There’s a song off Luke Grimes‘ latest album that he says isn’t meant to be performed in front of people.
We’re all familiar with the power that music has to evoke emotions. A certain song can take you back to a specific time in your life. A melody can act as a reminder of a lost loved one. And for Luke Grimes, there’s certain tracks that are meant to be put out into the world… but never played again.
The Marshals actor released his sophomore album, Red Bird, back in April, and he described it as a very cathartic and deeply personal project. When he talked more about it in his recent interview with Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, he said the record as a whole was an effort to be more vulnerable with his music:
“It’s definitely a more vulnerable approach to try and put something beautiful into the world. Especially when I think people were probably expect me to do something a little more masculine. There’s sort of like these flavors that you are supposed to put into your music if you are a certain type of person. We were just like, ‘Let’s not do any of that.'”
Grimes credited Grammy-winner Dave Cobb, who produced the record, for inspiring him to change things up, and it was his guidance that pushed Grimes to share something with the country music world that felt more honest. The artist says that came naturally, just because of where he finds himself in his life right now:
“I had just had a baby, and have this beautiful family. If they weren’t on this record, it would be false. There’s also a lot of loss on this record. Sometimes within the same song, there’s this beautiful aspect of my life and the loss too within the same line.”
The country singer lost his father in August of 2022. He’s previously talked about how that loss acted as motivation to chase his music dream, and in Red Bird, the reflection on that loss comes through in many ways… most notably in the song “A Little More Time.”
Grimes says that song in particular was hard to get through in the studio, and he strongly doubts that he’ll ever play it again:
“In ‘A Little More Time,’ there’s a line about whenever I see my father in my son, I feel like I’ve got a little bit more time with him. That line is very beautiful, but also sort of heartbreaking. It was hard to spit out, honestly. It was hard to sing.
I don’t think I’ll ever sing that song again, because I just… it’s not meant to be performed in front of people. It was meant to be a cathartic moment for myself. That song was hard to get through.”
Once Luke Grimes got through it, he felt as though the version that exists on Red Bird is the only one that should. “A Little More Time” was a cathartic release for him, and evidently a one time release at that.
You can hear more from Luke Grimes in his interview on Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, which is hosted by Joseph Hudak:
