Single Premiere: Jeffrey Robert Larson, ‘Promises’ (feat. Clare Doyle)
A veteran Twin Cities country artist and a relative newcomer to the scene join forces on an exquisite honky-tonk heartbreaker. Hear it first here!
Jeffrey Robert Larson’s Promises single artwork
Jeffrey Robert Larson’s been around these cities for a minute. With over a decade of live music experience under his belt, he claims on his Instagram to have played “almost every bar in the area.” (I know I’ve seen him perform at most if not all my favorite haunts!) He specializes in the kind of throwback country music that makes people want to two-step or slow dance (or in my case, order another whiskey and watch other people do the dancing…).
Clare Doyle emerged on the local scene only recently, having returned from New Orleans to her hometown of Saint Paul. She’s got a voice like a silver bell, clear and sweet and smooth, but able to break with sorrow at just the right moments in a song. (A singer-songwriter in her own right, she’s working on her debut album slated for release this fall. If her songwriting is half as arresting as her singing, it’s going to be pretty spectacular.)
Clare Doyle. Photo courtesy of the artist.
I’ve described Larson’s music as “desperately sad songs in the best country tradition,” and this single’s a shining example of his songwriting craft. He has an ear for the unadorned poetry and pathos that make the songs Patsy Cline sang so unforgettable, a knack for serving up stories of pain and suffering that punch you in the gut while your toe taps to the rhythm, the gift of making your heart ache even for someone who’s obviously in the wrong.
Jeffrey Robert Larson. Photo courtesy of the artist.
In the case of “Promises,” we have two of those someones. Larson and Doyle trade lines and harmonize while portraying lovers ending an illicit affair that’s caused as much pain as joy. Most lines begin with “No more” and list all the depressing aspects of their relationship that they’ll be glad to put behind them:
No more lying each time we meet
No more promises we can’t keep
No more guilt and shame
No more alibis
The lyrics break that pattern only in the bridge, where the two sing longingly of the things they will miss:
This is our last caress
The end of our forbidden happiness
Our final moment of tenderness
Plaintive fiddle (AJ Srubas) and weepy pedal steel (Josh Braun) wind around the singers over an easy mid tempo rhythm laid down by Sean Hoffman on bass and percussion. You may end up with a tear in your beer by the end, but it still goes down sweet.
Get a first listen of “Promises,” which comes out May 27, 2022. Then go hear it live at Dusty’s Bar in Northeast Minneapolis on Friday, May 28! Doors at 7pm, show at 8. $10 cover.
Song credits
Written by JRL
Recorded and mixed by Sean Hoffman at the flood zone
JRL - guitar & vocals
Clare Doyle - vocals
Sean Hoffman - bass/drums/percussion/organ
Josh Braun - pedal steel
AJ Srubas - fiddle
Mastered by Tom Garneau at AudioActive
Carol Roth. Photo by Dan Lee.
Carol Roth is a full-time marketing copywriter and the primary music journalist and social media publicist for Adventures in Americana. In addition to studying the guitar and songwriting, Carol’s additional creative side hustle is writing self-proclaimed “trashy” novels under the pseudonym T.A. Berkeley!
