Tipps & Obermiller – “Buckle Down”
Americana Highways is hosting this premiere of Tipps & Obermiller’s wintertime seasonal song “Buckle Down.” This song was produced by Taylor Tatsch and is part of a double release with the other song produced by Jana Pochop.
“Buckle Down” is Steve Obermiller on vocals and acoustic guitar; with all other instrumentation and background vocals by Taylor Tatsch.
Sometimes it seems we go directly from summer to winter, both actually and figuratively: “Autumn isn’t over, but winter just blew in. Better hurry now, better hurry, no time to worry, just buckle down.” That’s what this song brings to the surface, as a reminder that in a way, we long for the steady, in-between times, without highs or lows in temperature or in emotions: life’s springs and autumns.
Steve explained the song: “The previous Fall in Texas had not lasted long before a cold snap rolled in. It essentially went from a hot, long-running summer in late October to what we normally experience in mid-January overnight. The leaves had barely had a chance to change before they fell to the ground and the trees were laid bare. I thought of how this might affect our family friend’s farm in Minnesota where we get an annual invitation to go pheasant hunting. After the song was written, I sent the lyrics to the son who manages the land to confirm the story’s accuracy regarding planting times and such. He replied, “That exact thing happened to me this year, so I would say it’s accurate.” Special thanks goes out to the Voigt family for their love, friendship and inspiration for “Buckle Down.”
About the “Double” they are releasing, Steve says: “When we initially made the decision to release Complicated Boxes and Buckle Down as Winter “doubles” (as we call them), we wanted to run the experiment of having someone each take on the full reigns of production with our work. Our previous recordings have been a mixture of self-produced with some production help from others that just included talking about overall instrumentation for the projects. Looking towards the future, we wanted to have the experience of listening to established voices for the visions of our songs, and working with them to create something we have never done before.”
“We chose artist and producer Jana Pochop to produce Complicated Boxes for her ability to weave dreamy soundscapes through a song. This fit perfectly with this melancholy Christmas tune.”
“As for “Buckle Down,” I went down to producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist Taylor Tatsch’s studio for a day. Taylor has produced some of our favorite records, and we knew his ideas would take this song to new heights. We are so grateful for Jana and Taylor’s stellar work to make these songs into the beautiful creations you hear today.”
Enjoy our review of their recent album here: REVIEW: Tipps and Obermiller “MacGuffin”