As if I couldn’t love this song any more…
From Kip Moore’s phenomenal 2017 Slowheart record, “Guitar Man” is one of the best songs on the tracklist that, for me, is one of those rare, no-skip collections of songs you always hope for from any artist you’re a fan of.
It’s certainly a soul-baring moment, to say the least, where he details some of his deep thoughts and feelings on life trying to make it in the music business.
Written by Kip along with frequent collaborators Westin Davis and Dan Couch, he told CMT during album release press that it was inspired after he watched a guy play in a bar that reminded him a lot of himself in his 20’s:
“Guitar Man” came from actually watching a guy in a bar, and it just took me back to being that guy for so many years.
That’s how that song came about, was drawing from someone, remembering my life and the people that were a part of my life at that particular time.
I think that’s the most honest, autobiographical song. It displays all the vulnerabilities of what you’re feeling in the midst of chasing after a dream.”
He added that, for a long time, he felt stuck living in a garage apartment just scarping by while his friends had big corporate jobs, were getting married, buying houses and having babies, which was a mighty stark contrast to his own life:
“I definitely felt those insecurities into my late 20s, living in a garage apartment and barely making my rent while my other friends were building their 401Ks, having babies and houses with white picket fences.
You have all those insecurities of feeling like a loser. But you still continue to dream and you fight. It kind of exposes all those elements.”
The feeling of disappointment from failed expectations is something I think we can all relate to, and because the studio version is over five minutes long, we get a really detailed, beautiful and poignant picture of the reality of this business a lot of the time.
And while this Paste feature is filled with tons of great acoustic performances of songs from the Slowheart record, there’s something about “Guitar Man” with a stripped-back production and hearing the gritty, rugged inflections in his voice that make it so authentic and believable.
In the world of mainstream country, songs like this are so necessary and it’s a work of art in every sense… and his acoustic performance just kicks it all up one more notch:
“Guitar Man”
