Southern troubadour Boo Ray is back with a bang. The singer is gearing up to release his new album Tennessee Alabama Fireworks (out on Feb. 15). Today, Wide Open Country is premiering the album's debut single "A Tune You Can Whistle," a trucker anthem that doubles as a sociopolitical manifesto set to a honky tonk beat.
"One nation under the influence of a cell phone computer screen," Ray sings on the dynamic track. "One nation under the influence of benzodiazepine."
Ray said the song was inspired by the current cultural climate and the ongoing struggle to communicate with one another amidst a whirlwind of distractions, struggles and anxieties.
"I don't know about you, but in the lens I'm looking through these days, people are scared, confused, broken, broke and pretty emotionally mangled, myself included. When I was recording this new album live to tape at Welcome To 1979 Studio, my producer Noah Shain asked me to write a song addressing the current sociopolitical environment and 'A Tune You Can Whistle' is the result," Ray tells Wide Open Country. "In the second verse, I reference the roadside fireworks superstore Tennessee Alabama Fireworks, which became the title of the album."
The alt-country artist says a breakdown in communication and a late night conversation with a long-haul trucker rounded out the tune.
"The difficulty of actually communicating with people in the midst of digital distraction, economic fear and epidemic pharmaceutical drug addiction, has been an increasingly frequent topic of conversation I run across," Ray continues. "A long-haul trucker buddy of mine hollered at me to meet him at The Hermitage Cafe for coffee & eggs late one night as he was blowing through Nashville. He took a call while we were sitting there and became irritated during the conversation and ended the call saying 'We've got a very frayed connection and we're hacking at it now.' I knew just what he meant."
