PREMIERE: Jim Brown – “Richard”

Having spent much of his life cutting his teeth in the live circuit down in New Orleans with his band the SpeedKings, the now Pensacola-based songwriter Jim Brown has been speeding up while slowing down. Settling into his Florida home allowed for Brown to take stock of his experiences and artistry leading to the After All It’s Been Forever LP in 2016. Building off of the response from that record, Brown now returns with its follow-up, The Devil on the Other Shoulder. GroundSounds is happy to be hosting the exclusive premiere of album cut “Richard” today.

The plaintive, acoustic track finds Brown painting an intimate picture of a life lived, but perhaps not fulfilled in terms of empathy and growth. A timely entry in these times by a gifted artist.

“This is based on an older guy I know. A really old school, real life Fonz. A man’s man. Rides a triumph motorcycle and has ongoing relationships with prostitutes. (Who really does that?) Anyway, he had trouble with his eyes a few years ago. A very painful and debilitating condition. We both had a mutual friend, Richard. One night, his pain and fear got so bad in the midst of his illness that he actually called Richard and asked him to come to his house and take his pistol away because he didn’t trust himself to be left alone with a gun. That story had a profound effect on me. No matter how cool and tough you think you are, shit can get really bad, really fast.

The strong language is a result of the authenticity of speaking in the guy’s voice. It’s the sound of a man questioning himself for the first time in his life. A time when it’s really too late to change. Maybe women aren’t just objects, maybe he wouldn’t be so alone and afraid if he’d let real love into his life? Then again maybe not….maybe it’s best to just say fuck it and go out strong.”

Stream Jim Brown’s “Richard” below and look for The Devil on the Other Shoulder out December 8th.