{"id":15321,"date":"2020-11-25T01:13:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T07:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garyhayescountry.com\/?p=15321"},"modified":"2023-09-03T20:08:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T20:08:27","slug":"mr-mac-leaphart-offers-wry-rugged-music-city-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyhayescountry.com\/?p=15321","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Mac Leaphart Offers Wry, Rugged Music City Joke"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MacLeaphart<\/div>\n
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Listen to “Blame on the Bottle” <\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
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Nashville-based, South Carolina-born singer-songwriter Mac Leaphart<\/strong>\u2019s upcoming album, Music City Joke<\/em>, offers his strongest batch of songs to date. The 10-song collection, set for release on Feb. 12, 2021, finds Leaphart at his very best: wry, rugged, and recharged, singing songs that conjure up memories of front porches, honky tonks, heartbreaks, and dive bars. Wide Open Country<\/a><\/strong> notes \u201cBlame on the Bottle,\u201d the album\u2019s lead single, \u201cchannels the humor and heart of folk heroes like John Prine and Hayes Carll.\u201d<\/p>\n

Produced by Brad Jones<\/strong> (Hayes Carll), Music City Joke<\/em> is a rallying cry from an artist who has spent more than a decade paying his dues and whittling his craft, joined by a team of longtime Nashville staples, including Fats Kaplan, Will Kimbrough, and Matt Menefee, as the soundtrack to his lyric-driven, story-based songwriting.<\/p>\n

The album kicks off with a reimagined version of \u201cEl Paso Kid,\u201d which originally appeared on Leaphart\u2019s 2015 release, Low in the Saddle, Long in the Tooth<\/em>. \u201cBlame on the Bottle,\u201d inspired by a preacher on the left end of the radio dial, examines both self-will and self-righteousness just the same. The rollicking \u201cHoney, Shake\u201d is the purest example of Leaphart\u2019s Southern rock-inspired upbringing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBallad of Bob Yamaha or A Simple Plea in C Major\u201d is an ode to Shel Silverstein and a shining example of Leaphart\u2019s dedication to smartly written songs, written from the perspective of a weathered guitar that just wants to be played by someone who really knows their way up and down the frets.<\/p>\n

The album’s mid-point is the title track, inspired by Leaphart\u2019s move from the South Carolina Lowcountry to Nashville. \u201cI was attempting to make it big as a writer of some of those big country hits you hear on the radio, and it wasn\u2019t too long before I realized writing those smash hits wasn\u2019t easy, and I wasn\u2019t chuckling at Nashville anymore,\u201d Leaphart says. \u201cNope, the joke was on me. I peeled the \u2018kick me\u2019 sign off my back and got down to focusing on my songwriting like never before\u2013writing late at night and performing at writers\u2019 rounds to see what stuck and what didn\u2019t. And here it is: the song, the album…and the punchline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat Train\u201d continues to showcase Leaphart\u2019s signature style, mixing twang, tempo, and tightly-constructed lyrics into the same package. \u201cWindow From The Sky\u201d offers a stripped-down take on how much good a change in perspective can do. \u201cEvery Day\u201d is a look into the dynamics of a relationship, while \u201cDivision Street\u201d laments a tiny, shared apartment, close living spaces, and the eye-opening experience of living inside \u201cthe party house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before earning his stripes as a road warrior, Leaphart launched his career in South Carolina, where he balanced a nighttime gig as a bartender with a steadily-increasing stream of shows. Leaphart\u2019s first album, Line, Rope, Etc.<\/em>, was released in 2009, and a few years later, in 2012, he took his signature sound with him to Nashville. There, he has launched a popular recurring songwriter’s night called Southpaw Social Club and strengthened his own writing chops, penning songs for other artists’ albums as well as his own. Low in the Saddle, Long in the Tooth<\/em> arrived in 2015, followed by Lightning Bob<\/em> \u2013 featuring collaborations with Sadler Vaden \u2013 in 2018.<\/p>\n

Leaphart \u2014 now a husband and father \u2014 received a reviving kickstart later that year when he was named a winner of the prestigious Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Music City Joke<\/em> Track Listing:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. El Paso Kid
\n2. The Same Thing
\n3. Blame on the Bottle
\n4. Honey, Shake!
\n5. The Ballad of Bob Yamaha or a Simple Plea in C Major
\n6. Music City Joke
\n7. That Train
\n8. Window From the Sky
\n9. Every Day
\n10. Division Street<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to “Blame on the Bottle” Nashville-based, South Carolina-born singer-songwriter Mac Leaphart\u2019s upcoming album, Music City Joke, offers his strongest batch of songs to date. The 10-song collection, set for release on Feb. 12, 2021, finds Leaphart at his very best: wry, rugged, and recharged, singing songs that conjure up memories of front porches, honky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t