The Bryan Hansen Band are gearing up to release their new album "Gas Money" next month and to celebrate we asked Bryan to tell us about the single "Smiling Dashboard Jesus". Here is the story:
The song 'Smiling Dashboard Jesus' is the 2nd single from our forthcoming album titled 'Gas Money.' The song was musically written by our Bass player, Will Blakey, many years ago as an exercise in playing in the upper register of his bass, as at the time, it wasn't something he did often. When it was time to start writing for this new album, he dusted it off & made a demo of it under the name "Untitled#4." I found the song's melody to be catchy, & felt it just needed to be played lower.
Will & I got together at his house and began working on the song, with him lowering the bass line, & giving it a laid back groove. I sang random lyrics as we both had this vision of us all driving down the road on a sunny day singing the melody. At some point I randomly sang the lyric "Smiling Dashboard Jesus," to which we both began to laugh hysterically. We both declared "That's it! That lyric is going in the song." In that instance we decided that in fact S.D.J. was the name of the song, simply because the lyric is only said once in the entire song. Once Q put his drum part on the song, it all came together perfectly. The song itself is about the average every day working individual, taking the good with the bad and living life as best as he/she can.
When we began to try the song out live we were pleased to find that people kept telling us that they were getting the catchy sing along refrain stuck in their heads. People enjoyed the song so much that we would eventually decide to make it our 2nd single, in spite of it being way more laid back than our first single 'Diamonds.' Speaking of 'Diamonds,' if you watch the music video, at the end you'll notice our little "Easter Egg," hinting at what the next single would be. That same "Easter Egg" then appears throughout the 'Smiling Dashboard Jesus' video. Check out both of our videos on our YouTube channel to see what we mean. As for our next album....'Gas Money' will be released on Saturday October 12th, 2019, with an album release show that night at The Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, NJ.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!
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