Somewhere Between The Secret And The Truth buzzes like a neon sign
By Preshias harris
Wade Bowen is back with a new album titled Somewhere Between The Secret And The Truth, with twelve tracks co-written by Wade alongside writers such as Eric Paslay, Lori McKenna, Randy Montana, Heather Morgan and more.
He premiered the album – playing all the tracks with a full band – at a pop-up album release show August 15 at Analog in Nashville’s Hutton Hotel. Before the show, Wade and I sat down to catch up with what’s new in his world and how he dealt with the pandemic that brought his (and everyone else’s) touring to a dead stop.
Initially, he told me, the shutdown and the terrible circumstances that surrounded it hit him like “a punch in the gut.” It caused him to go into what he called a writer’s drought.
“I felt I couldn’t write a song because I didn’t know what to say or how to say it or why,” he admitted. “I couldn’t make sense of it all.”
However, he came out of it and says that he started writing a lot. “I think that shutdown helped me to just stop and focus on what matters, and I came out of the other side with a brand new sense of self and a brand new sense of my career and what I wanted to do and what’s important in my life. I think you can hear that in my new stuff, specially with this new record.”
Between The Secret And The Truth demonstrates Wade’s respect for ‘90s country, but this project definitely isn’t a throwback tribute: it’s Wade’s traditional country for the 21st century.
Tracks such as “Burnin’ Both Ends of the Bar” tell tales of love lost and numbing the pain with one more drink. But the fun is back with the uptempo party songs “Honky-Tonk Roll” and “She’s Driving Me Crazy.”
Wade is joined by Vince Gill on “A Guitar, a Singer and a Song,” with Gill adding backing vocals and acoustic guitar, plus taking lead vocal on a verse.
Wade wrote “Guitar” with frequent collaborator Lori McKenna. Due to the Covid shutdown, Wade turned to Zoom for songwriting sessions. He told me that, at first, it felt a little weird being on a screen with someone, rather than writing together in the same room.
“Once I got used to it, I fell in love with it,” he said. “Like with my friend Lori McKenna and I. Lori lives in Boston and I live in Texas. It was the perfect way for us. We’d written together before, but we hadn’t written a bunch because getting our schedules together is a nightmare. So being able to hop on a Zoom and talk about our kids and our friendship and then also happen to write a song” was an ideal solution.
With the new album, Wade also took on the role of producer which, he feels, helped him have control of the project. He noted that he has always been a ‘hands-on’ artist with previous albums, and he likes to be the one who has the final say on a project.
“I knew what songs I wanted and I felt I had a pretty good grasp of what the songs were going to do. Then it was just a matter of getting the right guys around you, the right band and making that come to life,” he said. “I was really nervous producing on my own but with a lot of great help and a lot of great people around me I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to doing it some more.”
The album’s title track, also written with Lori McKenna, was added after the project was apparently already finished. But then he knew he had to add “Secret” to the album.
“I knew I had to get the song tracked and I knew I had to finish it out,” he said. “I had to bring everybody back in just to record that one more song. I’m so glad I did. and I’m glad it’s the title track.”
Wade believes that the song not only sums up the album, but “Somewhere Between the Secret and the Truth” sums up country music. “It sums up our lives,” he added. “We’re all constantly searching for what we want to reveal to people and what we don’t. When we’re going to tell people the truth and when we’re not. I think we’re all stuck somewhere in between there, for better or for worse.”
Play/download/stream Somewhere Between the Secret and the Truth from all leading digital services here. Tour info, music, merch and more here. (@wadebowen)
Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com