A reason so many of us fell in love with Country Music is the raw and personal storytelling. If you want a deep and relatable song for all the "small-towners" out there, Henry Conlon's single "Die Like A Poor Man" might be the one. The song is written by Henry and Zachary Scott Kline. It touches on how sometimes, people from small towns don't have a “ticket out” of their community. These folks aren’t able to pursue other opportunities to better their life, or perhaps get stuck in the mindset that they aren't allowed to leave. Some develop a sense of hometown pride and feel like they are needed and stay put. With each verse, you can hear the reality and truthfulness in Conlon's voice which helps bring this song to life. Two things I really love about Henry Conlon's music is that he brings his own sound to the table and that the production complements his voice and allows the story to shine through. "Die Like A Poor Man" was released on July 30th.
It’s been 5 years since they shut down the factory And 10 since that well had run dry I sold my soul for the American dream Now it feels like I'm buried alive Oh it feel like I'm buried alive
In this verse Zach and I really wanted to introduce the listener to the idea of life in the small forgotten towns of America. He and I have been spending a lot of time on the road recently and done some extensive traveling through the US in the past and you see a lot of these towns that lost the jobs and lost the hope and that spark because of it.
I worked too damn hard to die like poor man Chained to the land of the free I wasted my younger days hostage to fortune Believing that god cared for me
In the chorus we really wanted to have the questioning and the desperation of the story come through in the lyrics. The last thing we wanted to do was paint anybody in a negative light so we positioned it so that the idea of being cast aside by the very system and dream that the narrator had fought for leaves this emptiness in faith in both their god and their country.
This job never was a good living But round here it's a way of life You work til you die or you fight overseas To come home in a box made of pine Folded flag for the ones left behind
A lot of stories that come out of these forgotten towns really focus on that idea of “getting out” and making it somewhere else. For a lot of folks in a lot of places in this country that ticket out is the military and every day there are young men and women who give their life for that ticket out.