End Of The Road

What inspired the song? 

I’m sober myself in a twelve-step program and I remember that fork in the road when I hit bottom—and in recovery, I’ve seen many others arrive at it. Some choose recovery and some choose death. The bottom is in many ways the foundation of recovery. It’s a critical feature, and I wanted to bring that specific feature to life.

Is there a significance behind the song title?

It’s about hitting rock bottom and having nowhere else to go. It’s about being in a place where none of the tricks that got you into this mess work for you anymore.

What is one key point that makes this song unique?

The metaphor—the end of the road—coming to life and acting as the narrator of the song.

Can you share an interesting story about the songwriting or recording process?

The song made a long journey to get to where it is. I originally wrote it as a kind of road trip song, full of the imagery of tumbleweeds, rusted Coca-Cola signs, deserted towns that have no names, abandoned filling stations and yellow lines. It was going to be just a metaphor for life - the road as a metaphor for the journey we’re all on called existence. But it felt flat to me - lacking dimension. I go on long walks every morning to work on lyrics, and I try to open myself up to what the song is telling me it really wants to be, and from somewhere this idea of the end of the road, instead of just the road, hit me, and immediately I knew - now that’s interesting. There’s not a single work from the original song that survived to this version other than “road.”

Stylistic production choices?

The song has a high-lonesome sound. You could hear Johnny Cash singing it. We tried to evoke the feeling of the end of this road. So it’s got a beautiful distorted pedal steel guitar, an eerie, very simple banjo motif, a deep-throated cello lying underneath, a simple, hypnotic acoustic guitar, and it’s sung very, very close to the mic - and very quiet. The narrator whistles off the end of the song - he doesn’t have a care in the world - again, he’s impartial. This is the situation you’re in. How do you want to handle it? Is it going to be acceptance or resistance? Grace or defiance?

Favorite lyrics?

“I’m everything you didn’t want to face - the day-to-day, the human race. I’m all the empty space you want to fill. I’m the silence and the still.”

“Pleasure to meet you Joe. I’m the end of the road.”

Core Themes

I like writing about the existential dilemma. I’d love to write a peppy upbeat pop song, but something always draws me to the melancholy, the dark, the outcast, but I hope in doing that I’m able to, ironically, shine light on it.

How does this song make you feel?

Grateful. Grateful that the end of the road came and talked to me.

Moods?

Lonesome, eerie, unnerving.