Here’s a brand-new video for “Crumbling Road” from Oakland-based songwriter Tom Rhodes.
The laid-back cut is the opening number on Rhodes’ upcoming album, Who You Were, which will be released July 15. With its pedal steel flourishes and Rhodes’ signature raspy and soulful voice, “Crumbling Road” encourages a man to pick himself up after a heartbreak.
Who You Were is a lush Americana record that blends the modern country-rock of Ryan Adams and the acoustic grooves of Seventies Laurel Canyon, made unique and timeless through the power of Rhodes’ voice and the honesty and insight in his songs.
The new release is a collection of stories and reflections brimming with the same clear-eyed wisdom that abounded on Rhodes’ previous album, 2014's With or Without. However, the songs on Who You Were possess an added poignancy. Rhodes’ father—himself a master storyteller and dispenser of wisdom—passed away September 14, 2015. To Rhodes, Who You Were feels like a torch being passed from one storyteller to another: “These stories aren’t just learned from my dad, but this is me taking on that role as he passed away and sort of left that role... This is the conversation I would want to have with my kid. I wanted to write about the things that a father tells a son or daughter.”
Recorded at Gawain Mathews Music Studio in Pinole, California, with some of San Francisco’s most sought-after musicians—Oscar Westesson (Bhi Bhiman, Quiles & Cloud) on bass, Andrew Laubacher (Con Brio, Kelly McFarling) on drums and Tim Marcus (Lia Rose, Jessie Bridges) on guitar and pedal steel, as well as the Lady Crooners, Kyle M. Terrizzi and Kelly McFarling on background vocals.
The 36-year-old songwriter has spent more than a decade honing his honest, heartfelt brand of Americana, and learning to craft songs whose truth matches his passion as a performer. In that time, he has performed all over the US and Europe, released four albums, and appeared on season nine of The Voice in 2015. As Rhodes puts it, “To me, singing songs is about passionately connecting with the thing I’m talking about, and if you’re singing about something that you actually believe in it’s really easy to get there."
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