Quaildogs – “Southern River” (audio) (premiere)

Hearkening back to the days of Slobberbone and early Wilco, and cut from the same Southern rock ‘n’ roll cloth as the mighty Drive-By Truckers, the new single by Atlanta sextet Quaildogs remembers that it’s okay to rock hard while playing great Americana. The cut is from their upcoming new album The Getting Old Factory, and if it’s any indication, it’s a record to keep your eyes out for.

“Southern River” is based on the idea that we spend the first half of our lives making decisions that lead us to a certain place—sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s bad. But it’s almost never the place you—or the people who raised you—envisioned. And you spend the rest of your life working back toward something that feels like home. Maybe you aren’t proud of things you’ve done, but it doesn’t mean you leave them behind. We carry our experiences with us, and—like it says in the song—they all inform “the man that I’ve become.” Everyone is running toward the same finish line, and if you can end at anything that feels like home, you’ve done your job, regardless of how difficult the path might have seemed.

The Getting Old Factory will be released 18 September.