Bittersweet, TN : On making music videos

Today I share the new video for my song Bittersweet, TN.

Shot on location in Tennessee with director Cody Duncum starring myself and Erin Rae. I am so excited to now not only share some sonic space with Erin but some visual space as well. My girlfriend Katie styled this video and it also features our friend and very talented musician Rachel Baiman who plays fiddle both in the video as well as on the recording.

I have a strange relationship with music videos. I think every musician does. It feels like something we’re forced into to help promote our music that we’re not necessarily good at or have any real interest in. Suddenly you’re expected to act in front of a camera with zero acting ability. I think i’ve gotten better over the years but unless i’m singing a song I never feel quite comfortable and even when I am singing at camera I still feel awkward, especially if the videos being shot in a public space (a great example of this would be the video for my song Downtowns Lights where as I was filmed walking through the streets of Paris every passerby flipped me off and said ‘fuck you’ in french).

All this to say, I don’t usually like making music videos, but I loved making this one. I would put it in my top three favorite videos of mine - the others being the video for Dorothy and Campfire. When talking to Cody about my idea for this video I wanted to make something that represented both the prettiest and ugliest parts of the American, and Tennessee landscape. Often those ugly parts are the pretty parts. I wanted him to capture Erin and I singing amongst them.

During the first day, sleep deprived and all, we were filming in a beautiful creek under a canopy of trees. Shoes off, wading through the water and singing the song when suddenly a helicopter appeared right above the tree line. At first we didn’t pay the helicopter much mind until we were contacted by the property manager warning us that there was an active shooter situation at a school nearby and the shooter had run into the woods and we needed to hide. Almost comically - there was a sauna on the property that we all huddled in until the choppers left - apparently they caught the gunman - and we were able to resume shooting. Luckily no one was hurt. Another day in America, I suppose - very bittersweet, indeed. Laying in the creek after this experience felt rewarding, as the cool water calmed us down.

In the end i’m so happy with this video and grateful to everyone involved. One of my favorite parts about making videos is knowing that I can watch it when i’m old and remember that moment in my life. Already some of my older videos remind me just has much and just how quickly time has passed.

Cheers,

to time!

xoxo km

WATCH VIDEO HERE

and enjoy some BTS photos I took on my phone: