Midland Details The Making of New Album 'Let It Roll'

Midland 2019

It started with "Mr. Lonely," and now, Midland has returned with the entirety of their brand new album Let It Roll.

The country trio's new LP follows their 2017 debut album On The Rocks, and showcases 14 new songs, including lead single "Mr. Lonely," and several other previously released songs like "Cheatin' Songs," "Put The Hurt On Me," "Fast Hearts and Slow Towns" and "Playboys." In support of their new music, Midland is set to head out on their "Let It Roll Tour," which kicks off on September 17th.

As the guys explain to iHeartRadio, the trek is what they have been looking forward to the most after sharing the new music. They tell us, "The most exciting thing about releasing new music is probably getting to go and play it all live for the fans, and the opportunity for all of our fans to get to hear what we've been working on for such a long time, for almost a year and a half now. That's what's most satisfying, especially when you believe in this album as much as we do. We feel like it's an evolution, but definitely a revolution, from our debut album, and we feel it's the best thing we've ever done."

After the release of their critically acclaimed debut album On The Rocks and its accompanying tour, it didn't take long before Midland's Mark Wystrach, Cameron Duddy and Jess Carson jumped back into the studio to work on Let It Roll. They explain, "When it comes to writing the second album, there's the old saying that you've got a lifetime to write the first album, and mere months or weeks to write and record the second one. Luckily, we had plenty of fodder for the fire, really. We were living, and still are living, on the road off the success of the first album, and a lot of the songs that we wrote are a reflection of our lives now, lives on the road, and how that affects us and the people that we love. So this is, in a lot of ways, autobiographical, and it came surprisingly easy."

Introducing Let It Roll to their fans, Midland released "Mr. Lonely," the ultimate bachelor anthem as they sing, "No, I ain't Mr. Right, I'm Mr. Right Now." The guys explain of the track, "'Mr. Lonely' is a song that we wrote with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne in Texas over at Cameron's house, actually. It's a barn burner of a honky-tonk song. It's kind of our tip of the hat to our influences like Brooks & Dunn and Dwight Yoakam, and it's just a fun song to play live."

Of course, it also doesn't hurt that actor Dennis Quaid stars in the "Mr. Lonely" music video.

Prior to Let It Roll's release, Midland shared several other songs with fans, including "Cheatin' Songs," "Playboys," "Put The Hurt On Me" and more. Read on to find out what the trio had to say about these tracks below.

"'Cheatin' Songs"

"It's an incredibly fun song to play live. It's an intricate song for the harmonies, and I feel like there's a direct line to some of that classic 80s country music. Not a lot of people are writing songs like that anymore, and approaching that subject in a tongue-in-cheek way."

"Playboys"

"'Playboys' is an autobiographical song about a band on the road and the life tolls that it takes. And at the core, the reason why you do it, which is the music and the love of taking that music to the people."

"Put The Hurt on Me"

"'Put The Hurt on Me' is, I think, another coloring for us as a band, and definitely an extension of our interests, musically, where it's got a couple parts, I'd say R&B and a couple parts kind of west coast dreamy country, if you will. Somebody once said that it sounds and reminds them of Chris Isaak and 'Wicked Game,' and for us, that's kind of the ultimate compliment, as that's a sound and a tone that we were chasing. A very evocative, heartfelt and soulful love song, and it's perhaps one of the most beautiful songs on the album."

"21st Century Honky Tonk American Band"

"There's a song on the album called '21st Century Honky Tonk American Band' that we recorded at the eleventh hour under the gun, under the deadline, and we had two hours actually to lay that song down in the studio. We went in there with our band and just cut it live, and that's what you hear on the record."

Midland - 'Let It Roll' Album Cover Art

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