Song Premiere: Town Mountain "Comeback Kid"

Song Premiere: Town Mountain “Comeback Kid”

October 3, 2022

Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins

Asheville, N.C.-based bluegrass outfit Town Mountain are prepared to release their new project, Lines in the Levee, on Friday, Oct. 7 via New West Records. The group’s 11-track project, which is their first since 2018’s New Freedom Blues, showcases a contemporary understanding of the honky-tonk vantagepoint and alt-country attitude that was born in Southern Appalachia.

Lines in the Levee was produced, mixed and engineered by Justin Francis, known for his work with Kacey Musgraves, Orville Peck and Anti-Flag, at Ronnie’s Place in Nashville, Tenn., and features Miles Miller on percussion. With a defined back bone from both skillful production and rhythm, Town Mountain – comprised of Robert Greer (vocals and guitar), Jesse Langlais (banjo and vocals), Bobby Britt (fiddle), Phil Barker (mandolin and vocals) and Zach Smith (bass) – are able to stretch their limbs on Lines in the Levee – seamlessly blending their wide-ranging influences from the Grateful Dead to Chuck Berry and The Band to Townes Van Zandt; amalgamating genre and cultivating individual bandmember’s visions and tales.

Today, we primere “Comeback Kid” off Lines in the Levee, a highlight off the album that sees Town Mountain present their grit and heart through a story of struggle with the self, the buisness and emotional vulnrablitly. The song showcases a defined shared understanding between the bandmembers, both musically and personally.

“‘Comeback Kid’ is a tune about the struggle of finding your way through the music business. Overcoming the doubts people have in you, the doubts you have in yourself, and dealing with the mental struggle of putting yourself and your art out there every night, emotionally exposed. How too often you can let your ‘self worth come down to the number of people who paid to see the show that night,” Town Mountain’s Barker shared with Relix. “It can be a super humbling experience to say the least. And how do you cope with the stage fright of not feeling worthy after a few of those shows? Were the doubters right? How do you make a comeback? Reach down deep. Me personally, I fucking love this song. It’s one of my favorites that I’ve ever written, and I hope it connects with anyone out there fighting and hustling for something they believe in.”

The song comes with a video directed by Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard, which provides a visual of their kinship and bond thats developed for over a decade, through a boxer training and fighting, getting beat up and knocked down but ulimately stands back up again.

“When Phil approached me about the concept behind the video and being the boxer, I was 110% in!,” said Smith. “This song means a lot to all of us, being musicians who ‘step into the ring’ every night on stage and sometimes walk off stage feeling like I look at the end of the video: BEAT UP! I think the video really captures the spirit of song… going up against the big, daunting music industry giant and giving it your all, never giving up the fight because you believe in yourself and your art. It was a really awesome experience.”

Town Mountain will kick off their Lines in the Levee Tour with two album release performacnes on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at the historic Station Inn in Nashville and on Thursday, Oct. 6 at The Burl in Lexington, Ky. Find the full tour dates and tickets here.

Pre-order Lines in the Levee here.

Watch the video for “Comeback Kid” below.