Songwriter Leslie Jordan has shared a new single called “Athensville,“ which is set to be featured on her forthcoming album based on the journal of her late grandfather, Robert S. Gott. The rootsy new folk cut from The Agonist is accented by a beautiful string arrangement and gently plucked acoustic guitar melodies as Jordan sings: “He’s seen the ones before him / Get swallowed by their fear / But he ain’t afraid of dying / Just dying here.”
“My grandfather grew up in Crawfordsville, Indiana,” Jordan shares, “which is known as the ‘Athens of Indiana,’ primarily because of the literary prowess that came through [Ben Hur author] General Lew Wallace and several other novelists and poets. It was on the cutting edge of education and industry at one time. But like every town, there were certain folks who thrived and others who merely survived. If you were born on the east side of town, you found it hard to keep up with the ‘high society’ of the west side.
“My grandfather grew up on the east side,” she continues. “He referred to his mother as a ‘hill person’ from Kentucky, but she always encouraged her kids to be educated, high thinkers. And he was. He was a prolific writer—keeping a log of most of his life in these short stories and journals. It doesn’t take long to notice he was a great writer—it seemed to be in his nature. But just the same, it was in his nature to find a way out.”
Check out the video for “Athensville” below, and expect The Agonist out April 25.
