When heavy metal and country music collide.
This collaboration between country music’s Cody Jinks and Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton makes a lot of sense. Morton, who plays lead guitar for the band Lamb of God, wanted to dive into more of a southern rock sound on his upcoming solo album Without The Pain. Cody Jinks, who has a background in the heavy metal genre prior to his successful country music career, is always happy to revisit his roots.
A match made in heaven if you ask me.
This new project, set to release in April, is chock full of country collaborations, including the likes of Travis Denning, Jaren Johnston (of The Cadillac Three) and Jason Isbell, along with Cody Jinks. Morton is a talented musician in his own right, and the help he’s getting from that list of artists with Without The Pain could make him more of a household name in the southern rock world.
Mark Morton feels really good about the song “Brother,” in which he collaborated with Cody Jinks. As he tells the story, the heavy metal musician came up with the base of the song first, and then took it to Cody Jinks and Travis Denning for a Nashville writing session second:
“On a long bus ride, somewhere in the middle of a LAMB OF GOD tour, I scribbled some lyrics down in my notebook. Sometime after, having paired them with a simple chord progression, I presented my idea to Cody Jinks and Travis Denning during a writing session in Nashville. Three hours later, we walked out with ‘Brother.’
‘Brother’ is a deeply personal song that speaks directly to the theme of family separation and estrangement. I have learned through observation and my own lived experience that it is a universal and all too common phenomenon. We all poured a lot of ourselves into this song and I’m grateful to Cody for singing on it with me. I hope you’ll enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.”
Let me tell you… listening and enjoying “Brother” is not an issue.
I can’t think of a better voice to be put behind the lyrics and the story this song tells than Cody Jinks. Morton’s stellar, sharp-edged guitar playing (and killer riffs) sets the pace while Jinks’ powerful voice keeps the heart-wrenching family retrospection moving right along. As Morton noted, the song tackles the pain that can come from being estranged by and from family, and the verse and chorus below tells that story loud and clear:
“Brother brother, why you hide?
Can you look your mother in the eye?
Do you feel ashamed when you speak her name
Or are you high on your petty pride?
Brother brother, why you hide?
You be Cain and I’ll be Abel
You’re the only one keeping score
It turns out if you turn the table
You’re worse off than you were before.”
It’s a back-breaking track with heavy metal, southern rock, and sad country tones. In other words, there’s a little bit of everything in it for everyone to enjoy, and Cody Jinks and Mark Morton prove to be a dangerous musical duo.
Morton revealed that the pair hit it off immediately:
“Cody Jinks is a world famous, incredibly successful Outlaw country artist. But if you ask me, he’s just as punk rock as he is country. The first time Cody and I spoke, I instantly recognized a kindred spirit.
His own trajectory to success; spending years in clubs making little to no money, climbing up through the ranks with little to no radio airplay and releasing music that was deemed commercially unviable, looked very much like my own story. Cody lives and breathes his music, a trait which I respect and admire.
As so often happens, in the process of creating music together, Cody and I have built a real friendship.
I’m thrilled to be releasing a song that we wrote and recorded together.”
Oh, and the accompanying music video is the definition of cinematic. Two guys with first-team-all-American beards walking through the snowy, mountainous landscape of Durango, Colorado? What more could you want?
You can check out the new song “Brother,” which will be featured in Morton’s upcoming album Without The Pain, by pressing play on the link below:
