Peep This: Hayes Carll “Help Me Remember”

“The leaves on that ancient old oak tree are starting to turn /

and the same shades as the flames of this fire that I’m watching burn”

We all have our people. Our songwriters. Those that inspired us to listen to the next song more deeply or pick up paper and pen and write down the lyrics to the next song.

Hayes Carll has long been one of those few for me. The natural crack and breaks in his voice that echo with a power, a rawness and a vulnerability that can crush you with a single line. There is a beauty that lives in the simplicity of how a turn of phrase can emote and force so much emotion into your consciousness and Hayes is a gifted master of that art. Whether its the self deprecating nature that drew his name into the broader narrative of American Roots music early on in his career, or the well tempered heart-worn and open book nature of his more recent releases. The honesty and earnestness he injects into each song is a thing of pure beauty and humanity.

 

 This new video for “Help Me Remember” is a concrete example of such. The story of Alzheimer’s and the effect is has on so many people in the world is not a rare one. At the end of the video Hayes gives a PSA of sorts. He also provides the story that so many of us can relate to.“I was 14 years old and sitting in the passenger seat of my grandfather’s truck in Waco, TX, the town he had lived in for most of his life. He turned to me at a stoplight and asked me where we were. He looked scared. I know I was. I’ve thought a lot since then about what it must feel like to lose the thread of your own story. This song is for the people who’ve experienced what my grandfather did, those that are experiencing it currently, and for those who serve as their witnesses and caregivers.”

You Get It All (out on October 29th) is the eighth album from the Grammy-nominated Carll and the follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2019 release What It Is.

photo credit David McClister