Singled Out: Johnny Duke's Golden Light

Keavin Wiggins | 10-06-2022

Golden Light single art

Nashville-based indie folk star Johnny Duke releases his new album, Sonic Valley", this week and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the single, "Golden Light". Here is the story:

I wrote the lyrics to "Golden Light" during a time in my life when I was really exploring the nature of consciousness and opening my mind up to Eastern spiritual traditions. When the song idea first emerged I was reading a translation of the Upanishads, the ancient Vedic texts. The book was pointing to the light within that I was simultaneously experiencing in my daily practice of Transcendental Meditation. There was a confluence that happened for me that is represented on this track. My craft as a musician and songwriter merged with the unfolding of my inner quest for truth and wisdom. The message of "Golden Light" is that there is an omnipresent light of love that resides within us beyond the ever-changing forms of the external material world. This light is most fully experienced in meditation. So much of what I previously thought was real turned out to only be dancing illusory shadows in my mind. Waking up to this was a powerful realization for me, and continues to be, though I often forget. This song is in a way a reminder for me. I have the heart and mind of a seeker, constantly in search of an illuminating light of truth to dispel my own misconceptions.

I structured the song so that the chorus opens up and sonically expands the way that the mind does in meditation or the way that the light of the sunrise expands out on the horizon. The choruses end with an OM chant, which is the primordial sound of creation. My intention was to bring wisdom into the form of a song that could have a broad appeal. The verses convey the process of awakening to new possibilities. The lyrics in "Golden Light" can be taken as symbols for the inner landscape. I am pointing to something that is universal, using my own reflections. "Then I saw beyond the shadow, Golden Light." I am singing about the same thing that Plato was referring to in his allegory of the cave, which is the reality of the light that reveals the illusory nature of the shadows dancing on the walls that one has assumed for a lifetime were real. In the last century, physicists have uncovered exactly what the sages in ancient India were writing about in the Vedic scriptures, which is that all matter, or the essence of creation, is light. The golden light of this song refers to the omnipresent spirit, or the Self. One can simply enjoy the groove with a catchy melody, which is great! But also, a listener can go deeper into the lyrics as a way to open one's heart and feel something new about themselves.

My nylon string guitar part, which is an old 1964 Cordova, plays a big role in the feel and movement of the song. I had been working on a new fingerpicking technique with a thumb pick that I worked out to fit with a drum groove that my friend Josh Hunt played on the track. There were many sketches and revisions during the recording process of "Golden Light." Josh, a really extraordinary drummer based in Nashville, came over to my studio, Spirit Radio. We experimented with different drum grooves. I played him some African grooves from Oumou Sangare's album Mogoya, which helped navigate us into a really unique groove pattern. The groove became like a template, or a canvas that I would work off of. Sometimes I like to throw a lot of paint up on the canvas and then step back and see what's gelling and what's not working. That was the case with this song. I recorded many guitar parts that would become more and more simplified as the sonic picture became clearer to me. I was experimenting with atmospheric sounds on the electric guitar, which have a celestial quality, sonically representing the higher spheres. The structure of this song is really unique. There is no bass in the verses, which allows the nylon guitar to shine. I wanted the transition from the verse to the chorus to be dramatic, like Dorothy's transition from black and white to techni-color in The Wizard of Oz. The landscape of the choruses opens up with more vibrant sounds and colors on the canvas, which creates an interesting contrast for the listener. My approach to recording my voice was consistent on the whole album to create continuity. I used a Coles ribbon mic for my lead vocal, which I often doubled. I like the subtle, natural chorus effect that doubling vocals creates. I often think of instrumentation as textures, chosen to support the song. For instance, the strumming acoustic guitars that come in the chorus have a bright tonality that supports the message of light in the song. My favorite nuance in Golden Light would have to be how the group vocals layer and echo on top of each other sequentially at the end of the choruses. That was a total mistake at first, but we developed it into a really special part of the arrangement.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the album here