It doesn’t have to be complicated. Country music, that is. Love, on the other hand, is a Gordian knot of emotions and is often the engine for country music. On “Gramercy,” The Stubborn Lovers find that sweet spot of a country song that hits home with solid hooks and emotional complexity.
The Portland band reflects the musical backgrounds of its three members: bassist and songwriter Jenny Taylor, a New Jersey native whose love of Asbury Park’s finest musical export (The Boss, if you had to ask) is unabashed and shows in her attention to detail and anthemic sensibilities; singer/guitarist Mandy Allan, whose Tennessee roots ground the band in an authentic Southern style; and drummer Michael “Pearl” Nelson, a Pacific Northwest lifer with a storied history in jazz and rock. “Gramercy” touts it all: the sensitive jazz-inspired solos, weeping steel guitar, and a sax line that drives the song home.
“The song was written hile we were all living with the results of the 2016 presidential election and wondering just how big a dumpster fire the world would become,” Taylor explains. “It’s sort of about when you’re young and poor and everything sucks, but you’re so in love that none of it matters. The title refers to Gramercy Park, the Manhattan neighborhood where we first lived together—and let me tell you, when you’re young and in love in New York City, the world is magical despite any poverty or hardship. Ultimately, though, this song is about forgiveness and reconciliation, about how as you get older and the world starts falling to pieces around you, you want to reach out to people you once loved but have grown distant from, and pull them close to you again. Musically, I was aiming for some sort of cross between gospel and Memphis soul, but I’m not sure we got there—our complexions may be too pasty. Tell you one thing, though—Mandy summons all the Southern soul she can muster for the vocal, and she shakes the fucking rafters.”
The Stubborn lovers’ debut album Come a Reckoning is out now.
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