Fresh Track: “200 Years,” by Hayley Reardon

Hayley Reardon has one of those voices that makes you shake your head. On “200 Years,” from her most recent EP Where I Find You, she shows that impacting a listener is as much about timing as range. The song, which reflects on her experience caring for her grandmother, perfectly matches her searching vocals with instrumentation that both echoes and expands the emotions of watching a dear family member struggle. Lush strings counter spare bass notes and then fall away, evoking a hazy and uncertain landscape.

Hayley recalls, “My grandmother loved Patsy Cline. When I was about 10, she played me “I Fall To Pieces” for the first time and told me that when she was a teenager, she would get all dolled up for the local YMCA dances and get there 20 minutes early to be sure and ask the DJ to play it. I’ve always cherished that image of my young grandmother dressed to the nines in a big empty ballroom, arriving before everyone else just to request her favorite song.

Years later, I ended up helping to take care of her when she had severe dementia. She no longer had any idea what planet she was on or who anyone around her was. It was exhausting and heartbreaking. The only thing that would bring her back to the moment was when I put on Patsy Cline. She’d say “that voice! I know that voice!” and for a second she was with us again. I wrote 200 Years Old about those long summer days I spent trying to remind my grandmother of her own life.”