From Virginia come Starlett & Big John, with a new single from their current project with Rebel Records, Living In The South.
It’s a bluesy, waltz-time number the two of them wrote called The Ties That Bind, but twisting that phrase into its inverse, for when romance dies.
Starlett Boswell, who sings the lead, said it came to her as organically as one could imagine.
“The song came to mind after I left church, where we sang Blessed Be the Tie That Binds. As I was around the house humming it later that day I picked up the bass, started playing that traditional groove, and thought ‘the ties that bind, they must have come loose,’ and it went from there. I sang and played the first verse and chorus for Big John at our next practice, and it was finished at our very next studio session!”
Big John Talley says that his input into the song was very much from a Larry Sparks direction.
“The story behind this was that we wanted to write a traditional song with a Larry Sparks feel to it, because we just love the feeling and delivery that only Larry can deliver. We worked on it at a songwriting session and finished it up while we were recording, the whole time continuing to ask ourselves, ‘What would Larry Sparks write and sing… if he was a girl?'”
Talley plays guitar and sings harmony to Starlett, who’s on bass, supported by Johnathan Dillon on mandolin, David Carroll on banjo, and Ron Stewart on fiddle and harmony vocal.
It makes for a fine heartbreak song about a woman who lets the stars in her eyes blind her to what was right in front of her face. Check it out.
The Ties That Bind, and the full Living In The South album, are available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers will find all the tracks via AirPlay Direct.
