There is a depth, an intelligence and a wisdom to Ratcliff’s craft that is unusual in an artist so young. This is apparent after just one listen to his new ‘Tale of Two Towns’ album. (Our review here) Ratcliff is also one of the new breed of artists that utilise the sounds, styles and genre conventions of Country music whilst also bringing in influences from other genres and artists too.
The centre-point of the album is its title track. ‘Tale of Two Towns’ is a beautiful, acoustic-driven number that provides an intimate yet conflicted look at growing up in a small town. We were thrilled to talk to him all about it.
Thank you for your time today, it’s lovely to connect and talk about your excellent new album.
Thanks, man, it’s good to talk to you too.
Congratulations on both the album release and the birth of your daughter, Elliot. Are you getting much sleep?
I am in full dad mode right now! (laughing) I’m doing ok, my wife has it a little worse than me right now because she is breast feeding so she’s got to to do that, like, every three hours or so. Morning time is my time, that’s when I step in.
This was kind of a unique deal. Having her be born in the same week we released the record really allowed us to have this special silence in life that enabled us to take in everything that was happening. I’ve tried to enjoy the space and time to be here with the family whilst also having a new record out in the world too. My wife, Lexi, and I are enjoying every moment of it, even the crazy sleepless nights! (laughing)
The album is full of depth, meaning and melody and its pretty funky in places too. What was the mission statement that you had when you started to put ‘Tale of Two Towns’ together?
First off, thank you for those kind comments, especially about the depth. The funky, Soul kinda stuff comes naturally to me as I’ve always loved anything with a groove in it. You know, guys like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye?
The heart of this record was built around the title track, ‘Tale of Two Towns’. When I wrote that I’d been in Nashville for seven years and writing songs for over a decade. I’d learned ‘the formula’ for writing a song, you know? Nashville, in that respect, is sort of like a college for how to write a song! (laughing) You learn from the best in the rooms all over town.
On ‘Tale of Two Towns’ I gave myself permission to be both honest and biographical too. The songs I’d written up to that point had been, like, arms length to me, right? Songs that I thought people wanted to hear. Love you, hate you, miss you songs! This song was different, it was my truth and it laid the foundations of the whole album.
It does feel a very personal album to you.
I kinda knew early on in the process that there was more than just one song to this story. I began to write the record in the same way that you’d write a book, I guess. The unique silence that the lockdown and pandemic forced upon us all allowed me to give myself over to this creative spirit because nobody really cared abut what I was doing back then.
Every time we would get another song it kinda felt like we were adding a new chapter to the book or a new layer to the album. The making of the album revolutionised my whole creative process.
You seem to be on a completely different pathway now than you would have been three or four years ago.
Absolutely, for sure. It was kinda like a re-birth for me as an artist. I’d been here in town singing songs for quite a while but I’d never really had a strong identity. ‘Tale of Two Towns’ is the first step I’ve made down that path towards having that identity so I’m excited to see where it goes in the future.
My whole writing style and the way I think about music has changed and grown thanks to ‘Tale of Two Towns’.
Were you worried about any negative reactions from friends and family back home about the song, a place where the ‘muddy water turns into quicksand’?
Yeah, I was for sure. That was one of the hardest parts about putting the song out there. I have a little folder on my phone that’s full of ideas and titles, I’m sure every writer does. When you go into a write in Nashville everyone is throwing their ideas and titles around and people talk about what the angles are but ‘Tale of Two Towns’ wasn’t that experience at all.
The song was more like a conversation I was having with my wife or with some close friends about this ‘alternate universe’ Brandon Ratcliff who stayed in Cotton Valley, Louisiana. We were thinking about where it would have led me and who I would be today. I’m sure everyone thinks about their choices from that angle, you know?
Nashville is a transplant town. Everybody here is largely from somewhere else, apart from the odd unicorn who is born and raised here. So, most people are faced with this crossroads at some point, they either stay in their home town or they leave. I’m just telling what I feel like is my truth, that might upset some folks back home, but it is an honest assessment of how I feel. I understand not everyone feels like that. I did worry about whether I was offending someone. Am I hurting people’s feelings? That’s why I knew the record needed more context and more meat on the bones than just this one song.
It’s a very nuanced conversation and there are other sides to the story. The rest of the record is more me giving all the other sides of the story a chance to be heard. Ultimately, who’s to know whether I made the right decision or not or whether my Papaw, who stayed in the same town all his life, did?
There’s so much wisdom on the album for one so young in terms of songs like ‘Grow Apart’, ‘Best Thing That Never Happened’ or ‘Always Moving On.’ What’s informing you as a writer?
That’s a huge compliment, thank you. I’ve always felt like I have an old soul. I’m a creative person so my brain tends to like really deep, abstract and philosophical ideas. I like to drill down and ask ‘what’s the real nugget of truth?’ in things.
Growing up and in high school I was just a pro at getting by. I never really gave much effort to anything. Since COVID I’ve really challenged myself to try and seek depth in other places like books and music. I’ve always been intrigued by depth and culture that exists a little outside of the mainstream.
Have you shot yourself in the foot, in some ways, with ‘Tale of Two Towns’ in terms of you are not going to get dragged into a writer’s room to work on Dustin Lynch’s next party song, are you?
(laughing) You’re probably right! The voices in my own head sometimes have those same conversations. That is something that is hard to reconcile with. I’m still early in my journey but this might well be a battle I have internally for years to come.
As a songwriter you still have to make your songs contemporary and relatable. If you go too deep into the abstract you can lose touch with people. I’m always trying to balance that out. I’m hoping to land somewhere in the middle of the two extremes, in touch with both sides!
Check out more about Brandon Ratcliff right here
