Wasted Words is the first single off of my upcoming Western Carnival studio album. The track began as a simple folk-style song about addiction and the inevitable vulnerability of being out of control. It was written on my back porch in Bozeman, Montana over a few cold and rainy Spring weeks.
In the studio, the song expanded in both meaning (my first guitar teacher and a dear friend of the Bozeman music community died of an accidental overdose while recording) and sound as we used the track to explore the synth-laced Americana idea. We start by cutting the silence with just my vocal and then add increasingly complex layers using acoustic (guitar, cello, saxophone, drums), electric (electric guitar, bass) and synth sounds (vocoder, lush synth pads) nearly to point of chaos until finally crashing back to the vulnerability of, simply, admitting - "It's me. Not you."
SINGLE CREDITS:
Released July 30, 2021
Recorded at The Shed in Bozeman, MT
Co-Produced by Jake Fleming & Justin Bigart
Written by Justin Bigart
Players: Jake Fleming (bass guitar, synths, saxophone, drums), Jesse Ahmann (cello), and Justin Bigart (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals).
Mixed by Peter Katis at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT
Mastered by Calbi/Fallone at Sterling Sound in New York, NY
Album art adapted from an original by Travis Walker