GAVIN DEGRAW RELEASES HIS NEW ALBUM “CHARIOT 20”

Track List
1. Follow Through (Chariot 20)
2. Chariot (Chariot 20)
3. Just Friends (Chariot 20)
4. (Nice To Meet You) Anyway (Chariot 20)
5. Chemical Party (Chariot 20)
6. Belief (Chariot 20)
7. Crush (Chariot 20)
8. I Don’t Want To Be (Chariot 20)​
9. Meaning (Chariot 20)
10. More Than Anyone (Chariot 20)
11. Over-Rated (Chariot 20)
12. Get Lost (Chariot 20)
13. Love Is Stronger (Alright) (Chariot 20)

CUT X CUT (Audio)

Gavin DeGraw – “Follow Through (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
What I loved about the recording of “Follow Through” is, just it was just so vocally intimate. The way the song begins. It’s so personal. Setting up a story and with a, you know, the opening line, “oh, this is the start of something good” and leaving lots of room for that to exist, you know, because you’re waiting. What is it? Right. Start of what? Right and all the instrumentation was just built so beautifully around the, built so beautifully around that the meaning of the song, you know, it just it just flows, man.

Gavin DeGraw – “Chariot (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
“Chariot” for me was a very, very heavy song because I, I had written it, after going upstate. I was living in New York City at the time, and I went upstate because I was just frustrated, and, have heard my mom, said “why don’t you come upstate for couple days, and you sound really frustrated”. You know, I was broke. I wasn’t getting gigs, you know, and I was just gettin’ kicked in life. I was like, yeah, all right, all right. I went upstate and I went to a church one night in the backwoods, you know, up where I live. I saw a guest speaker, and he got up and he was so intense, you know, this traveling preacher, you know, and he was singing all this stuff, and then next thing you know, like I’m on, you know, I’m standing up there and he’s praying over me. It’s a whole heavy thing. You know, and, and, I went home, to that house I grew up in after that, after that church at night. And I wrote, I started writing Chariot. Just like that. You know, and it was based on all these biblical stories, you know, and somehow I had commercial success with this song. I didn’t, you know, focus on the, religious element out talking about the song. I just played the song, you know, because it was a really, the song was fundamentally about simplifying your life and maybe going back and rerecording the song in this way. Is giving it that more. Natural, approach, you know?

Gavin DeGraw – “Just Friends (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
I wrote “Just Friends” out of jealousy. As you can tell by the lyrics, and I think that at the same time, jealousy and also vulnerability. I think those pretty much go hand in hand. You know, your insecurities, lead to your other problems. And we all have. We all have those, but there’s a therapy thing, about about making music or any art, really and, it’s very therapeutic for me. Even more therapeutic than drinking and songwriting. Songwriting is a is an an excellent free therapy session, with yourself or with other people. You know, being being able to take your feelings, put them on the coffee table, make them rhyme, keep them within about 3.5 minutes, you know, and then close your notebook and go. “Cool. What? What’s my problem tomorrow? Right. I’ll write that on the next page”.

Gavin DeGraw – “(Nice to Meet You) Anyway (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
“(Nice to Meet You) Anyway” is, it’s about resisting temptation and, and trying to have relationship. Trying to be trying to be decent in a relationship. And, I think that’s a pretty, pretty normal struggle. Everyone everyone has those. And, trying to trying to, be sincere and be true. Is is, is a human a human? Grind. You know, it’s it’s an a normal grind. So it was a it was about trying to maintain some level of purity, and, you know, when you’re writing songs and, I don’t think it’s healthy to write, about being the best all the time. As a songwriter, I think, I think writing about, you know, some of your issues and where you fail, it’s all healthy. Just keeps you realistic.

Gavin DeGraw – “Chemical Party (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
“Chemical Party” was, you know, just, got a song about, about somebody ruining the party, someone, you know, we all have that friend who overdoes it, right, and, and some of us have been the friend who has overdone it. I’ve overdone it. So just writing a song about. Hey, man, you can party, but you might, you might not want to be the one who overdoes it when you go to the party, because you’re going to ruin the party for everybody. That’s really what Chemical Party is about.

Gavin DeGraw – “Belief (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
“Belief” is about having someone in your life, who who sticks up for you and, we all we all need somebody like that. You know, sometimes we need to be somebody like that for somebody else. Yeah. That’s what that’s what that song is about and, that lyric has aged really well from that. That song. Yeah. I mean, I still really feel a lyric like that.

Gavin DeGraw – ” Crush (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
“Crush” is almost like a puppy love lyric. You know, having a crush on somebody, it’s very youthful, way to put it. We recut that, of course and I actually think we put a nice, sweet, sonic, touch to that song that makes it sound, you know, really keeps it sounding like that youthful perspective. There’s an innocence about the recording of that particular song on this. This record sounds like a crush, which is cool.

Gavin DeGraw – “I Don’t Want To Be (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
Well, regarding this song,”I Don’t Want To Be” as far as all the other songs that are on the record. There’s one particularly important word in the chorus of “I Don’t Want To Be”, which is the word lately. The word lately was important that I put that in for me. I thought, well, I don’t want to have to. If someone says, oh, well, you used to do this, and now you’re such and such doing that. That’s why I wrote that word lately and because I knew that over time, you can, there’s going to be some changes in your mentality or, your perspective. I mean, if I thought exactly like I did when I wrote that song, if I still felt exactly like that right now, I’d say that then there was no personal growth. There should be, hopefully some level of personal growth, you know, not that not that I’m like the be all, end all example of any of that stuff. That’s not me at all, but, you know, from 20 years ago, that would be the most important word in that whole song.

Gavin DeGraw – “Meaning (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
Meaning sounds like one of the sexier, songs on the on the record. Just soulful, drum and bass sort of approach. For this, for this particular song on this particular record, which I think added, more of a sultriness to the to the song. Then, then maybe I was bringing to it prior with, with just the way I was singing the melody. I’m singing it a little, more intimately on this record so that mixture of the vocal approach with, with, with the production, you know, the way the drums are playing and, and, just the whole, the whole thing. It almost feels, a little bit like the more like the, the D’Angelo voodoo record, you know, just a different kind of thing. It’s really, really sultry.

Gavin DeGraw – “More Than Anyone (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
“More Than Anyone” man the the newer, the latest production of that, the latest version of that on this record on Chariot 20 is, I don’t know, man. It’s just maybe it has a little more rhythm to it. It’s almost, almost feels a little bit like an Elton record. That particular, that particular version of it, but an earlier Elton record, it just feels so soulful and, honest. Yeah, I just I just love the way it came out. I’m just so, so pleased with, with all of the overall sound of this record and the performance of it feels good.

Gavin DeGraw – “Get Lost (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
“Get Lost” originally lived on only a, international release and, this record was an opportunity for me to create a version of it that that could be released in the US. The the context of the song. The meaning of the song is about going away together, you know, or just being away together. I want to get lost with you. I want to forget where I came from. I want to get lost with you. Can you help me along? Floating on an island with you? I want to get lost. Just the idea of somebody else being your escape, you know? I like the idea that it’s really soulful. It’s really, it’s almost like a Stevie Wonder song, you know? Which I think is really, really cool. It’s got it. It’s got a great rhythm.

Gavin DeGraw – “Love Is Stronger (Alright) (Chariot 20)” – Story Behind the Song
It’s a really pretty family type tune about how we get these different traits from different family members and, and, you know, sharing your stories with maybe with your siblings or other family members about who you look like and what they were like and how similar you may be to them or they are to you, and what you share together and how those things, can affect your your life and your fate and your trajectory and your ambition, you know? Or whatever that may be. Beyond that, you’re a more powerful force even than that genetics and and that type of thing is your, your love for each other that you love supersedes and is, more, more powerful. Then then you’re here and perhaps your inherited traits. So I like, I like the perspective that that song a lot because I think it, it reminds people that choice is greater than what you’re born into.