Seth Mulder & Midnight Run – photo © Laci Mack
Rebel Records has shared a first look at Coming On Strong, their upcoming album for Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, with a debut single, Looking Past The Pain (The Cowboy Song).
While bluegrass music has a number of cowboy songs in the repertoire, we don’t see a lot of new ones these days. Looking Past The Pain, written by Seth Mulder and Seth Waddington, is about an old cowboy who is set to retire. It’s a trope that could be found often in western films from the 1950s and ’60s, when nostalgia for the open range provided a ready audience.
Mulder, who grew up in North Dakota where the cowboy life still endures, said that he reached back to his childhood in writing this, when he spent time around horses and those who rode them for work.
“I wanted the song to feel personal and unique, and the best way to do that was to draw from my own experiences with a touch of imagination. Once I had a solid foundation for the song, I knew it had potential, but I wanted it to be perfect. I reached out to my good friend Seth Waddington from The Waddington Brothers. He helped me refine it, giving the lyrics that old-school cowboy feel I was after.”
Supported by bandmates Colton Powers on banjo, Max Silverstein on fiddle, Chevy Watson on guitar, and Tyler Griffith on bass, Mulder plays mandolin and sings lead with vocal harmony from Griffith and Powers.
They turn in a proper minor key western bluegrass number that tells a compelling story of a man who feels that he’s leaving his life behind as he retires. And coming from this bunch, you know it’s played in a driving, traditional style.
Have a listen…
Looking Past The Pain (The Cowboy Song) is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
The full Coming On Strong album is expected in the spring of 2025.
