This is a powerful song, in every sense, musically solid with Jett Holden’s deep and resonant vocal and the lyrics he communicates – there’s a lot of pain in “sometimes it’s better to be miserable than lonely.” it comes from Holden’s experiences growing up in a family that cleaved to the Jehovah Witness lifestyle and thereby had a problem or three when Jett Holden came out as gay. Speaking of the song he explains: “‘Scarecrow’ was the first song I wrote on this album, the chorus came to me in a dream as a children’s story book narrated by a woman’s voice. I woke up from the dream, wrote it down, and went back to bed. The next morning the rest of the song seemed to write itself. It wasn’t until the song was finished that I realized what it was about. I grew up Jehovah’s Witness and came out to my mother when I was 15. I was surprised not to be disowned, but was instead forced back into the closet. By the time I was 25, I still didn’t know where I stood with my family. I’d come out to everyone individually, and didn’t have a single family member I could be open with. Not only did this song help me process that, it shaped the way I approached song writing moving forward. After writing it, I moved to Johnson City, TN on a whim and started over. I needed to get away from everyone I knew to find myself.”
‘Scarecrow‘ is taken from the album ‘The Pheonix‘ wich will be relased on October 4th and will be the intial release on the Black Opry Records label.
Good to see diversity in Americana.