Chris DeLine

“Reluctance” is the second of two videos to come in support of Keegan DeWitt‘s most recent 7″ release, following the Chad Hartigan-directed “Two Hearts” which dropped a month ago. The track’s status as a b-side is by no means indicative of any sort of inferiority to the lead single however; Ryan Burleson of the Nashville Scene recently reviewed the release, calling the track “A shimmering, reverb-drenched duet.” When asked about the track’s development, DeWitt explained via email that the song had been with him for quite some time before being released, “‘Reluctance’ is a song I had for awhile, and I had been keeping it set aside from everything. Initially I only had a few small bits of the verse but something about that very first melodic phrase, ‘I know I’m gonna have a hard time with you.’ It really struck me and felt really tender towards the song. It took me about a year of holding onto it before I finally sat down to finish it.”

While slowly maturing through DeWitt’s voice, the final version of the single largely ends up focusing on the vocals of Nashville’s Isaaca Bird, who plays with DeWitt’s live band. He continued, “About six months ago, Isaaca started playing with us on and off. I was a really big fan of her family’s band the Bridges and had followed them for awhile. When I first saw them, Isaaca was just this amazing bassist who stood towards the back of the stage. One night, we were all playing a show together and I heard them warming up, and there was this insanely unique and striking voice happening. I looked around at all of them and had a double take when I realized it was Isaaca. That was when things started to click into gear in my mind, I wanted her to sing the song. I sat with her and played through it a couple times and I finally finished the lyrics a few days later.”

The rest, as they say, is history. The duo performed the song for the first time at a Next Big Nashville showcase this past summer before putting everything together for the recording of the track. DeWitt recalls a sense of tenderness that was felt when first performing the song, something that director Will Holland attempted to play to with the video.

“I essentially loved the idea of how we always overly romanticize two major events between a couple,” explained Holland in an email. “The first time they meet and the first time they kiss.” The video complements the song’s structure as it carefully follows a number of couples as a special moment develops for each. “I wanted to allow a viewer to witness small interactions between several couples that lead to an immediate pay off of an intimate moment. The video is, in essence, slowly paced. But it is also rewarding in the sense that you view small moments of interaction that are very real… that end in a dramatized version of where we would all like to be at some point.”

The “Two Hearts”/”Reluctance” 7″ was recently released via Theory 8 Records and can be purchased from the label’s website or iTunes. The singer/songwriter has also shared a pair of demos here that capture various stages of the track’s formation. The “First Demo” recording documents the first time that the group played through the track together while the “Worktape” the vocal development of the song (the latter is also availabla as part of the special digital version of the 7″ on iTunes). The track’s lead single, “Two Hearts” is also available below as a free download.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]