Americana Highways brings you this song premiere of Michael McDermott’s “Sometimes When it Rains in Memphis” from upcoming release Orphans, produced by McDermott. “Sometimes When It Rains in Memphis” features Michael McDermott (vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, piano, omnichord, harmonica), Will Kimbrough (electric guitars), Lex Price (bass) and Fred Eltringham on drums, with Heather Lynne Horton on vocals.
“Sometime When it Rains in Memphis” is a lively musical ballad with McDermott’s gritty vocals sending chills of mournful reflection down your spine. It’s a tale of abandonment supported by soaring vocals and melodies of light.
I lived in Memphis in 1995/96. It was a time of great excitement for me. I was recording a record with a great batch of tunes. I had a great team. My label was super excited as were we all. Memphis is the kind of city that can corrupt a man of weak moral fiber…..I guess any city can do that really. Memphis and I hit it off like one of those wild passionate love affairs that burns so brightly, that it burns out rather quickly. There were a lot of high hopes around that record. When it wasn’t received well and didn’t take off the way we all thought it would. I found myself filled with shame. I began to isolate myself from those people, the people I loved, from my family, and went into a bit of a downward spiral. Then of course there was the time that girl set my hotel on fire and I had to hire a private investigator, but that’s a story for another time. Memphis lives on inside my head. Those heady days of drink and drugs, earnestness and excess, romance and recklessness and a collective dream that we were on the precipice of something beautiful….only to fall, into an existential abyss. — Michael McDermott
Pre-order the album here: https://www.michael-mcdermott.