New album Married Alone, out September 23rd via Thirty Tigers
Produced by Paul Cauthen and The Texas Gentlemen’s Beau Bedford
First single “A Song Can’t Fix Everything,” Co-Written with Lori McKenna and featuring Paul Cauthen, out now.
Listen here: https://orcd.co/marriedalone / MP3 / WAV
UK Tour Dates in August
“Sunny Sweeney is a woman that has a lot to say, I knew that from the beginning. The opportunity [to produce] arose from heaven’s gates. I believe truth and honesty outweighs any sex or genre. This is undeniable…don’t put it in a box and if you do, the box is Sunny’s. Listen to what is real.” -Paul Cauthen
“I was stepping into the elevator at my hotel as we were leaving Chicago after a great run, and this title popped into my head,” says prolific songwriter and singer Sunny Sweeney of her new tune “A Song Can’t Fix Everything.” Sweeney, an artist known for her uncanny ability to straddle the line of demarcation between Texas Country and Nashville Americana, recounts the lightbulb moment, saying, “Despite the fact that music is so special to me, and always has been, and can lift me up and bring me out of a funk, I was having a shitty day. I only wanted to stay in bed and listen to Tom Petty.” What she and Lori McKennawrote in the final version of “A Song Can’t Fix Everything” is at once uplifting and heartbreaking. “That song can’t bring my mother back to life,” Sweeney sings at the song’s start, before recounting the many ways that music may be able to transport us to the past but can never fix it. “It’s about just trying to find those three minutes of happiness you get relating to something and taking yourself out of your everyday life,” says Sweeney. “Letting yourself slip away, it can feel like it’s going to be ok, even if, ultimately, it may not be.” Sweeney is joined on vocals by the song and album’s co-producer, beloved Texas musician, and larger-than-life personality Paul Cauthen.
“A Song Can’t Fix Everything” is the first single from Sweeney’s upcoming album Married Alone—out on September 23rd via Thirty Tigers. Produced by Cauthen and the Texas Gentlemen’s multi-hyphenate Beau Bedford, Married Alone is Sweeney’s finest work yet, bringing together confessional songwriting, image-rich narratives, and no shortage of sonic surprises for a loosely conceptual album about loss and healing. Recorded at Dallas’s Modern Electric Sound Recorders and was mixed by the whole team with the help of Jeff Saenz—beloved Dallas-based producer and owner of Modern Electric—upon his unbelievable return to work after being electrocuted in a freak accident. Fans can listen to “A Song Can’t Fix Everything” now at this link and pre-order or pre-save Married Alone ahead of its release: https://orcd.co/marriedalone
Sweeney will visit the UK for shows in August including The Long Road and Millport Festivals and a stop at London’s Islington Academy. Dates are as follows:
19/8 – Millport Country Music Festival – Millport, UK
26/8 – The Long Road Festival – Bottesford, UK
30/8 – O2 Academy Islington – London, UK
More information/tickets: sunnysweeney.com/tour
In addition to the release of Married Alone, Sweeney has a song featured in the upcoming film VENGEANCE, the directorial debut from writer and star B.J. Novak (The Office). She is currently on tour in the US. A full list of tour dates can be found atsunnysweeney.com/tour.
More About Married Alone:
Opener “Tie Me Up” declares that, despite its loose theme, Married Alone is not a somber record, with Sweeney in full spitfire mode and cheekily declaring to a would-be suitor, “You can tie me up, but baby you can’t tie me down.” Cauthen’s and Bedford’s production especially shines on the track, which would sound at home at a roadside juke joint or in front of thousands of fans at a festival.
Cauthen joins Sweeney on the aforementioned “A Song Can’t Fix Everything,” one of the album’s rawer moments. “Want You to Miss Me” is an honest take on the complexities of a difficult breakup, with Sweeney’s nimble vocal wavering between defiance and doubt. “Easy as Hello” is Sweeney’s writing at its finest, channeling the heartache that comes with the end of a treasured relationship, for a track that recalls—vocally and lyrically—the work of Stevie Nicks.
“Someday You’ll Call My Name” reads like a break-up kiss-off—and it’s a great one, at that—but the song, pulled from Sweeney’s vault, was originally inspired by her early days as a musician, longing to be recognized by major country institutions like the Grand Ole Opry. She and co-writer Brennen Leigh reworked their 10-year-old version of the track to better fit Married Alone, and that session helped set the tone for what would become the full album.
The full potential of the album really revealed itself, though, when a friend sent Sweeney a demo of what would become its title track, “Married Alone.” Though she wasn’t a co-writer on the track, Sweeney felt her own story reflected in its lyrics. The song, which features a particularly emotional guest vocal from living country legend Vince Gill, charts the painful moments sometimes experienced in marriages that have run their course. “There may be rings on our fingers, but we’re married alone,” she and Gill sing, over weeping pedal steel and reverbed guitar.
“My jaw hit the floor when I heard that song, because I had just gone through my second divorce, which is also cliche of a country singer,” Sweeney says, with a laugh. “I was still pretty raw about my divorce, but also very candid and trying to find levity in the situation. You have to be able to laugh at yourself at some point and not let it just totally get you down.” A few months after securing the song and mining her own vault for a tracklist, Sweeney traveled to Dallas, TX, to record—alongside Cauthen and Bedford—what would become Married Alone.
Married Alone track listing:
Tie Me Up (Sunny Sweeney/Buddy Owens/Galen Griffin)
Easy As Hello (Sunny Sweeney/Lori McKenna/Heather Morgan)
Married Alone ft. Vince Gill (Hannah Blaylock/Josh Morningstar/Autumn McEntire)
Someday You’ll Call My Name (Sunny Sweeney/Brennen Leigh)
How’d I End Up Lonely Again (Sunny Sweeney/Channing Wilson/Josh Morningstar)
A Song Can’t Fix Everything ft. Paul Cauthen (Sunny Sweeney/Lori McKenna)
Want You To Miss Me (Sunny Sweeney/Caitlyn Smith)
Wasting One On You (Sunny Sweeney/Buddy Owens/Monty Holmes)
Fool Like Me (Waylon Payne/Kendell Marvel)
All I Don’t Need (Sunny Sweeney/Lori McKenna)
Leaving Is My Middle Name (Sunny Sweeney/ Buddy Owens/Galen Griffin/Scotch Taylor)
Still Here (Sunny Sweeney/Lori McKenna)
More About Sunny Sweeney:
Sunny Sweeney is a country and Americana artist from Texas, currently based in Nashville, TN. Her latest album is Married Alone, a raw, vulnerable exploration of loss, grief, and healing, recorded in Dallas, TX, and co-produced by fellow country artist Paul Cauthen and The Texas Gentlemen’s Beau Bedford. Sweeney debuted in 2006 with the acclaimed Heartbreaker’s Hall of Fame, which announced her as an important new voice in country and Americana songwriting. 2011’s Concrete produced the top 40 country singles “From a Table Away,” “Staying’s Worse Than Leaving” and “Drink Myself Single,” and led to a Top Female Artist nomination at the 2013 ACM Awards. Sweeney continued to expand upon the traditional-leaning, forward-thinking sound of her earlier work with 2014’s Provoked and 2017’s Trophy, both of which earned Sweeney rave reviews across the country and roots communities.