Americana Highways brings you this premiere of Justin Howl’s song “I Must Confess” from his forthcoming new bluesy album Wanderlust.
Justin Howl writes the most authentic rootsy songs with the most authentic old-timey instrumentation. “I Must Confess” is a song of eternal devotion with harmonica and guitar driving the infectious energy with tambourine embellishments. Give it a whirl.
The song is about a man who must confess to his lover that she’s “the only one, and there’s no contest,” a confession he’s willing to broadcast publicly. “Sweet baby,” he pleads, “don’t be upset, you know I’d put us in the news and on the internet.” The listener gathers that the singer’s lover is reluctant to believe his confession, and she suspects that he has another lover, and so she’s thinking about leaving him. “And if you leave, it’s gonna make me cry,” he says, “and I’ll be sad and lonely till the day I die.” After the instrumental bridge, which marks the passage of some time in their relationship, we learn that indeed she has left. But despite her leaving, the singer promises in the final verse, tragically, that he’ll always remain true to his confession: “You’re still the only one and there’s no contest. And since you left I just sit and cry, and I’ll be sad and lonely till the day I die.” — Justin Howl