Kevin Jaggers is doing the Nashville thing — scoring songwriting credits and gigging around. But that hard work is paying off on the new acoustic version of his song “Gettin’ Good at Gettin’ By.” The son of Sonora, KY, Jaggers cites pop country singers like Eric Church and HARDY as major influences, but this newest single has some grit to it — and there’s a reason for that.
“When I got out of the vocal booth, I was sweating like crazy, red in the face, I was just mad! It was like it happened all over again,” he explains. “I had to pace around for a bit, and my girlfriend at the time and [producer] Bill [McDermott] were asking if I was ok, and I was just like, ‘Yeah, just need to calm down for a minute.’ But it needed that emotion.”
There’s a reason the song is so raw: it was inspired by the dissolution of Jaggers’ engagement.
“I wrote the song by myself, and it is truly just my raw feeling about how people were talking about me in my small town after I called off my engagement. It’s a small town story, ya know? You go through a breakup, and then it seems like everyone and their mother has something to say about why it ended.”
There’s some true spleen-venting here, especially when Jaggers shoots off “I hear more lies about me than I hear about God in church.” But the impassioned harmonies and furious strumming serve to blunt the sharpest edge of those lyrics. Overall, Jaggers conveys a complex story in that most classic of formulas: three chords and the truth. And that’s the real Nashville thing.
“Gettin’ Good at Gettin’ By (Acoustic)” will be available on all streaming services Friday, 7/21. You can pre-save the track here.
Really good song. It tells the story about how everyone knows how your life is going better than you do especially in a small town. He’s got a great country sound with a new school of young artists and I hope he does well!
Great song all around. You have some great lines In lyrics. Your voice is so powerful but gentle too. I pray you will find the right one to make you happy cause that is all that matters in life.
His voice is so amazing, and you can hear the well written words of the song so much clearer.