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Go With the Flow 3:430:00/3:43
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South Dakota 4:060:00/4:06
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Dumb it Down 2:510:00/2:51
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One Mistake 2:490:00/2:49
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Weak 4:570:00/4:57
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0:00/3:22
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When the Muse Comes 3:390:00/3:39
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Limit of Love 3:100:00/3:10
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Fossil Fuel Fascists 3:130:00/3:13
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Leonard Cohen 3:430:00/3:43
“Go With the Flow” is the 5th full length album from award winning singer-songwriter Bradley Lauretti. This new collection of 10 songs was written mostly in Nashville, TN in the wake of a break up. After his last album “Real Job” (2016) was released Brad toured across Europe and Canada by himself, left Florida, moved to Nashville, and finished writing the songs for this album from a balcony in Barcelona.
“Go With the Flow” was recorded in Dalton, MA at the Stationery Factory by Johnny Irion (Producer, Mixing and Engineer) on a Studer Tape Machine previously owned by Jackson Browne, which Johnny shipped across the country. Brad and Johnny formed a spirited collaboration that included Johnny on Background Vocals, Electric Guitar, Piano, Organ and drummer Brian Kantor (Fruit Bats, Vetiver) with songwriter Wes Buckley on Bass, and Rory Verbrugge on pedal steel to create a classic analog sound.
Originally from Brooklyn, NY, but with stints in Nashville and Jacksonville, Brad is known for his DIY tenacity and extremely entertaining intimate live shows. Whether it is a house concert, a listening room, or a streaming concert. Over the last few years he has traversed North America and Europe including Canada and Scandinavia and even played concerts in Colombia and Tunisia. One night with Brad will run the gamut of all human emotions from humour, hedonism, activism and heartbreaking sadness. From folk-rock anthems, to indie folk, flares of cosmic americana, psychedelic, alt-country, to straight up storytelling sometimes you get it all in one song. Influenced by classic songwriters like JJ Cale, John Prine, Billy Bragg, Kris Kristofferson, and Townes Van Zandt his timeless songs mix love, humor, and protest seamlessly to get you through the tough times.
The new song “South Dakota” is a finalist in the 2020 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (Merlefest). Brad has performed all over the world including at Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Folk Alliance International, Nordic Folk Alliance, Live at Heart, Magnolia Festival, Hickey Fest, Gamble Rogers Folk Festival, Gram Parsons Guitar Pull, End of the Road (UK), Reeperbahn, Incubate, Athfest, Sing Out Loud, Savannah Stopover. He is also the founder of the Stetson Kennedy Songwriter Residency in Fruit Cove, FL.
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“Go With the Flow” was the first song written at Stetson Kennedy’s house in Fruit Cove, FL at the historical park where Brad wrote his last album “Real Job.” (2016) He was going to handle his new life as a true solo artist with a positive spin. The idea was inspired by North Florida’s beautiful fresh water springs where you can rent a tube on the side of the road and float downstream. It is an upbeat song, about when life hands you challenges sometimes it is best to just relax and see where life takes you.
“South Dakota” is a finalist in the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest (2020) and was inspired by someone from South Dakota who randomly kissed me on a night out in East Nashville and then never returned my phone calls. The love song meanders into the last verse inspired by the unfinished Crazy Horse sculpture in South Dakota, “Crazy Horse is staring at the grasslands / Deadwood, Black Hills to the Badlands / Buffalo, Wounded Knee, Black Elk Speaks / They stole the gold and traded a dust bowl.”
“Dumb it Down” is a satirical song about people trying to write a hit song in Nashville by appealing to the lowest common denominator, but it also satirically addresses the crisis in democracy in the age of disinformation. It is very common for both sides in the political debate to call each other “Dumb.” People are being intentionally misled and misinformed to achieve a certain political outcome and cause chaos.
In my more cynical moments I kept coming back to this idea that life was a series of mistakes that you have to clean up the mess you make. No matter how hard you try to prevent it, you just do the best you can. Hopefully everyone can relate. The song “One Mistake” after the other was born.
“Weak” was the first song I wrote when I moved to Nashville. My friend invited me over for soup and to meet some friends. We hung out all night singing songs, and when I went home I just thought about what it was like meeting new people when you are vulnerable and still processing an old relationship.
People have a love/hate relationship with where they are from or where they live. I was feeling lonely and missing my friends when I wrote this song “Don’t Hate Your Hometown.” I thought about what it was like as a teenager being bored in the suburbs, but also being grateful for the friends I had. This is a song about dreaming of moving to the big city, which in my case was New York, to play music and be an artist.
“When the Muse Comes” is a song about the songwriting process. The elusive muse. Where does a song come from, what inspires you? Is it sadness? Is it happiness? Is it work? Is it boredom or songcraft?
“Limit of Love” I wrote this song in Rome. It is just a simple musing on how we see each other, and what is the difference between love, lust, and desire.
“Fossil Fuel Fascists” is a song I wrote when Trump nominated Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State. Democracy was limiting their ability to make profits and destroy the plane with impunity so they just took over the levers of our government. The normal corrupt artifice was not enough.
“How Leonard Cohen Learned Guitar” was the last song I wrote for this album. Leonard Cohen died right before election day. I was endlessly searching for new stuff I hadn’t seen on Leonard Cohen and came across a speech he gave in 2011 after receiving the Asturias prize for Literature. He told the story of how he learned to play a guitar from a Spanish Guitarist who later committed suicide. So in a way it is a song about everything you might miss out on when you commit suicide. This guy inspired Leonard Cohen and we don’t even know who he was. Then I started seeing other connections how Leonard Cohen’s favorite poet was Federico Garcia Lorca and how Lorca was murdered and thrown into an unmarked mass grave. I was pondering the role of the poet in our society and in the face of rising fascism.