Tulsa-based songwriter, banjoist and drummer Ramsey Thornton has recently signed with the good folks at Gar Hole Records and plans to release a full-length sometime next year, though has offered new single ‘Riverside’ to get listeners acquainted with his sound. Recorded with Sam Skinner (member and recording engineer of Pinegrove) and Isaac Stalling in Brooklyn, the song weaves a rich bed of fingerpicked guitar and lap steel to support Thornton’s intimate delivery, the lyrics charged with emotion yet arriving with an almost conversational charm.
What emerges is a picture of a day which might appear ordinary on the surface, yet is churning with the small dramas and existential currents beneath the surface. A day, that is, like any other. “I had no choice on Riverside / Saw it in the last few moments of its life / There was no way that I could stop / But now I am frozen,” as Thornton sings in the opening lines, voice wavering with sincerity as though urging the listener to grasp the gravity of the moment. “Now I can’t get past the thought / This doesn’t feel very fair at all / I know that there must be a spot / In heaven and he is chosen.” The tone of the Ramsey Thornton project is embodied by the these first verses, possessing all of the closeness, heart and longing which underpins his work.
Now all I wanna do is just pull over
Turn off my radio and sit here for an hour
When I left home today I figured I’d just keep hanging out
Watch a live performance of the track captured by Calebe Severo below:
‘Riverside’ is out now via Gar Hole Records and available from the Ramsey Thornton Bandcamp page.