PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island – Jake Hunsinger and the Rock Bottom Band releases their upcoming Americana single, “Lorelai” on August 18. It’s off the album, Wrapped Around the Axle, due out on September 23 through Hobo Castle Records. The song contains references to Gilmore Girls and Letterkenny, the former for character traits and the latter for wordplay. It explores the deep exhaustion within loneliness and the absolute rejection of it in order to give yourself to another, to be vulnerable and ultimately happy.
Hunsinger wrote the lead single off the album after watching Gilmore Girls with his mother. Hunsinger says, “I’ve always loved the name Lorelai and in the show, her push and pull relationship with Luke was really touching and as beautiful as it was humorous. What I strive to do in my songs is to lock into the natural humor that exists alongside intense emotion, which is key to human nature.” It plays out as a mostly one-sided conversation between the roving lonely character and Lorelai, who has to listen to him. Pairing the album title with the Letterkenny quote, the last verse encapsulates the album: “You’ve got me wrapped around the axle, but as sure as God wears sandals, I’ll be staying in your bed instead of mine.” Lauren King provides the backing vocals while essentially playing the role of the character “Lorelai.”
Wrapped Around the Axle represents three years’ worth of growth as a person pursuing peace of mind. The album expresses the internal conflict with the human condition, pushing and pulling between one’s best and worst self. Hunsinger says, “Jake Hunsinger, at least in the context of this album, is lonely, angry, selfish, & insecure. He also tries very hard to be kind, understanding, calm, and thoughtful. When these two sides come into conflict, he gets stuck and ‘wrapped around the axle.’”
The album was produced by Grammy-nominated producer and engineer George Dussault, who has been with the band since their first release in 2019. Chris Brooks, Ben Richard, and Lauren King provided pedal steel, fiddle, and background vocals.
Wrapped Around the Axle Track Listing
- Siddhartha
- Wild Horses of Wyoming
- Black Eye Shadow Stomp
- The Day My Life Began
- I Remember Everything
- Lorelai
- Moving Without Me
- The Mess Around
- Keep Me In Mind
- Jeopardy
The four members of Providence, Rhode Island’s Jake Hunsinger & The Rock Bottom Band are self-described “history nerds to the extreme.” It’s no wonder this historical influence would inform a sound that often looks back to move its American roots forward in an inventive, progressive form. Jake Hunsinger (lead singer and writer), Andrew Donnelly (lead guitar), Zack Wedge (drums), and Jamie Doyle (bass) make a focused effort to understand music history to create something entirely new. His singing attempts to deconstruct and understand how country music has been sung, tracing a line from Vernon Dalhart and Jimmie Rodgers, to Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, to George Jones and Garth Brooks. Wedge is a jazz drummer who behaves much the same way as Hunsinger about his craft, trying to understand the cultures and history of the art of drumming as well as the people who played it. Their inspiration extends beyond musical history to a geographical and cultural blend of genres. Rollicking musical arrangements, dynamic jazz, Latin-inspired grooves, and tight hillbilly vocal harmonies support Hunsinger’s high lonesome crooning to blend the traditional with the experimental. Doyle’s inventive bass lines bridge the gap between Hunsinger’s country writing and Wedge’s blend of Latin, jazz, and New Orleans rhythms. At the same time, Donnelly’s ear for harmony expands the songs into a range of lushness to high and lonesome backdrops.