Rusty Reid On the Making Of “Our Love's With You”
What was the creative process like for this particular "Our Love's With You?"
This song was one of my earliest songwriting efforts (this version is recently re-recorded). At the time, I was still struggling to get my balance as a singer-songwriter, still writing some not-so-good songs. But this one stood out as a quality effort. As the melody came together, I knew I had a winner here. Now it was just a matter of finding words that would adequately serve the melody.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for "Our Love's With You?"
In retrospect, this seems like it might have been a challenge, but it actually flowed through me (as songs and other art often do) fairly effortlessly. I wrote this song on piano, a different approach from my usual guitar starting point. That turned out to be key. My piano songs end up quite different from my guitar songs. I think that's mainly due to sticking closely to a chord progression on guitar, while allowing the melody to more freely evolve on the keyboard. I don't think this song would exist at all if I had tried to come at it via guitar.
What do you like the best about this track?
Well, there is a lot to like about this song. The melody stands out as one of my best, I think. It was written for my little sister, who was at the time graduating high school and soon to leave for college. So it has that personal aspect to it, for me. But I tried to write it so that it might have a more universal interpretation.. Somebody, a "baby," is leaving home. The reason why is not addressed... or where they may be going, except to to escape "the cold" and seek the "sunshine," which I suppose could be any number of things. Some kind of collective (thus the "Our") is offering a final counsel that includes, 1) trust in your young idealism, 2) live life fully, don't hold back, 3) persevere, stay focused, 4) be confident you will succeed, and, most importantly, 5) rest assured that no matter where you go, you are loved. So for a relatively simple love song, it has some valuable messages.
How do you approach collaborations with other musicians or artists?
It's true that occasionally I play all the instrumetns on a song, but I actually don't like doing that. The only reason would be that I like something I did in the demo, and just settle for that version rather than possibly losing the vibe. But I prefer to work with other, better, musicians, who can bring their ideas and skills into the production. I've had very few experiences where that just flat didn't work out very well. This track only has one other person playing. Jed Demlow is a multi-instrumentalist in Nashville whom I count on quite often. All the parts Jed is playing on keyboards were on the earlier version, as well. He nailed the parts, and threw in some of his personality, as well.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in music?
I grew up on the plains of West Texas. It was not an exciting place to be, so you had to invent your own entertainment. Like many musicians, music was always around my house as a kid. We had a lot of good to great players and singers on my mom's side of the family. I started piano lessons around the age of 8, then a few years later moved over to guitar mainly. Shortly after I got my first guitar, I started to write songs. I really don't know why I thought I could do it. None of the others in the family were actually writing songs. But I just had this confidence that this is what I should be doing. Literally no one else would have shared that confidence if they had heard the songs I "composed." Even I didn't like them; I knew they were awful... just rote melodies and the blandest of lyrics. But that confidence never went away. I kept at it... for years... until I finally got a song I liked. In retrospect, it wasn't very good either... but it served its purpose as a little reward for my struggles, propelling me onward. Yet, constantly I would hear a song by real songwriters like Bob Dylan or Paul Simon or Gordon Lightfoot and think, "This is hopeless; I'll never be able to write anything like that." Well, that much is still true... but I finally was able to start crafting some songs that I liked, and that - whoa! - others liked, too. I'm still trying to refine the craft and write songs that are memorable... and actually say something unique. I'll probably never reach the mountaintop, but I'm still trying to blaze my own path up through the melodic foothills of the popular song.