Singled Out: Jacob Davich's My Father's Gun

You may recognize Jacob Davich from the various movies he has been in but he is currently taking a break from acting and focusing on music. Today he tell us about his new single "My Father's Gun." Here is the story:

It's interesting how some people love guns. For some they're not simply for protecting ourselves in a dangerous world, they're something more romantic. There's a sense of importance that comes from holding a gun, a certain sense of purpose too. I didn't grow up with guns so I don't have that particular nostalgia. However if my father perished in war and had nothing to leave me but his pistol, that pistol would mean more to me than anything else in the world.

So that being said I guess I can't blame the young Johnny Casper for doing something I otherwise wouldn't condone. In "My Fathers Gun" Johnny is a troubled young man from South Texas who is taking his late fathers gun, getting on that west bound train, and getting the hell out of here to start a new life. Who hasn't thought of doing that from time to time? That instrumental section in the middle of the song should give you a pretty good idea of just how damn lost the boy is feeling.

All guns aside if there's one thing I do have nostalgia for, it's old music. If you ask me if I'm a country music lover, I'd probably say no based on how big the giant umbrella that is "country music" has become. But throw on some old Glenn Campbell or Lyle Lovett and I can sip corn whiskey with the best of them. That's the part of me that this song came from, the part that loves those old story songs about Linemen, or Highwaymen, or... Ramblin' Men... All men apparently. That's where those old Marty Robbins esque male backround vocals in the first chorus came from. There's a very thematic genre hidden in between all the layers that make up of singer/songwriter and country music. The part that I associate with Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, and Ray Charles. Or what Ennio Morricone is doing in all these new Tarantino movies these days.

Not letting the worst of you get the best of you seems to be a recurring theme in my songs. Don Henley used to write about that a lot, people fooling themselves with drugs and alcohol. In this case my character is blinded by grief, perhaps the hardest filter of all to see through clearly. I'm really proud of this song, it hasn't lost that new song smell that so many do when enough times goes by. In the back of my mind I'm always worried that I won't like the next piece I write as much as my previous favorites. But if that's my biggest concern I think I'm doing okay. My dad once told me he asked Burt Bacharach what his favorite song of his was, and he replied with, "whatever I'm working on right now." That's the right attitude.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself right here!

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