that the title “Let Your Soul Light Shine” indicates. It’s like a mantra.
The follow-up single “Explain That To A Heart,” another song written with Durrette, and Phillip Lammonds, stakes that resolve and peppers it with reflection:
My heart won’t let go of you
I try and try to tell it to
You can tell the rest of me why we fell apart
But how do you explain that...
How do you explain that to a heart?
Bryan wanted “Gotta Get Outta Town,” the opening cut on Midlife Priceless, to be the last single to arrive before the album’s release, specifically because he felt it should come out in the spring.
Clearly!
The song has dirt flying out from under the wheels of a convertible from note one. Interestingly, though, the origin of the tune isn’t as simple as just jamming your foot on the gas.
“It was inspired by a young artist here in Charleston named Sarah Cole,” Bryan explains. “I invited her to come and jam and write music one day, but she called me that morning and was so bummed because she had to work. Not even an hour later, she called back and said, ‘I can’t be here, I need to be there writing music. I just told my boss I had to leave.’”
Bryan continues, “She was so passionate, it fired me up! In my mind, I could just see her speeding out of the parking lot to get here. And in the time it took her to get to my house, I had written ‘Gotta Get Outta Town.’”
This story is another example of how Bryan is living midlife priceless. So in his moment and finding those same precious moments with others.
Wanting to make you feel something.
As another lyric from “Wanna Feel Something” states:
Wanna make you feel something
A little better than usual
Don’t you wanna feel something
Honest and beautiful
Yeah, man, we do.
Midlife Priceless, the fourth solo album by Hootie & The Blowfish guitarist Mark Bryan arrives on April 2, 2021 preceded by the singles “Wanna Feel Something” (Oct. 30), “A Little More Rock n Roll” (Nov. 20), “Let Your Soul Light Shine” (Jan. 8), “Explain That To A Heart” (Feb. 12), and “Gotta Get Outta Town” (March 12).
