New York, NY (Top40 Charts) It's been four-plus years since heartland rock band Red Wanting Blue's most recent studio album, The Wanting, was released. Now, as the band is in the midst of their "Thumbs to the Road" Summer tour, they have released a single today, "Hey, '84" (Blue Élan Records), in advance of their forthcoming twelfth studio album due out in
Spring '23. The track premiered last week on Ohio's The Summit FM who added the new track to regular rotation. True to its title, the song has a distinct throwback theme.
"'Hey, '84' is a small Band-Aid for the bruises that come from our modern lives as we pine for simpler times," says Red Wanting Blue's longtime front man Scott Terry. "It's an homage to the joys of my youth; a respite from cellphones and social media, stressful jobs, and the rest of the gauntlet that our present-day reality likes to throw at us. For me, that time was in 1984. The days of arcades, sleepovers, pizza parties, riding bikes and having minimal responsibilities."
After enduring unplanned time off the road due to the pandemic, the song is a reminder to hold close comforting memories that the song was inspired by. "To be loved and to feel safe by our families and friends in our little bubbles wasn't something we ever earned as children," continues Terry. "So we couldn't help but to take it for granted. That's the invincibility of being a kid, and what adult doesn't wish they could occasionally feel like that again? I know I do."
Hailed as "Midwestern rock heroes" by American Songwriter, Red Wanting Blue has established themselves as one of the indie world's most enduring and self-sufficient acts, touring throughout the US and Canada 200+ days per year, while operating largely outside the confines of the traditional music industry.
On their latest album The Wanting, Red Wanting Blue landed at #3 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and at #1 for the band's home region of the Midwest. They have earned raves from Rolling Stone to Esquire, and have made appearances on NPR's Mountain Stage, The Late Show with
David Letterman and VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live in their twenty-year career.
