Jeff Daugherty – photo © Rebekah Speer
Dear John, the new single from singer/songwriter Jeff Daugherty on Huckleberry Records, offers some deep insight into a difficult subject.
The song was written as Jeff was dealing with the sudden and unexpected passing of a close friend and musical colleague, Pete Mergard. While working through all sorts of thoughts and emotions, Dear John came to the surface.
Daugherty says that what started as an exercise in grief turned into something that has not only kept Pete’s memory alive, but served as a boost from the other side.
“When somebody dies, nobody really tells you what to do with all the conversations you still have left to have with them. You still think of things you’d tell them. You still hear a song and think, ‘Pete would love this.’ You remember some stupid joke and instinctively want to call them. And then you remember you can’t.
I wasn’t trying to write a song about death. I think I was trying to write a letter, and somehow, that gave me permission to say the things I hadn’t gotten to say.”
Dear John became an important song in Jeff’s career, winning the John Hartford Songwriting Competition in 2014.
“So, in a way, Pete’s passing took something away from me and then, through this song, gave something back.
And maybe that’s the closest thing any of us get to sending a letter to somebody who’s gone.”
First recorded it in 2015, Jeff brings it back now in a bluegrass version with Mike Bub on bass and Jake Clayton on fiddle. Daugherty plays guitar and mandolin, and sings the lead vocal, with Jereme Brown and C.J. Lewandowski singing harmony.
Have a listen.
Dear John is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via Get It Played.
