Love Someone

Love Someone

For more than two decades, Scotland-born, Canada-bred, and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Johnny Reid has used his rugged, dynamic voice and poignant lyrics to carve out a niche that resists easy categorization. That trend continues with Love Someone, a diverse collection that’s a little bit country, a little bit rock ’n’ roll, and a whole lotta soul. “Everybody keeps telling me we’re living in a singles world, but I’m a great believer in having an album that’s one piece—that sounds like it all belongs together,” Reid tells Apple Music. “I wanted to make sure the songs spoke to me regardless of where you may put them, genre-wise. The second thing was I wanted to cut the entire record in two days. It was really just putting a bunch of great musicians together, putting some mics on the floor, and trying to capture a moment.” The result is a 14-track journey filled with stylistic twists and turns, richly drawn characters, and affecting stories that feel equally at home in Nashville’s Honky Tonk Highway (“Hey Delilah”), Scotland’s Central Lowlands (“Pinstripe Suit”), and Bruce Springsteen’s notebook (“A Good Friend to Me”). Here, Reid narrates that trip, track by track. “I Owe It All to You” “I was thinking about my journey and my wife and I said, ‘I owe everything to her. Everything that I hold value in, whether it be my family, my children, my life, my career—everything, really—I owe it to her.’ And although it’s written as a love song, it’s a song of dedication, too. I wanted to put my heart out to all the people that gave me a chance.” “A Good Friend to Me” “When I first emigrated to Canada at the age of 16 from Scotland, it was pretty difficult. My guitar became a good friend to me. I could sit down and tell my guitar stuff I probably wouldn’t tell anyone else. I thought it was time to write a song about something that’s stood by me for a long time and tell the story of how we met.” “Hey Delilah” “I co-wrote ‘Hey Delilah’ with my piano player, Michael Shand. We were laughing and writing what started as a 6/8-type soul ballad. I was like, ‘What am I missing on this record?’ I needed a take-the-roof-off type of song. And ‘Hey Delilah’ just matched. It turned into what it became on the record because of the great musicians in the room.” “Have a Little Faith in Me” “As a musician, you’re always telling people, ‘It’s going to happen. It’s going to be good. It’s going to work.’ [John Hiatt’s] ‘Have a Little Faith in Me’ is one of my favourite songs of all time. I’ve always loved it.” “Pinstripe Suit” “My dad’s a working man. He doesn’t say much, but a few years ago in Scotland, he said, ‘When I leave, you make sure my tools are in that box with me. Don’t be burying me in a suit.’ I laughed, but he was dead serious. It just stuck with me. I just wanted to pay homage to the working man, the blue-collar man. My dad’s a pure Scotsman, so having the pipes in the song really brought it home. When he heard it, he got quite emotional. He’s harder than a coffin nail, but he got very emotional about it because he’s such a proud working man.” “Fold Your Wings” “I wanted to create something where my voice is the main instrument, and this seemed like a real singer's song. You've got to be able to sing a bit to be able to pull it off.” “One More Try” “I wrote this song several years ago when one of my uncles got himself in a wee bit of trouble. I was telling the story to a friend, and he said, ‘I bet you he's begging for one more try.’ It was funny: ‘Hey, just give me one more try’—a wee bit tongue-in-cheek, a wee bit of humour, which I felt the album needed.” “Old Black Mercury” “I wrote this with Brent Maher, an old friend of mine who produced the first few records. We hadn't seen each other for some time and he said, ‘Do you know how long it was since I left Vegas in that old black Mercury?’ It’s the story about how he came to Nashville. Loaded up this old black Mercury and drove across the country with his wife. Just two crazy kids. It's a song about taking chances. When you're young, there's no book.” “Beautiful You” “This one’s for my daughter. I told a friend once, 'From the moment I laid eyes on her, I was in love. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.' She's 11 now, but I think as time goes on, she's going to look back on it and know that she's loved and know exactly how I look at her. I just wanted her to know that it doesn't matter how she looks; she's beautiful to me.” “You’ll Never Be Lonely” “I wanted a couple of songs on there that just make people feel good. It wasn’t brain science; it was just leaning on the old soul songs that I grew up listening to and saying, ‘Hey, look, as long as I wake up in the morning, you’re not going to be lonely. I’m going to love you forever.’ Just a wee fun love song.” “Love Someone” “I was in the studio with the engineers after a session, talking about this guy who stands at the end of the street every day, asking for money. Before I knew it, I picked up a guitar, and they set up a microphone. This song is a call to action. It was like, 'Man, enjoy what you have. Roll your window down. Don't drive past that guy and assume the worst.' It's a song of forgiveness and understanding for people that might be living a life that they don't necessarily want to live.” “I’ll Be Your Everything” “This one's a Percy Sledge cover. I love soul music, and I love the message. I've made my career singing songs of dedication, devotion, and celebrating love, and I just thought to myself, ‘This says everything. I'll be your everything. I'll be there for you.’ [Backup singer] Bekka [Bramlett] wasn't able to record her vocals in time, so I said to my wife, 'Jen, can you sing it? I need a female voice. I know you can do it.' So, there she was. She loved it.” “Who’s Gonna Love You” “My mother was visiting one day and thought I didn't look well, so I went to the walk-in [clinic] to see what the story was. Long story short, I'm rushed to the hospital. My blood pressure's through the roof. It was the very first time that I thought about my mortality. I thought, 'What if something happens here and I don't make it through?' It bothered me. Later, I just started writing about it. It was almost too dark to sing about, but I just knew there was this emotion that I'd been trying to tap into: 'If I'm not here, who's going to love you?' It bothered me that I didn't know the answer.” “People Like You” (Acoustic Version) “I didn't intend to release this song. Later, I felt I needed to put it on a record, but I wanted to make sure that it was different because I wanted to maintain the sonic integrity of the album. We hung back after a session and just sat down and played it acoustically. It's got a home now.”

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