Casey Shea met his wife in high school, a real teen rom-com special. Through every high and low, they have endured a fickle music business and a frequent touring schedule. It's all a testament to their unconditional love, captured perfectly with Grand Canyon's new song "Chariot."
Alongside bandmate Joe Guese, Shea vows to "sweep you off your feet and leave it all behind," he sings. A past littered with broken promises serves as the lyrical backbone and culminates into a shiny Springsteen arena-rock anthem.
"She's sacrificed so much, so I could pursue my dreams, and here we go again, releasing another album!!?" Shea tells Wide Open Country. "What's that quote about the definition of insanity being someone who does the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome? And yet... she sticks by me... maybe we're perfect for each other."
"No we're not that innocent anymore / But I'm still that kid from the library hall," determines Shea, cracking open his heart on the second verse. "And I still could be the man you say you deserve / I give you my word."
Surprisingly, the song almost didn't make the duo's forthcoming album, Forevermore (out this Friday, Oct. 7), but continued reworking eventually unlocked the mystery.
"When we first wrote it, we thought it had a lot of promise, but listening back to our pre-pandemic version (that was scrapped due to lockdowns) we felt that it wasn't quite there," he explains. "Eventually, we worked out a new version, but we were completely stuck on the chorus. We started tracking with the mantra, 'eh, we'll just figure that out later.' It was a pure act of faith."
He adds, "We didn't have lyrics or a melody for a chorus with the album due for mastering a few weeks away, but we just kept building the track with that space empty. After tons of scrapped ideas, this chorus popped out of nowhere one day, and it really lifted the song to a new place."
Grand Canyon co-produced the record at Imaginary 13th Floor Studios in LA. Producers Adam Popick and John Morrical also contributed their talents to select cuts. With the release of "Chariot," on the heels of several other album tracks, there's a sense of true accomplishment gathering around the project.
Despite an ongoing pandemic, the musicians hunkered down and focused on the hope they could possibly collect out of such universal loss.
"This album was made with a lot of love, not for the times but for the test of time. We made it ourselves in a garage during a pandemic focusing on hope rather than despair," Shea says. "I think that hope is the central theme of this collection of songs. If Bruce Springsteen had ever moved to Southern California, this is the album he would have made."
Listen to "Chariot" below.
