Read this and tell me it doesn’t sound familiar:
“It’s 100+ outside and you are sitting on a gridlocked freeway, surrounded by bumper stickers expressing various levels of belligerence and you ask yourself, “How did I get here?”. You know how you got there. “Texas Rock Bottom” is about coming back home and feeling like a fish out of water.”
Going back home during college was always surreal — new businesses replace long-loved ones, and your favorite coffee shop just randomly disappears. I was only 3 hours away, but Joe Knight, the lone member of the band Rangers, sings about a distance much longer, and about more than just new businesses in your home town.
“Texas Rock Bottom” highlights Knight’s return to his hometown of Dallas, TX after spending four years in San Francisco. It’s clear there’s a lot of emotion here, and how that transition was difficult. But the single also has a bit of a dark humor to it that I love. At one point, Knight sings “I bet you everything I own, a tornado comes tonight, and wipes the slate clean,” which comes right after he sings about almost hitting a deer with his car. Knight’s monotone delivery of these lines work really well with that humor.
Keep an eye out for Texas Rock Bottom via Baked Whale Media.
