Nashville Folkie Maxwell Putnam Channels Early Leonard Cohen On New Single “Anna On 85”

Nashville-based folkie Maxwell Putnam has released the first single for his debut album Ode To A Tinhorn.

The song, “Anna On 85,” unfolds over gently fingerpicked acoustic guitar as Putnam spins a meandering, impressionistic yarn about a romantic interest who “quotes Lord Byron” and is “lustful to body and a danger to mind.”

The song has a decidedly early Leonard Cohen feel to it and even calls to mind “Suzanne” in its architecture.

Of the track, Putnam says: “This song is a portrait of a confession. And it’s all mixed up, ya know? He’s trying to outwardly explain, and inwardly organize, his feelings of lust and longing, and he’s getting it wrong. To me, that’s what makes this one, the difference between intention and result — the integrity of a fractured consciousness — and what that says about the nature of his confession.”

Putnam will celebrate the release of the album with a March 16 performance at the 5 Spot in East Nashville. Listen to “Anna On 85” below.