‘Call Me Achilles‘ is the fourth pre-release cut from Abney’s upcoming record Tourist, due out August 5th via Black Mesa Records. Penned on Christmas Day of 2020 in Tulsa, ‘Call Me Achilles’ finds Abney reflecting on past weaknesses while making plans for a fresh start. “I’m a cloud of dust / I’m out of this town / I got hung up / I know better now.” It’s a song that has life in it – not so much a toe-tapper as a hip-shaker with an irresistible groove, as Abney sings like one slinking effortlessly from location to location.
Whilst the dates fit with the pandemic years (ah…surely a future greatest hits title – John Calvin Abney, the pandemic years) the writing and recording did not happen in a hunkered down studio or a cobbled together zoom managed shared recording scenario. Nope, John Calvin Abney recorded them on a road trip making use of overnight stops be that in friends’ homes or hotels along the way. Bet the people in the next room loved that. The road trip fed his inspiration for the album as he overdosed on Elton John, The War On Drugs and Harumoi Hosono.