Meels Boards The Next Train Out With "Lonely USA"

Written By: Big C

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Photo Credit: Mikayla LoBasso

A train whistle can sound like loneliness, or it can sound like a way out. Meels lets both ideas live inside Lonely USA. The banjo-led new single turns a fictional town into a doorway toward risk, movement, and self-trust. Fats Kaplin’s fiddle snakes through the arrangement as the tempo gathers, giving the song the sensation of someone finally deciding to leave the platform instead of watching another train pass by. Recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium with Peter Groenwald and Justin Francis producing, the track places old-time instrumentation inside the story of wanting more, fearing the unknown, and going anyway. Jamie Dick, Robby Handley, Todd Lombardo, and Ilya Portnov help build the world around Meels without crowding the plainspoken ache at its center. Meels explains the road beneath the song:

'Lonely USA' is a song that I wrote in the midst of my first back-to-back tours. It tells the fictional story of a town called Lonely, USA, and a young woman who's desperate to leave the place that's only ever brought her heartbreak. For me, it's really a metaphor for stepping into the unknown. It's about that restless feeling of wanting to see what's out there, trusting your instincts, and believing that whatever's waiting beyond the horizon could be everything you've been hoping for.

Her recent Western AF performance strips that idea down even further, letting the solitary-troubadour side of her writing come into sharper focus. After releasing Across The Raccoon Strait earlier this year, the Mill Valley native has shared stages with Old Crow Medicine Show, Molly Tuttle, Kaitlin Butts, Margo Price, Carter Faith, and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band while preparing appearances at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, AMERICANAFEST, and Bourbon & Beyond. "Lonely USA" adds another mile marker to that journey. Let us know your thoughts below and follow Meels on connect with Meels' momentum on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

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