Now, when the editor sends us off to some exotic location to cover some exciting Americana news he always reminds us not to touch the mini-bar. Hotel bar prices are a bit steep too so the smart reporter smuggles a little something into the room and makes use of the plastic cup from the bathroom. It’s all glamour.
And really, that’s what today’s low-key and mournful song from Whiskey in the Pines is about – the rather limited joys of the hotel bar: “The hotel bar is a beautiful place to be / lonely faces keeping me company / The empty glasses fill your soul / while you’re somewhere far from home.” The song came to David Lareau – the frontman and songwriter for Whiskey in the Pines – in a strike of inspiration while on vacation. Sitting at an Orlando hotel bar, fragments of lyrics came together in his head and were quickly transferred onto a nearby bar napkin. There they sat until Lareau, fresh off the night shift, stumbled into the song’s Rolling Stones tuning at his home studio.
