Big Red Machine by Graham Tolbert
“It was a high, high honor to work on this song, and beyond that it was a really interesting creative challenge,” Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold has said of working with Big Red Machine.
Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon have shared their new single Phoenix ahead of the release of the new Big Red Machine album How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? on August 27th.
As with much of the record, this single is a guest-laden affair, featuring contributions from Robin Pecknold and Anaïs Mitchell.
“Phoenix was one of the last songs we wrote for this record,” Dessner recalls. “I was thinking about The Band and the Grateful Dead…maybe imagining this Big Red Machine album was some version of The Last Waltz.”
“Justin first heard it while driving and immediately the chorus melody came into his head. I shared the sketch with Robin Pecknold, who I’ve been a fan of forever and who I’d been dreaming would join us on this record.”
“Robin wrote the verses and pre-chorus as a kind of dialogue with Justin, recalling a conversation they once had backstage in Phoenix. Later Anais wrote words to the chorus and the Westerlies added their magic to the instrumental.”
“JT Bates rumbles around in rare form on the drums on this song. I think it’s what I always imagined Big Red Machine would sound like.”