On Discovering Butch Walker

Regardless of how tuned in you think you are to the popular music scene, there’s always something good slipping under the radar. One of the most recent examples for me is Butch Walker. The Georgia-born musician and producer has been making waves since his early hair metal days with Southgang. He moved on to the Marvelous 3 in the late 90’s, and, and over the last decade, he’s found success as a pop/rock solo artist and producer (Pink, Weezer, Fall Out Boy).

I had heard of Butch, but didn’t get a good quality introduction until I watched his appearance on the always great Live from Daryl’s House series. Musically, it was the performance of “Sweethearts” that reeled me in. But it’s also impossible not to appreciate the funny, genuine person he is (Daryl’s House seems to bring that out in its guests).

That brought me to The Spade album, his 2011 release by Butch Walker and the Black Widows – a wonderful collection of catchy hooks, fantastic harmonies and simply fun songs. The mid-album trio of “Sweethearts”, “Day Drunk”, and “Synthesizers” is my highlight.

Little did I also know that a great video for “Synthesizers” was released a year ago, featuring Matthew McConaughey reprising his role as his Dazed & Confused character Wooderson, a role that my colleague Mark has proclaimed his appreciation for.

The “Synthesizers” chorus has some advice that ties in well to the new year.

For once, once in your life
Won’t you do what feels right
Instead of waiting for the next big compromise
Stop running your mouth
Get out of the house
Get yourself downtown
And shake it all out tonight.

Add this song to your exercise playlist and tell me you don’t get a charge out of it.

Here’s the video, followed by the first segment from the Live From Daryl’s House episode with Butch, which I highly recommend taking the time to watch.

Watch the whole episode.

Photo credit: Mark Maglio