Will Kimbrough Album Recorded ‘When the World Broke’
Singer-songwriter Will Kimbrough has had his compositions recorded by the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Little Feat, Todd Snider, Jack Ingram, Gretchen Peters and many others. Hes also handled production for acts such for Doug Seegers, Shemekia Copeland, Todd Snider, Radney Foster and Steve Poltz. His production work on the award-winning Copeland release America’s Child earned him a Living Blues Producer of the Year title in 2019.
Blindsided along with the rest of the world by the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Kimbrough just announced that he’s documented this unprecedented moment in history with a new solo acoustic record, Spring Break. It’s set for release on October 23.
Created in the documentary-oriented and storytelling tradition of Folkways and Vanguard folk records, Spring Break takes its title from Spring 2020, or as Kimbrough puts it, “[The moment] when the world broke, and we all took a break.”
Like many other artists who were out on the road directly prior to the virus outbreak, Kimbrbugh, who was in Australia at the time, was forced to pause his tour schedule and return home to Nashville.
With no clear idea of when he might be able to return to the stage, he decided to take the opportunity to work on new material.
“I started writing,” he says in a press release about the album, adding that he naturally drew inspiration from “political division, tragic losses, and other aspects of the current climate.”
“I wrote ‘All Fall Down’ with a friend, after discussing the strange world of the politics surrounding COVID and the divided United States,” he explains. “When John Prine passed from COVID, I wrote ‘The Late Great John Prine Blues.’ Then, I finished a song with a songwriting hero, Milton Brown — who also happens to be one of Jimmy Buffett’s early mentors — ‘Digging a Ditch with a Spoon.’”
Kimbrough laid down the three new songs in his home studio, and added some co-writes with fellow artists, including Adrienne Young’s “Home Remedy” and “Plow to the End of the Row” and Todd Snider’s “Rocket Fuel” and “Cape Henry” (Todd Snider).
He also dug into his personal archives.
“I revisited a song I had recorded at my parents’ old beach house on the Gulf of Mexico, ‘Child of Light,’ and realized that I loved the version I had recorded,” he says.
The end result was a collection that Kimbrough found remarkably satisfying. He spent the month of April working on album.
Before I knew it, I had 14 solo acoustic songs recorded that I just loved.
While tour plans continue to remain up in the air for the entire entertainment industry, Kimbrough is in the meantime working to deliver music to thousands of fans through his Patreon page and a weekly Facebook Live show, both of which he utilizes for live performances, podcasts and musical instruction.
