Canadian born but Irish raised singer songwriter Cormac Russell released his third album Regicide last May, gaining much admiring glances, and ahead of his next album ‘Ghost Town’, out this coming May, he’s releasing a new single, Talkin’ Corona Blues, and we’re delighted to be able to premiere it right here on Backseat Mafia today.
Of the track, Cormac exclusively told us “I wrote this song shortly after the first lockdown happened in March. It was one of those rare songs where the lyrics came before I even played a note. I’d been listening to a lot of Townes Van Zandt, and had bought a couple of harmonicas that I wanted to use. It pretty much sums up how I was feeling at the time. There was a really weird atmosphere around Dublin; people were in a state of panic, and flooding the supermarkets to stock up on provisions. I remember going to my local Tesco the day before the lockdown, and all the toilet paper and meat was gone. That was the first time I’d ever had to queue to get into a shop. People were buying up sanitizer gel by the bucketload, and I know some rather unscrupulous characters who were reselling it at five times the cost. As for myself, I was just glad that I finally had some time to properly work on my music. I’d been stuck in a soul sucking job that I hated, and was really grateful for some alone time. It’s now been about nine months since I’ve met anyone, but I’m looking forward to seeing my friends once we’re all vaccinated. The future is bright, and I think if people just hold out for a couple more months, we can beat this thing for good.”
Taking a lot from the classic singer-songwriters, such as the aforementioned Townes Van Zandt, but also the like of Bob Dylan, Cormac has actually realised a little gem of a blues song, his acoustic guitar and harmonica working perfectly in time, his lilting vocal beautifully judged.
Cormac Russell has made something for the times. Check it out, here
