Randy Houser Previews ‘Magnolia’ Film in ‘No Good Place to Cry’ Video [Exclusive Premiere]
Randy Houser is gearing up to release a new album and a short film, and he's giving fans a sneak preview of both in his brand-new video for one of the new songs, "No Good Place to Cry."
Houser shows off his remarkable voice to full effect on the song, bringing a gritty realism to a stripped-down, bluesy track about a love gone wrong and its aftermath. He accompanies himself simply on electric guitar, and his voice shines particularly bright with no other instruments to clutter the audio spectrum.
Lyrically, "No Good Place to Cry" explores some very familiar country territory.
"Well, Sunday morning came without a warning / After another sad Saturday night / No understanding her change in plans / And I'm way too weak to fight," he begins the song.
"Strangers' faces on this crowded street / They all turn away when they look at me / They don't wanna see these tears in my eyes / But there ain't no good place to cry," he sings in the refrain.
In the video above, which is premiering exclusively with Taste of Country today, Houser performs the song simply while seated on a stool as if he's playing to an empty room at a small club venue, adding to the pathos of the mood.
"No Good Place to Cry" is from Houser's upcoming new studio album, Magnolia, which is due out Jan. 11, 2019. The album's lead single, "What Whiskey Does," is currently at country radio. He co-wrote every song on the new album, which he spent two years working on after feeling dissatisfied with his previous album, 2016's Fired Up.
“This album was a total reset for me in every way possible. With the last album, I just didn’t have time to create, and it was obvious that it didn’t all come from my guts. Because of that, the music just didn’t feel as genuine,” Houser says in a press release. “When writing for this new project, I knew the production had to lean on songs and melodies, not a bunch of tricks and loops. That was the catalyst for the album. So, for the past two years we’ve been focused on trying to find a unique sound and trying to best serve the songs.”
Houser will accompany the release of Magnolia with a short film of the same name that is set is set in his home state of Mississippi, the Magnolia State that inspired the album's title. The film tells the story of Ana and Noah, who are carrying on "an intense relationship, marred by their personal lives." The story centers around a small group of oil rig workers and "mirrors the blue-collar sentiments of Houser’s Magnolia lyrics." Houser plays a local singer at a dive bar in town, and he performs several songs from Magnolia during the course of the film.
“Magnolia tells my story but also tells the story of running away from something while not knowing exactly what you’re running to,” Houser says. “As I got into the groove of creating this album, the story became so vivid in my mind that I realized it had to live through more than just a body of music and become a film. That’s exactly what we created... a film about running towards your truth.”
Magnolia is currently available for pre-order via various retailers and digital music services, with special bundles available at Houser's website.
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