According to Jeremy Garrett of The Infamous Stringdusters, sometimes you gotta “let your hair down and just have a good time.”
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At least that’s what the world-class fiddler was exploring when he wrote his newest tune, “Good Times,” which drops on February 26. Co-written with longtime collaborator, Jon Weisberger, the tune is an infectious little ditty with a loose, up-tempo feel, spotlighting Garrett’s skill as a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter.
“We weren’t trying to change the world with this song,” Garrett told American Songwriter. “We were shooting for writing a ‘good times’ song and this is what we came up with. Originally, we had the idea to do some kind of ‘cocktail hour’ song, something super chill and laid back. Jon and I came up with lyrics that anyone can probably identify with. From my perspective, the song is about working incredibly hard and loving what I do… but everybody—including myself—needs a break from time to time to just get down and have some fun in their life. Life seems sweeter to me when you can take the time to do that.”
While Garrett noted that it sometimes takes him days or weeks to sculpt an idea into a full-fledged song when he writes alone, the session with Weisberger for “Good Times” only took a few hours before the tune was really cooking. From there, Garrett traveled to Crossroads Music Studios in Asheville, North Carolina to lay the song onto tape with engineer Scott Barnett.
“We recorded it loosely to represent how I may perform this song live,” Garrett explained. “When I play live, I live-loop sections of songs on the guitar and mandolin and jam on fiddle or sing over it. This one is mainly built around the guitar and I jam some fiddle loops over the end. When I’m not doing solo stuff, my main band is The Infamous Stringdusters and I’m known for being the ‘fiddle man’ and singer. It’s fun to share with the fans that I play other instruments, including guitar and mandolin—I even add beats when I perform live.”
Joined by Prisca on harmonies and Jason Hann from the String Cheese Incident on percussion, Garrett’s love for music and passion for life lights up “Good Times.”
“I just wanted to lay down a feel-good, new bluegrass type song,” Garrett concluded. “The song is just what it is—a laid back, cocktail hour, bluegrass-y, good time type of song. Perhaps it’s an anthem for ushering in the ‘good times!’ If you take anything away with you from this tune, I hope you can hear that in the track and I just hope you dig it.”
Listen to “Good Times” by Jeremy Garrett below:
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