The genesis of folk-rock outfit Divergent began in Iowa, where James Richards (guitar, keys, vocals) and Mike McAlister (bass, vocals) forged a creative partnership as young teenagers, cultivating a love for music and performing.
In high school, they formed a four-piece cover band, Chautauqua Road Band. When they went to separate universities, the band faded, and the reality of adult life took hold, pushing their music to the back burner.
Almost 40 years later, they reunited the Chautauqua Road Band, bringing in James’ brother, Paul Richards, on drums and vocals. After an eight-year run of playing classic rock covers, the reunited Chautauqua Road Band came to an end, and James, Mike, and Paul decided to continue, focusing on original music.
Divergent recently unveiled the music video for “Runnin’ Free,” the title track of their debut album. It’s a song about the passion and resilience of rebellious young love.
We caught up with Divergent to talk about how “Runnin’ Free” finally came together, the takeaway from the video, and their creative process.
Americana Highways: What three things can’t you live without?
James: First and foremost are my wife and family. They make my world go round and inspire me to live life to the fullest every day. Second, is the freedom to think independently and to draw my own conclusions about the world around me. Third, is the creative process of making music and the endless pursuit of crafting iconic songs with the ultimate goal of drawing people together for the betterment of humanity.
Mike: The three things I can’t live without are:
- My family, which includes our pets. Family is what got me this far, and it is the reason for doing what I do, professionally and otherwise.
- My health, which is sort of redundant, I know, but without being healthy and able to do the things I want to do, life would be very difficult.
- Music. I love to listen to all kinds of music, and I feel very fortunate to be able to play an instrument or two. It’s also how I express myself artistically, and I need to have that outlet.
AH: Can you share the inspiration behind “Runnin’ Free” and the creative process involved in bringing it to life?
James: The song is deeply personal for me, as the inspiration came from the love story between my wife and me when we first got together. We had obstacles we had to overcome to run free together. Everything worked out, and we have never looked back. We’ve been running free together for 30 years! The beauty of the song is that it can be applied to many situations in life when intense decisions need to be made to attain the personal freedom to become your true aspirational self. I came up with the chord progression of the song nearly 20 years ago. I liked it so much, I played it over and over, and it just stuck in my brain. I tried several attempts at writing lyrics for it with no success. So, I set it aside for the longest time. This was during a period in my life when I was coming up with a lot of song ideas but felt no pressure to finish them since I wasn’t in a band or recording. It’s not unusual for me to keep song ideas in my head for a long time before they become full songs. For example, one of the songs that we recorded for our second album earlier this year contains a piano riff that I came up with when I was 16 years old. I finally connected it to another song idea I had, and then it clicked. For me, ‘Runnin’ Free’ finally clicked in my home studio one day when, for some reason, I decided to extend the chord progression into a chorus. I started scatting random words over the chorus, and when the words ‘runnin’ free’ popped out, I knew immediately that would be the theme of the song. Those words totally resonated with the music, and I quickly wrote the rest of the lyrics around the theme of personal freedom. After all those years of being a great song idea, the finished song was completed in a single afternoon!
AH: Who directed the video and where was it shot?
James: The video was directed by Aaren Neely of Cvrkle Media. He’s based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and was recommended to us by our producer at Sweetwater Studios, Jason Peets. Aaren came up with the idea to shoot the video in Studio A at Sweetwater Studios and to make it look like we were playing in a live recording setting. He came up with all the lighting and camera shots. We played through the song three times so he could capture different angles and spotlights, and then he put everything together in the finished video. Aaren is great to work with, and we were really happy with the final product.
AH: What do you want people to take away from “Runnin’ Free?”
James: I hope people take away that you always have the power deep inside yourself to make the decisions that are in your best interest to attain your personal freedom. Don’t ever give up and give your personal freedom away or let someone take it away from you. Don’t be afraid of what other people think about you, and don’t give your true life away. Be strong and be yourself!
AH: How did you get started in music? What’s the back story there?
James: I first became enamored with the guitar when I was a toddler. I can remember watching my grandfather and my uncle playing guitars together before I could even talk. I called the guitar a ‘do do’ because I thought that described the sound it made. Fast forward a few years, and I had a childhood friend who was learning to play guitar. I thought that was totally cool. So, I asked my parents for a guitar for my twelfth birthday. My mom learned along with me to help me get going. For a while, she could play more chords than I could. I’m a very competitive person, so I quickly caught up and surpassed her. She always told me that she would consider me a guitar player when I could play ‘Blackbird’ by the Beatles. I started writing songs on guitar when I was 14, and I’ve never looked back. A couple of years later, my father brought home an old, beat-up upright piano that he had bought at an auction. I immediately started working out chords and blues runs on it, and then started writing songs on it. That old piano added a completely new dimension to my songwriting. To this day, I do all my songwriting on guitar and keyboards.
Mike: I had my first piano lesson when I was 10 and took lessons for a few years. When I was 14, our 8th-grade music teacher got enough guitars together so we could all learn some chords and play a few songs. My folks bought me a few inexpensive guitars, and when I was 15, with my bandmate James’ encouragement, I got a Fender Music Master bass (short scale), and James and I began playing songs together. James had a few originals we played, and then we started a cover band that eventually got us to our high school cover band, which was called Chautauqua Road Band. CRB played many high school dances and other events in the mid-70’s and that’s when we knew this was what we wanted to do.
AH: Did your sound evolve naturally, or did you deliberately push it in a certain direction?
James: I think our sound has evolved naturally and is a combination of the talents that each of the three of us brings to the table. Paul is a naturally gifted musician and a very musical and rhythmic drummer. He can also swing really well and groove tightly in the pocket. He plays to the song and adds fills and rhythms that enhance the song and help bring it to life. When I’m writing songs now, I find myself leaving spaces here and there where Paul can add fills that fit his style of drumming. Paul also sings the upper harmonies in a lot of our music. I love the timbre of his voice in the upper registers, and it blends well with mine. Mike is a great bass player, and I love how he thinks independently and brings his own style of playing into our music. He constantly comes up with bass riffs that I never would have thought of when I was writing the music. He’s sneaky good that way. I also love how he studies each song and actively thinks about which bass to use and what tone to go after to best fit the song. Lastly, he’s a very dedicated musician and is always looking for ways to improve his playing and grow musically.
Mike: The sound of Divergent evolved and continues to evolve naturally, which I believe is one of our strong suits. We are a very democratic band in the sense that we all bring our ideas together and work through them to our collective satisfaction. Even though James is the primary songwriter, when we create the song, Paul brings in his talents as a drummer/musician/singer to the song. I live 1000 miles away from James and Paul, so they send me ‘demos’ of the songs, which are usually a guitar, drums, and vocals recording, and I create the bassline. James gives me the freedom to create the bassline, and it may or may not be what he had in mind. It all comes together when we ultimately rehearse the songs a few days before we go to the studio. Since there are only three of us in the band, we all must hold up our part of the song from an instrumental perspective. Vocally, we enjoy the ability to layer vocals in the studio to get the desired sound.
AH: What can you share about your writing process?
James: I tend to do most of my writing in binges, when I have a block of time to seriously focus on it without distractions. I always have a head full of ideas to draw upon when I’m in a songwriting binge. Plus, when I’m in a binge, the more I write, the more ideas I have. It tends to feed on itself. I think I’m always unconsciously seeking stimulation that will foster my creativity. I try to keep a very open mind to anything that might surprisingly stimulate me. The keyword is surprise. If something surprises me, it stimulates me more. That’s why I try to find off-beat movies or documentaries or art or anything creative that surprises me and leaves a strong impression on me. To me, that’s leaving yourself open to creativity. I believe you need to have an open mind to let ideas flow through you. That’s why sometimes I like to write early in the morning before my mind gets cluttered with daily distractions. This is when my mind is totally open and free to new ideas. The whole idea is to find what works best for you to keep your gate of creativity open. I usually write the music first and the lyrics second. That’s because musical ideas tend to come to me more easily than writing lyrics. So, my process is to let the music speak to me. Then I randomly scatter words over the music until a word or two pops out that resonates with the music. Once I have that, I usually know lyrically the direction I want to go in. I tend to like to write stories with my lyrics or at least impart a meaningful underlying theme. It all depends on the music. I don’t like to be serious all the time. Sometimes it’s just fun to rock out with a hard-rocking tune where it’s all about attitude and less about the lyrics. It’s fun to diverge in different directions. That’s why we call ourselves Divergent!
AH: Which do you enjoy the most: writing, recording, practicing, or playing live?
James: I enjoy all of it, but I really enjoy writing the most. I like starting with a blank slate and the opportunity to create something meaningful from nothing. I like that feeling of endless possibilities.
Mike: From my perspective, recording has been an amazing experience. I think the process of bringing everything together to produce the ‘masterpieces’ of music we get from the studio is the most enjoyable aspect of being in Divergent.
AH: Knowing what you know now, if you could go back and start your music career all over, what would you do differently?
James: Looking back from where I am now, I wish I could have had the chance to tell my younger self to believe in myself and to have more confidence and not be afraid to take risks. I wish I had taken 2-3 years after college to explore my musical creativity and to realize who I wanted to be as a person.
Mike: Personally, I would have taken music theory classes and worked on being a better musician early on. Knowing now that I’m able to make the quality of music I make with Divergent was probably within me from the beginning, it raises some ‘what-if’ questions. If I were a Music Major in college instead of a Microbiologist, what would my life look like now? It’s hard to say whether I’d do anything differently, but what I do know is that I feel blessed to be able to work with James and Paul to create amazing original music at this point in my life. It’s all good!
AH: If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
James: If I could change anything, it would be to figure out how young musicians can earn a living wage as artists and entertainers. The music industry has always been tough, but what musicians get paid today has certainly not even come close to keeping up with the rate of inflation over the last four decades. Somehow, something needs to change.
AH: What’s next for Divergent?
James: We’re going to be really busy in the months ahead! Over the next few weeks, we’ll be continuing to promote our music video for ‘Runnin’ Free,’ followed by more promotion for our next video for our song, ‘Not Until It’s Right.’ We’ll be in New York City in mid-November to do some media and promotion. Then, in January 2026, we’ll start releasing singles off our second album titled ‘Rev It Up.’ We’re planning to release four singles and then the full album of eight tracks after that. Then we’ll be back at Sweetwater Studios later in 2026 to record our third album. We can’t wait to create more new music!
Discover more about Divergent here.