From the UK to Berlin, the Alternative/Folk Singer/Songwriter Charlie Grant releases an endearing piece straight from the heart with his latest single, "Wide Open."
The urge to create and release his own music has always been apparent in Charlie Grant's life, and after working as a songwriter for hire with various musicians, he finally found a sound that's near and dear to his heart.
With his latest release, "Wide Open," Charlie Grant tells an incredibly romantic and heartfelt story that puts a warm smile on our faces. We're able to hear more of a Country-infused sound through this single, as the bright banjo and background percussion offer this organic flair, which inevitably provides this humbled and down to earth space.
"Wide Open" begins with warm acoustic guitar picking and Charlie Grant's soothing vocals, setting the atmosphere to be rather lighthearted and easy-going, especially through the introduction's minimal instrumentals.
Listening to Charlie Grant's lyricism, he begins telling a story of being used to locking away his emotions and hiding them far from the surface, that was before meeting someone who changed this and broke him "Wide Open."
Reaching the song's hook, the instrumentals stomp down with punchy electric guitar power chords, added acoustic guitar, banjo, and a shimmering whistle.
Ending the track on a high note with nothing but heart and soul, we're genuinely mesmerized by the entire experience Charlie Grant has offered.
We love each and every aspect of the single "Wide Open," and we feel nothing but warmth and chills from Charlie Grant's passionate performance and the spacious instrumentals.
Hello Charlie, and thank you for joining us at BuzzMusic to discuss your latest release "Wide Open." We're genuinely mesmerized by your warm and tender single, "Wide Open." What inspired the song's deep and passionate concept? What pushed you to create an endearing piece like this? Thanks for the kind words about the song. The lyrics were inspired by a speech I saw an older man give at a wedding. He spoke about how hard it can be to truly open yourself up to another person, to let them really see who you are, good and bad, and how great the rewards can be if you do. He described being truly emotionally honest and present with his wife as if it was his greatest achievement, looking back on his life. I found it very touching, especially considering the toxic ideas around masculinity a lot of men have grown up with. The song was written very quickly, in around half an hour right at the end of a day spent working on another song with my friend Jez Ashurst. We felt right away that it had something special so I knew I had to get it out there. Seeing as your music tends to fall under Alternative and Folk, why did you want to capture this Country element within the instrumentals of your single, "Wide Open"? I love Country music, as a songwriter and fan of great musicianship and storytelling in songs, it’s a genre that is so deep and rewarding to dig into. It felt really natural to go for the sounds we used in the recording, I knew I wanted it to have a sort of innocence about it and a feeling of space. To me, part of the strength of the Country music I like best, artists like Kacey Musgraves for example - is that it has an emotional honesty about it. I wanted Wide Open to have that too. What did your songwriting process look like for "Wide Open?" Are you used to opening up and being so vulnerable when writing a heartfelt piece, especially like this single? As I said before the song almost wrote itself, it kind of just appeared out of nowhere. I think it’s always powerful when you feel like an artist is being brave somehow, taking a risk with the music or with the lyrical side of things. It is harder when you feel kind of exposed and vulnerable as a performer, but those moments can build an amazing connection with your audience. It kind of reflects the lyric of the song, being brave enough to let yourself be really seen.
Especially these days when we’re all feeling the pressure to present a perfect, exciting and successful version of ourselves on social media, the real and more complicated people that we are left to rattle around in our heads in isolation. It can get pretty lonely if you don’t get to connect and be your imperfect self with the people you’re closest to. We've noticed that you tend to create conceptual stories when writing your songs. Are all the stories you create true? What themes do you often cover in your music? They are all based on my experiences or things I’ve observed. Sometimes something simple like coming across a letter from my first girlfriend while looking through an old box can be developed into a bigger story that goes beyond what’s actually happened in my life, like in my song “Love Letters.” So yes, I’d say they are all drawn from my life even if it’s just the initial inspiration. Lately, I seem to write a lot about regret and wonder if you’ve missed your chance at something. Also, the battle to overcome anxiety and the urge to self-sabotage that seems to trouble a lot of creative people, myself included from time to time. My song “Whatever Your Heart Desires” touches on that. What has been keeping you inspired in 2020 and what can we expect to see next from you? It’s been a tough year to focus on everything that’s been going on and I’ve spent a lot of time just being a dad to my daughter which has been amazing but doesn’t leave much time or energy for songwriting. I’ve been loving just hiding in my home studio and having fun playing guitar, learning classic rock solos, and tinkering around with gear. I have an idea for an instrumental rock side project called “Lockwood Towne and the Hollows” - finally making good use of my weird middle names.
Hopefully, the first release will be early next year. Another project with my friend Jonathan Kluth called Spirit Animal Kollektiv will be releasing a single called “Diving for Gold” on November 27th featuring an amazing artist from New Zealand called Chester Travis. I’m currently doing some stripped-down “covers” of songs I’ve Co-written, that have been released by other artists like Melo Moreno and Michael Patrick Kelly. People always ask if I ever feel bad about “giving away” songs and the answer is no because writing songs is what I do for a living. But occasionally I feel a strong connection to a song and want to do a version myself, so that’s what I’m doing. The first of these will be out before Christmas.
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