“I wrote ‘Pete and Clyde’ as an homage to my two grandfathers and how tough they were—how tough they had to be, just to survive,” says alt-country rocker Chris Stalcup of the new single from Downhearted Fools, the band’s forthcoming album via DirtLeg Records. “The chorus of the song says ‘two of the meanest mothers ever alive.’ For this song, mean is tough, not unkind. They endured things that are largely unthinkable in this day and age and came out the other side grinning. Nothing stopped either one of them. They were both fierce and fearless. When I think about how easy my life is compared to theirs, I feel not only a sense of pride but also indebtedness.”
Stalcup recounts his grandfathers’ respective stories in “Pete and Clyde”, and what amazing stories they are. “I care about telling a story the way it needs to be told. I have a deep appreciation for Patterson Hood in his songwriting and his storytelling—I definitely tried to channel my best Patterson on this one,” he adds. “’Pete and Clyde'” reflects a lot of the duality in my songwriting—it has the straight-up-the-middle rock side of what I write and what this band does well, but it also shows the beauty of how a large chasm, like the middle storytelling section in the song, can be filled with ambience to support it.”
Stalcup experimented with ambient sounds in order to enforce each man’s story. “There are some really beautiful, subtle melodies in that section as well as some hauntingly eery guitar squeals,” he explains. “It felt more like we were scoring a soundtrack than recording a song for an album.”
Without further ado, Mother Church Pew proudly presents, “Pete and Clyde” from Chris Stalcup & The Grange:
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