Americana Highways brings you this premiere of Doug Hoekstra’s song “Wintertime,” from the new Doug Hoekstra album, The Day Deserved, due out April 30, 2021. The Day Deserved will be followed by a new short story collection, Ten Seconds In-Between (Better than Starbucks press) in June, 2021.
“Wintertime” is Chris Benelli on drums and percussion; Jimmy Bowland on saxophones; Dave Coleman on lead guitar and organ; Hannah Fairlight on vocals; Doug Hoekstra on rhythm guitar and vocals; and Paul Slivka on bass.
The video is by Max Hall and Glenn Hall (Maximum Effect Productions, Atlanta, Georgia), and was filmed in various locales in Alabama and Tennessee. Take a road trip through nostalgia and the timeless Southern countryside with “Wintertime” and its hopes for a better tomorrow.
Winter as a metaphor, ala “Winter in America” by Gil Scott-Heron or “Winter’s Tale” by Shakespeare. This song was inspired by a Nashville-Alabama drive, past miles of cotton fields, dark history rising to the present, in time to the ever redemptive power of music, especially sweet soul music. Sanctified. Beyond the layers of commentary woven throughout the lyrics, the song stands as a tribute to all the great R&B artists I love so much. — Doug Hoekstra