Drunken Hearts

Drunken Hearts perform at 7:30pm at Arts Hub

“NATURAL, LIKE THE SONGS WERE ALWAYS THERE”
“AN INTROSPECTIVE ON LIFE”
“CLEAN AND CLEAR… RARE”
– FESTY GONUTS

WHILE THE 2020 PANDEMIC SPELLED DOOM AND GLOOM FOR MANY A MUSICIAN, IT SIGNIFIED A NEW BEGINNING FOR BOULDER-BASED ROOTS ARTIST ANDREW MCCONATHY AND HIS BAND, DRUNKEN HEARTS.

THE GUITAR-PLAYING FRONTMAN, LEAD SINGER AND PRIMARY SONGWRITER OF THE GROUP KNOWN AS DRUNKEN HEARTS INITIALLY THOUGHT A WORLDWIDE CALAMITY MEANT THE BEGINNING OF THE END TO A CAREER HE’S PURSUED SINCE 2010. THEN AN ANGEL OF MERCY FROM HIS PAST EMERGED, GIVING HIM A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT IN HIS LIFE AND HIS SONGS. MCCONATHY’S STORY OF GIVE AND TAKE, RISE AND FALL, AND HOPE LOST AND FOUND GETS THE PERSONAL TREATMENT ON RECKLESS WAYS OF LIVING, HIS NEW ALBUM COMING OUT JUNE 9, WITH A RELEASE SHOW ON JUNE 10 AT MEOW WOLF IN DENVER.

ALONG THE WAY TO THIS CAREER RESURGENCE, MCCONATHY DECIDED TO DROP THE THREE-LETTER WORD FROM HIS BAND’S NAME, EVEN GOING SOLO AS ANDREW MCCONATHY FOR A SHORT TIME. PREVIOUSLY PRESIDING OVER A GROUP OF EVER-CHANGING MEMBERS THROUGH 2019, HIS EVOLUTION CONTINUES AS ESSENTIALLY A ONE-MAN BAND THAT ENLISTS GUEST PLAYERS IN THE STUDIO OR ON THE ROAD WHEN HE NEEDS THEM. “THE PANDEMIC REALLY TORE THE DOORS OFF OF ‘THE’ DRUNKEN HEARTS,” MCCONATHY MAINTAINS.

“IT’S DIFFICULT TO MAKE THIS AN ACTUAL CAREER THAT PAYS THE BILLS,” MCCONATHY CONCEDES. “EVEN BEFORE COVID-19, I COULD HAVE FINALLY GIVEN UP AFTER DEALING WITH SEVERAL TRAGIC EXPERIENCES,” SUCH AS THE 2014 DEATH OF TED WELLES, THE DRUNKEN HEARTS’ COFOUNDING MEMBER AND DRUMMER. YET, WHILE HIS BAND LINEUP CONTINUED TO CHANGE DURING THE PANDEMIC, MCCONATHY WORKED AS A SECURITY GUARD AT A HEMP FARM IN LONGMONT, COLORADO, TO MAKE ENDS MEET WHILE KEEPING HIS DREAM ALIVE. “THE ODDS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OVERWHELMING,” HE LAUGHS. “I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE ROLLED OVER A LONG TIME AGO.” INSTEAD, A RENEWED SENSE OF FAITH IN HIS ABILITIES AND SONGS FOLLOWED. FINDING ANOTHER ALBUM WITHIN AS THE PANDEMIC DUST CLEARED, MCCONATHY REALIZED, “THERE IS SOMETHING CATHARTIC ABOUT PUTTING EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE INTO SOMETHING.”

AFTER RELEASING ALIVE ‘N FREE (WITH MUSIC FROM 2019 TOUR STOPS) ON JANUARY 15, 2021, THEN THE WILDFLOWER SESSIONS EP ON FEBRUARY 4, 2022, MCCONATHY BASICALLY RELIED ON A NEW CAST OF CHARACTERS WITH A FEW FAMILIAR FOLKS — AND LOTS OF LUCK, HAPPENSTANCE, AND SERENDIPITY. CALLING RECKLESS WAYS OF LIVING “A LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO PRESERVE MY DREAM IN THIS MUSICAL LIFE, A LA STURGILL SIMPSON’S HIGH TOP MOUNTAIN,” HE REITERATES “EVERY LAST DOLLAR AND EVERY ATOM OF MY BEING” WENT INTO THIS ALBUM.

MCCONATHY AND HIS FUTURE PRODUCER/COWRITER DAVE PAHANISH, WHO HAS PENNED NO. 1 BILLBOARD COUNTRY SINGLES FOR THE LIKES OF TOBY KEITH, KEITH URBAN, AND JIMMY WAYNE, DIDN’T KNOW EACH OTHER UNTIL A MUTUAL CONNECTION PUT THEM TOGETHER. IN JANUARY 2021, MCCONATHY INITIALLY PLANNED TO CELEBRATE THE 90TH BIRTHDAY OF HIS GRANDMOTHER, BETTYE MCCONATHY, WITH OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS IN NASHVILLE. HE WAS LOOKING TO LINE UP A SHOW OF HIS OWN SO THEY COULD SEE HIM PERFORM AS PART OF THE WEEKEND’S FESTIVITIES.

SEEKING ASSISTANCE, HE TURNED TO HIS AGENT DEREK SMITH, A FORMER DRUMMER WHOSE SUGGESTION WAS AN OLD FRIEND FROM THEIR HIGH SCHOOL PUNK BAND DAYS IN MCMURRAY, PENNSYLVANIA — PAHANISH. AFTER THE OMICRON VARIANT INTERRUPTED THOSE BIRTHDAY PLANS, PAHANISH MADE UP FOR THE FAILED ATTEMPT BY PRESENTING MCCONATHY WITH A PROMISING PROFESSIONAL OFFER — A SONGWRITING SESSION AT HIS HOME IN LEBANON, TENNESSEE, A SHORT DRIVE FROM NASHVILLE. APPRECIATING THE INVITATION AND THE HELP, MCCONATHY QUICKLY WAS IMPRESSED WITH HIS NEWFOUND COLLABORATOR’S WRITING ABILITIES AFTER LISTENING TO “WITHOUT YOU,” A POPULAR SINGLE THAT URBAN PUT ON HIS 2010 ALBUM GET CLOSER. “I THOUGHT THE SONG WAS GREAT,” MCCONATHY NOTES. “I READ ABOUT [PAHANISH’S] INSPIRATION THROUGH THE SONG. IT WAS ABOUT HIS WIFE, ABOUT HIS FAMILY, AND ALL THESE THINGS. … I PUT TOGETHER … MY VERSION OF THAT.”

THEIR PARTNERSHIP YIELDED RESULTS THE FIRST TIME THEY GOT TOGETHER LAST JUNE TO WRITE “FALLING STARS.” THE MOVING SONG ABOUT FALLOUT FROM “LIVING FAST, DYING HARD” WAS COMPLETED “IN MAYBE TWO HOURS, MAYBE LESS,” ACCORDING TO MCCONATHY, AND WOUND UP AS RECKLESS WAYS OF LIVING’S SECOND CUT. PAHANISH AGREED TO PRODUCE, ENGINEER AND MIX THE ALBUM AT HIS PANFISH STUDIOS, DESCRIBING IT AS “A REALLY TRIPPY, PSYCHEDELIC BARN” ON HIS PROPERTY. MCCONATHY SUPPLIED HIS BRAWNY BARITONE VOICE THAT HAS DRAWN COMPARISONS TO EDDIE VEDDER. HE ALSO DISCOVERED “A PHENOMENAL MUSICIAN” IN PAHANISH, WHO PLAYED ACOUSTIC GUITAR, BASS, MELLOTRON AND PERCUSSION.

THEY ULTIMATELY SHARED SONGWRITING CREDITS ON ALL 10 TRACKS, WITH THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT’S KEITH MOSELEY (“NEVER SAY GOODBYE”), AND LEFTOVER SALMON’S VINCE HERMAN (“100 PROOF”) ASSISTING ON ONE TRACK EACH. MCCONATHY CONTENDS THE FINAL PRODUCT IS “OUR BEST YET,” ADDING, “I THINK I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GO MORE FOR THAT, I DON’T WANT TO SAY POP COUNTRY, BUT MORE LIKE OUTLAW COUNTRY, AMERICANA. … THE SONGS ARE REASONABLY MORE OF AN HONEST REPRESENTATION OF ME AS A SONGWRITER. … AND I THINK DAVE’S PRODUCTION STYLE IS GREAT.” HERMAN’S NAME FIRST CAME UP AS PAHANISH GAVE MCCONATHY A RIDE TO THE AIRPORT IN HIS PICKUP TRUCK AFTER THAT JUNE WRITING SESSION. THE PRODUCER ASKED HIS NEW COWRITING PARTNER, “HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE BAND CALLED LEFTOVER SALMON?” MCCONATHY RECALLED WITH A LAUGH. “I’M LIKE, ‘YEAH, I WAS A ROOMMATE WITH THE BANJO PLAYER. … AND I’M PLAYING WITH VINCE’S SON [SILAS] TOMORROW.”

THAT BIT OF COINCIDENCE FURTHER TIGHTENED THEIR BOND WITH VINCE HERMAN, LEFTOVER SALMON’S COFOUNDER AND ACOUSTIC GUITARIST. PAHANISH COWROTE A COUPLE OF SONGS FOR VINCE’S NEW SOLO ALBUM, ENJOY THE RIDE, INCLUDING THE TITLE TRACK. SO NATURALLY, PAHANISH AND MCCONATHY TALKED VINCE INTO WRITING “100 PROOF” WITH THEM. MEANWHILE, SILAS HERMAN, WHO LIVES IN BOULDER, CONTRIBUTED A SCINTILLATING MANDOLIN ON THAT COUNTRY FOOT-STOMPER AND TWO OTHER SONGS. VINCE HERMAN GOT INTO THE INSTRUMENTAL MIX, TOO, ADDING KAZOO AND WASHBOARD ON ANOTHER PLAYFUL AND RAUCOUS TRACK, “POPCORNIN’ PERCOCETS.” ANOTHER JOINT VENTURE WAS FINDING MORE FEATURED GUEST ARTISTS, INCLUDING AMERICAN AQUARIUM’S NEIL JONES (WHO EXCELS THROUGHOUT ON PEDAL STEEL), INTERNATIONAL BANJO CHAMPION KYLE TUTTLE (MOLLY TUTTLE & GOLDEN HIGHWAY), AND LINDSAY LOU (BACKING VOCALS) ON “FOREVER HIGHWAY,” AND FIDDLER JASON CARTER (DEL MCCOURY BAND) ON “DARK TIMES.”

MCCONATHY UTILIZED LONGTIME DRUNKEN HEARTS DRUMMER ALEX JOHNSON, WHO MOVED FROM COLORADO TO NASHVILLE LAST JUNE, ALONG WITH SOME OF HIS MOST RECENT PLAYERS. JAMES DUMM (ELECTRIC GUITAR) AND TYLER ADAMS (KEYS/ORGAN) “ARE TWO OF THE HARDEST-WORKING MUSICIANS I’VE EVER SEEN,” THE BANDLEADER SAYS. WHILE DREW PACKARD HANDLES MOST OF THE BASS PLAYING, ADRIAN “ACE” ENGFER HAPPENED TO BE IN TOWN TO RECORD TWO SONGS, BORROWING VINCE HERMAN’S UPRIGHT BASS FOR “DARK TIMES” AND PAHANISH’S ELECTRIC MUSTANG BASS ON “EVENTUALLY.”

“DARK TIMES” FITS A STEADY THEME THROUGHOUT THE RECORD, WITH MCCONATHY AIMING TO “STICK TO A MOTIF … TO HAVE SOME SORT OF COMMON THREAD” AS HE EXPLORES DEATH AND HIS OWN QUEST FOR REDEMPTION. ON ALBUM OPENER “NEVER SAY GOODBYE,” HE ADDRESSES “THE REMAINS OF MY ROWDY WAYS.” THE LOVE-GONE-WRONG SONG “FALL FROM GRACE” REMEMBERS WHEN “OUR LOVE WAS A SPARK / WE WATCHED IT BURN AWAY.” YET IT’S ON “GOOD GRACES” WHERE THE LYRICS DIG DEEPER EMOTIONALLY, EVEN IF THE SONG HAS WHAT MCCONATHY CALLS “THIS WEIRD DROPKICK MURPHYS, IRISH BOB DYLAN” KIND OF VIBE.

TO KNOW LAUGHTER AND SADNESS FROM DYIN’ UNFORGIVEN / AND THE LOOK ON ALL THOSE BASTARDS FACES THRU REDEMPTION AND REDUCTION AND THESE RECKLESS WAYS OF LIVING IN THE END I HOPE TO LEAVE YOU IN GOOD GRACES — LYRICS FROM “GOOD GRACES”

THE PAINFUL NARRATIVE GOES BACK ALMOST 10 YEARS TO OCTOBER 25, 2014. THAT’S WHEN TED WELLES, THE DRUNKEN HEARTS’ DRUMMER WHEN THEY FORMED AS AN ACOUSTIC TRIO IN 2010, DIED JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS AFTER MCCONATHY FIRED HIM. HE WAS ONLY 34, HIS LONE STUDIO PERFORMANCE WITH THE BAND HEARD ON THEIR DEBUT ALBUM — 2012’S LIVE FOR TODAY.

“WE WERE VERY, VERY, VERY CLOSE FRIENDS,” OFFERS MCCONATHY, WHO STILL CAN’T COMPREHEND THAT SENSELESS TRAGEDY. “[TEDDY] DIDN’T NECESSARILY HAVE THE DRIVE, OR THE NEED THAT I HAD, TO MAKE MUSIC HIS LIFE. HE WAS TOTALLY CONTENT WHERE HE WAS … WHICH, LOOKING BACK, SHOULD HAVE BEEN OK. THERE WERE THINGS HE DIDN’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THAT I HAD TO WORRY ABOUT. WHEREAS THERE WERE THINGS HE HAD TO WORRY ABOUT THAT I DIDN’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT. I THINK ABOUT HIM EVERY DAY, AS WELL AS SEVERAL OTHERS WE HAVE LOST ALONG THE WAY, ALMOST EVERY TIME I PICK UP THE GUITAR.” FROM THAT POINT, MCCONATHY VOWED TO TAKE HIS MUSIC FROM A PASSIONATE HOBBY TO “MY REAL PROFESSION. TO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. … THAT PART OF IT CERTAINLY HAS BEEN A STRUGGLE,” WHILE TRYING TO “KEEP MY EYES ON THE PRIZE [THE BAND’S SECOND FULL-LENGTH ALBUM].”

MCCONATHY KNOWS HOW TO COMPETE, THOUGH. GROWING UP IN VAIL, HE EARNED A JUNIOR OLYMPIC SUPER-G TITLE IN HIGH SCHOOL, THEN WENT TO MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE IN VERMONT, WHERE HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE DIVISION I SKI TEAM. “HALFWAY THROUGH MY FRESHMAN YEAR, I DECIDED, ‘WELL, I DON’T THINK SPORTS ARE FOR ME,’” HE SAYS WITH A LAUGH. SEEKING ADVICE VIA EMAILS WITH GRATEFUL DEAD LYRICIST ROBERT HUNTER, HE SOON DECIDED TO BECOME A MUSICIAN, TAKING A HIATUS FROM COLLEGE AND MOVING FROM HIS GOAL TO “FINISH THIS GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL THAT I HAD BEEN WRITING FOR THE LAST THREE OR FOUR YEARS,” TO WRITING AND PLAYING SONGS.

“I LOVE MUSIC, I LOVE WRITING, I LOVE PLAYING THE GUITAR,” HE CONFIDES, CREDITING SCOTT LAW FOR TEACHING HIM THE INSTRUMENT AFTER THEY MET IN 2006. BY 2010, HE BEGAN “PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER TO MAKE A BAND,” GAINING CONFIDENCE BY WRITING “DEAN MORIARTY’S BLUES.” THE CHARACTER BASED ON NEAL CASSADY FROM JACK KEROUAC’S ON THE ROAD REPRESENTED SOME TOUGH TIMES IN MCCONATHY’S PAST, AND HE WROTE LYRICS THAT CERTAINLY COULD HAVE APPLIED TO HIS OWN LIFE:
HERE I AM WITH MY HEAD IN MY HANDS / JUST ONE MAN TRYING TO MAKE A STAND
I WONDER IF I’LL EVER MAKE IT HOME AGAIN
— LYRICS FROM “DEAN MORIARTY’S BLUES”

THE DRUNKEN HEARTS’ IDENTITY CHANGED WITHOUT WELLES, MORPHING FROM A COUNTRIFIED TRIO INTO A QUIRKY, HARDER-HITTING QUINTET. THEY RELEASED STUDIO ALBUMS IN 2016 (LOVE & THIRST EP), 2018 (THE PRIZE) AND 2019 (WHEELS OF THE CITY), AND SHARED STAGES DURING THOSE YEARS WITH THE LIKES OF MUMFORD & SONS, BILLY STRINGS, GREENSKY BLUEGRASS, THE REVIVALISTS, STEVIE WONDER, AND MAVIS STAPLES, AMONG OTHERS.

IN 2020, THE BAND TOOK AN ILL-TIMED HIATUS IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY. BY MARCH, INEVITABLY, THE CORONAVIRUS INVASION ONLY MAGNIFIED MCCONATHY’S STRUGGLE TO STAY AFLOAT AS BANDLEADER AND KING OF DRUNKEN HEARTS. ALL PLANS WERE PUT ON HOLD INDEFINITELY BY A DISEASE NO ONE SAW COMING. “NOTHING LIKE TAKING TIME OFF BEFORE THE TIME OFF,” MCCONATHY ASSERTS IRONICALLY. WITH THE REST OF THE YEAR CANCELED, IT WAS TOO LATE TO FORMULATE A PLAN B. EXACERBATING HIS SITUATION, THE BAND’S FOUR CORE MEMBERS — ALL ORIGINALLY FROM OUTSIDE COLORADO — DEPARTED FOR VARIOUS REASONS FROM DECEMBER 2019 TO JUNE 2022. MCCONATHY WAS A RULER WITHOUT A KINGDOM.

“I MISS THE BROTHERHOOD OF THAT [GROUP DYNAMIC]. IT’S DIFFERENT NOW. IT’S MUCH MORE OF A JOB,” MCCONATHY STATES. WITH EVERY ENJOYABLE MOMENT, LIKE THEIR 2018 APPEARANCE AT THE ONE AND ONLY GRANDOOZY FESTIVAL IN DENVER, “THERE WAS A CAMARADERIE THAT CAME WITH IT” THAT WAS “ENTERTAINING TO WATCH, BUT YOU WERE ALMOST CRINGING. YOU WERE LIKE, ‘IS THIS TRAIN GONNA CRASH?’ … THAT WAS REALLY FUN,” HE REFLECTS. “… NOT AS FUN NOW. … BUT I THINK THAT THOSE [FUN] DAYS WILL RETURN, COULD RETURN.”

RECKLESS WAYS OF LIVING IS CERTAINLY A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, ESPECIALLY WITH STIRRING SONGS LIKE “THE BRIGHT,” ANOTHER ONE HE WROTE “SPECIFICALLY ABOUT PEOPLE IN MY LIFE THAT I’VE LOST.” IT INCLUDES LYRICS ADAPTED FROM A SERMON DURING HIS GRANDFATHER’S 2022 FUNERAL IN SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, WHERE MCCONATHY WAS BORN. REMEMBERING MILTON CHAPMAN (WHO PASSED DUE TO COMPLICATIONS FROM COVID) AS “A LEGENDARY PHYSICIAN AND TRUE HERO,” HE HONORS “ONE MAN DESTINED TO WIN” WITH THE LOVELY TRACK, WHICH INCLUDES BACKING VOCALS FROM PAHANISH’S WIFE KRISTIN IN A CHOIR-LIKE SETTING. WHILE ADMITTING HE “WASN’T EXTREMELY CLOSE WITH GRANDADDY” AND “WE DIDN’T REALLY SPEAK FOR A COUPLE YEARS AT ONE POINT,” MCCONATHY STILL FOUND A WAY TO PAY HIS RESPECTS THROUGH SONG. THAT’S DESPITE KNOWING HIS DECISION 20 YEARS AGO TO LEAVE COLLEGE (IF ONLY TEMPORARILY) FURTHER DAMAGED THEIR FRACTURED KINSHIP. HIS VOICE DRIPPING WITH EMOTION, “THE BRIGHT” OPENS WITH THESE LINES:
WHEN THE LIGHT IS DIM / AND DEATH’S BY MY SIDE
TO WALK AMONG THE ANGELS / AND SING WITH THE CHOIR
A BRUSH OF FEATHERS / THE FLUTTER OF WINGS
A TOUCH OF GOLDEN HEAVEN / NO PAIN, NO SIN
— LYRICS FROM “THE BRIGHT”

WHILE “GOOD GRACES” IS MCCONATHY’S FAVORITE RECKLESS WAYS OF LIVING TRACK, “THE BRIGHT” HAS HIT CLOSEST TO HOME FOR HIS MOM, TRICIA MCCONATHY, WHO “CRIES EVERY TIME SHE HEARS IT NOW,” HE DIVULGES. PERHAPS IT’S FITTING THAT THERE’S A TIGHTER FAMILY CONNECTION IN 2023. ALONG WITH A JUNE ALBUM RELEASE FOLLOWING HIS APRIL WEDDING, THE BOLD, BOOMING VOICE SERVING AS THE COMEBACK KING OF DRUNKEN HEARTS CAN START SINGING ABOUT A NEW LEASE ON LIFE. AFTER ALL, MCCONATHY IS FINDING PEACE, REDEMPTION, AND RESOLUTION, FIRMLY BELIEVING THE ONCE-TATTERED RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS GRANDFATHER IS NOW BLESSED BY THAT HEROIC HEALER WALKING AMONG THE ANGELS.
— MICHAEL BIALAS / FEBRUARY 2023