Weird Ways has such importance for this record and more importantly my own personal journey. It was actually the last song I wrote for the album. It wasn’t intentional to come last but the significance of it being last is very important. I feel like Weird Ways echoes the entire tone of the album with just one song. It represent the entire arc of hopelessness to clarity. My buddies from My Morning Jacket played a crucial part in this. They were special for many reasons. First and foremost Tom, Bo, Patrick, and Carl are dear friends of mine and extremely empathetic soulful people. Then adding on top of that they are some of the top musicians in the world. I felt like the entire process of recording I was surrounded by such support and love. It definitely shows when you listen to the songs.
Weird Ways came very naturally. I labored over a lot of songs for Eraserland but this one was written in the matter of minutes. Sometimes a song just needs to escape and be purged from you. The lyrics encapsulated how liberating this writing process was for me.
I remember this crucial moment when Tommy finally kicked in on bass and all of us were playing together in unity. It was that moment that I realized it was all real.
I didn’t realize it would be the opening track for this new album and the actual starting point of the Eraserland chapter … at least not until we got the studio. I was unsure of what to do with the song at first and Kevin Ratterman who co-produced the record with me and insisted that it be first. I trusted his judgement and it was the best decision we could’ve ever made. I couldn’t imagine this record starting any different. We also open every show with it to literally welcome them to Eraserland. It builds to such an emotional level and when we finally release into the last section it’s very satisfying for all of us. Thank you!
Eraserland is out now on Dead Oceans and Strand Of Oaks are currently on tour so don’t miss them.