‘Deep In The South’, the new song for The Soul Movers is a world away from Murray Cook’s international music legend persona as the Red Wiggle in The Wiggles.
With vocals from Lizzie Mack, ‘Deep In The South’ is a genuine piece of southern fried Americana with an authentic flavour styled in from Muscle Shoals drummer Stu Wilson, who had also done time as a member of The New Christs in Australia.
The track premiered on The Soul Movers’ second album ‘Bona Fide’ and is now a standalone release as the final single and video from the album.
“This track stood out right from the start’ says Murray. It had a really different energy around it… kind of like it was coming to us from a different place and time…”
Lizzie adds, “but it was a pretty difficult birth… the sticks of many drummers were snapped in the recording this track”.
Murray said, “We actually had three drummers on it in The States and then our drummer, since returning from the US, had a crack at it. Stu actually nailed it in one session – sometimes less is more – power in the right places…”
The bridge in the video isn’t far from the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. “They told us about a disaster that had happened there in the late 1800’s. You walk out on the bridge and think you can cross to the other side of the Mississippi but it comes to an abrupt stop in the middle of the river. You look down and there is a tree with hundreds of multi-coloured bras hanging in it. On the spot where the passenger train carrying 140 people plummeted to their deep, dark deaths in the middle of the night… it was more than a bit spooky…” says Murray.
“So, we just let the clip happen in a very similar way to the song” explains Lizzie. “We showed up and just played the song to the bridge really. Halfway through the second take (there were only three as we were late to get started back on recording with the Swampers). There was this strange light on the water and I got kind-of mesmerised. We shot more of the river with a drone and then just took off for the studio. We think the atmosphere comes across pretty powerfully in the clip – it all kind of came together. The song, the bridge, the history all melded as one”.
Murray says, “Lizzie wrote some song lyrics for the track that have very powerful imagery. They tell a story about the past, the slave history, jobs that don’t exist anymore. We could certainly relate to that given we had a similar sad story with how badly used and abused many of our own indigenous workers were – back in Australia”.
The Soul Movers upcoming dates
Friday 23rd August – Miami Marketta
Saturday 24th August – As part of Horizon Festival, the early show at The Bison Bar, Nambour.
Sunday 25th August – A family friendly show from 4-6pm at The Milk Factory, South Brisbane.
Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th October:
Byron Bay Guitarfest
On Saturday 12th, Murray, Lizzie and the ‘Movers are rocking out for a full hour from 7:25pm – 8:25pm
Murray emcees all day Sunday 13th on “Family Day” where it’s $5 entry for kids – The Soul Movers have the perfect after lunch set time – 1:30 pm – 2:15 pm
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