By Kevin Broughton
Jonathan Tyler has written the song that 2020 needs. “I wrote ‘Hey Old Friend’ before Corona and the shutdowns were ever a thought, yet it weirdly fits this new normal,” he says. “It’s the first track of mine that I’ve engineered and recorded that’s ever gone this public.”
Shot in and around iconic Sam’s Town Point in South Austin, the chorus line “Someday these days will be worth remembering” is from a sign inside the bar. Tyler is joined on harmony vocals by Nikki Lane, his “partner in crime, girlfriend, pal, something else, and friend. I love and respect her very much and I'm a lucky guy for having her in my life.”
The easy, comfortable song is emblematic of a certain kind of friend: “The kind of person you can always pick up right where you left off. The one that might also pick you up from jail or help you fix the broken AC in your car in the middle of a Texas summer,” Tyler says. “It could be years or since early March 2020. Eventually we all want to hear that story or song we've heard a thousand times before and taken for granted.”
He adds, “It’s probably the most country-sounding thing I’ve ever done.”
And not a moment too soon. It’s a song worthy of Lyle Lovett. Give it a spin.
