Americana Highways brings you this premiere of Izzy Heltai’s song “Songbird” from his forthcoming album Father, due to be available October 9th. Father was produced by Sophie Buskin; engineered and mixed by Andy Cass at Sleeper Cave Records in Williamsburg, MA; and mastered by Mike Tierney at Shiny Things Studios. Album photos are by Joanna Chattman with album design and layout by Jake Klar. “Songbird” is Izzy Heltai on guitar and vocals; Sophie Buskin on vocals; Micah Katz-Zeiger on bass and electric guitar; Garret Salazar on drums; Joel Helander on piano, Wurlitzer and Rhodes; Rebecca Branson Jones on pedal steel and Matthew Tornton on cello.
Izzy Heltai has the contemporary indie folk vibe nailed down perfectly. With a song that has both widespread appeal on the pop edge and layers of musicality, “Songbird” is one not to be missed. Here’s to sleeping in our cars.
I spend a lot of my time on the road, playing wherever anyone might listen to me. Whether or not this is the most strategic move for my career is yet to be determined, but I can say I have a lot of fun.
As aforementioned, I end up sleeping in my car a decent amount and am no stranger to the luxuries a Walmart parking lot can offer when on the road.
I was in Pittsburgh one night in early June. At this point, I’d been touring for about a month and a half and was pretty drained. As a rule of thumb, many of us road trippers, car campers, or just plain ole’ masochists know that it’s Walmart’s common practice to allow overnight parking for the purposes of a good night’s rest.
This was the night I learned it’s apparently not a nationwide policy.
Thankfully, the security guard who found me, cozied up in my sleeping bag, half-awake and reading a book by flashlight, took pity on me and gently encouraged me, while profusely apologizing, to try the abandoned parking lot adjacent to the one I was currently in. I thanked her and went on my way.
I woke up the next morning with this melody in my head. The lyrics came pretty quickly, and after about an hour this song came into existence. — Izzy Heltai
Find more here: http://www.izzyheltai.com/home