Joey Kneiser – “Heaven Only Wants Us Once We’re Dead” (video) (premiere)

With his band Glossary on hiatus, Tennessee’s Joey Kneiser released his third solo album in November 2015. Calling The Wildness “a love letter to rock and roll”, Kneiser’s influences show, ranging from Bruce Springsteen and the Band to Neil Young and Bob Dylan.

Stripping back Glossary’s soul-laden sound on the folkish “Heaving Only Wants Us Once We’re Dead”, Kneiser describes the song’s genesis: “First off, I’m not a very political person, but this song is more like a letter to my young biracial nephews – as boys who will grow up as a minority in America, I wanted to give them a song that belongs to them.”

Featuring photos from friend Matt White, Kneiser’s lyric video for “Heaven Only Wants Us Once We’re Dead” speaks to more than his own kin; highlighting the inequality that remains in America, Kneiser gives voice to the marginalized who have yet to realize the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. nearly a half-century later.

The Wildness is available via This Is American Music.