Singled Out: Joe Rian and the AM Drinkers' Midwest Boy

Promo photo courtesy NoVo

Joe Rian and the AM Drinkers released their new album "Midwest Boy" earlier this year that featured two versions of the title track. To celebrate we asked Joe to tell us about the song and the distinct versions. Here is the story:

When you write a song and finally get it recorded, it's like the song's official birthday; you get a song to a point where you think "Hell yeah, that's how that song should be."

But as time goes by, it's not where the song should be. The song itself kind of has a mind of its own.

Think about it; sure, you can play that song the same way over and over and over, but is that where the song wants to go? When you take the song out around town and play it away from a hyped up show or to a captivated crowd, it may like to be heard a different way.

I tend to close my eyes when I play stuff and think inside the song. Listen to the words and chords and sometimes, most of the time, the song moves around on me.There's no rules when the band isn't around. In the case of "Midwest Boy," we have a band completely fired up playing it like it was riding on the back of a dirt bike with the back wheel kind of spinning in the gravel or something.

When you take that same song out to a quiet place where the mood is maybe relaxed and intense on an acoustic level, it just kind of tells me "slow down." Let's dig in here a little. How does that black dirt really feel under your feet? Maybe we need to be quiet and slow, sneak around a bit with the lights off; get some speed and then kill the bike a 1/4 mile away so you can sneak your girlfriend back home and not wake up her dad.

Songs continue to evolve and change after their official birthday. In the case of "Midwest Boy," when it was time to record the acoustic version for my fans, it moved to place better suited for an acoustic experience.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself below

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