Kentucky singer-songwriter Fate McAfee, who will release a new LP, “Diesel Palomino” on March 1, today debuts album track “From A Silo” via Highway 81 Revisited.
Says McAfee of the song: “I had recently split up with a partner and moved in with my sister and brother-in-law. They lived out in west Tennessee, in an old farm house. I was living in their attic and going through some big changes, so I started recording some demos. There was an old concrete silo across the road, and I took my 8-track over there one day and recorded a few songs. (I remembered hearing about Jim James recording in a silo for the My Morning Jacket record ‘At Dawn’). One of the songs I recorded was untitled, but I liked the way it came out. To me, it offered some kind of respite from the state of mind I’d been in. Needing a title, and having been conceived where it was, I called it “From a Silo,” and placed it at the end of the album.”
“It’s a long way down, but don’t frown, it’s not what got you here” McAfee sings, his voice blanketed in the natural reverb of the silo. Layers of dreamy guitars swirl as an insistent snare drum pattern holds together the wisftul yet optimistic sentiments.
McAfee, 26, spent most of his life estranged from his father, who struggled with addiction before losing a battle with cancer. A former beatnik poet and war photographer, working in Bosnia during the civil war, Fate included some of his father’s photos in the album artwork for “Diesel Palomino.”
He recorded the album at Loud and Clear Studios in Paducah, Kentucky, with Shelby Preklas and S. Knox Montgomery. He was backed by locals Leonard the Band (Brian Rader, Zack Winding, Adam Rader ad Taylor Reader). It will be the follow-up to his 2017 album, “Little Bill and the Late Fees.”
McAfee’s upcoming live dates include a Feb. 28 performance at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 1.
Love what you’re doing Fate!!! Proud of you as well brother. From triples to tracks…
Love it!!!