Sean Harrison – “Ghosts of the Old Wire Road”
Americana Highways is hosting this video premiere of Sean Harrison’s song “Ghosts of the Old Wire Road” from his forthcoming album Ghastly Love (and other dubious tales), which was co-produced by Sean Harrison and Darren Novotny.
“Ghosts of the Old Wire Road” is Sean Harrison on lead vocals, acoustic guitars and piano, Darren Novotny on drums, John Davies on fretless bass guitar, Bayard Blain on bouzouki & mandolin, Scotty Henderson on pedal steel guitar, and David Ervin on keyboards.
This is more than a song, it’s a historical narrative. The music is earthy and subtle. Terms like “rustic” and “authentic” run the risk of being overused, but not in this case: this song truly is both rustic and authentic. And the music is spacious with pedal steel, harmonica, mandolin and a buildup cinematic effect while staying fully grass-rootsy at the same time. Ten centuries of very different folks passing by on a road using widely different methods and for various reasons, the tale is a history lesson as well as a perspective on life of the Trail of Tears, telegraph lines making way for utility lines, “and I’m just passing through the same space in a different time / I know that in the end this is their place just as much as mine.”
I was very surprised by how this song turned out. When I wrote it I figured it to be a simple acoustic folk song, a simple story, like a historic documentary in song-form. But when I took it into the studio, the co-producer Darren Novotny had some good ideas and we started experimenting. The song transformed into this big, dramatic, or as he called it, ‘cinematic’ sound with its somber opening, slow burn, and final climactic build into the outro. It became one of my favorite songs on the album. And I know it is an unusual song to release as a single – but I’m not afraid of doing unusual things. I feel like it’s the kind of song that reveals new details with each listen. It’s got some density, and it represents the rest of the album quite forcefully. – Sean Harrison
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Video Premiere: Sean Harrison “Halfway From Nashville”
Find more details and information here on his website: https://www.seanharrisonsongs.com/
