Georgia Evans – who records as Midwestern Mrs – is a thoughtful songwriter, who tackles topics that others either shy away from or tend to put a rosy gloss on. Today’s song is one such – there are plenty of songs about families and children that come across our desk, but the tendency is that family life is portrayed as a golden time of perfect pleasure with bright little cherubs dancing around and bringing endless light to every moment of shared joy. And, yes, of course family life is like that. But not all the time. There’s also the daily routine, over and over, until it can become overwhelming: “Seem like such simple tasks to me / But I get so lost in the monotony” as Midwestern Mrs sings on ‘Stay Afloat.’
‘Stay Afloat‘ has been a surprise success for Midwestern Mrs – it was originally played at a local festival in Dayton, Ohio called Porchfest getting a good response which encouraged the entering of the song into a songwriting contest that is put on by the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. It ended up winning in September – which led to a Nashville debut to play it live at the Bluebird Cafe. And now it is released to a wider audience through Bandcamp.
Midwestern Mrs told Americana UK that: “I wrote this song at what felt like a very dark, lonely moment in my life. And when I’ve played it for people that I know and people in my community, I have been met with beautiful vulnerability, connection, and shared tears that have shown me that I am not the only one who has had these experiences. With my recent invitation to play it in Nashville, I am realizing that maybe it’s not just me, or my direct circle, or my immediate community that feel these feelings. Maybe there are a lot of us out there. And this has made me feel so very less alone.”
