Die Young Demo

Hola,

Today I am writing about my demo for my song Die Young.

In bullet points:

• Die Young is one of the last songs I wrote for Little Wide Open.

• My friend Caleb kept joking that I should put his name into one of my songs and so I called his bluff

• I was wanting to write something that felt in the same universe as a Gillian Welch song

• I think in some ways I was also wanting to write a response to Katies song Right Back To It.

• This song sort of walks the line between being a love song aimed at one specific person while also a different kind of love song aimed at bunch of different people from throughout my life.

• I realized as I was singing this song recently in Joshua Tree that a big influence on the subject matter were the firsts tours I ever did with my band Creepy Aliens, when I was 17 years old.

• Creepy Aliens was my highschool punk band fronted by my good friend Griffin, who, in a lot of ways, is responsible for a lot of my good taste at a young age. For example, I believe it was he who turned me onto the Silver Jews and David Berman, who I namecheck in this song!

• Creepy Aliens toured in an old van that our friend Chris had bought. The van had a rusted metal floor with holes in it that we’d drop our cigarettes out of.

• I began writing this song during a soundcheck at Parc Du Chateau in Mayenne, France. That initial demo of me capturing the melody on stage is below the paywall, dated at 6/29/2024

• Second demo is also below, dated 7/25/2024 and is titled “Die Young Sweetheart”. It has a whole other alternate verse.

• I then finished writing this song at my home studio in Kansas City around a year or so later before eventually taking it to Aaron and cutting it for good. That home studio version below!

ENJOY! Xoxo

A few other things: I am still on tour!

Also my friend Caleb, who I mentioned above, was my second guest on my I Ride Passenger Series which just came out.

ALSO I have gotten into the candle business and I have a candle out in collaboration with Earl of East called ALL SINNERS. I concocted the scent myself and I think it’s quite wonderful if I do say so.