Then Came the Morning, the second album by the Southern-born, Brooklyn-based indie-folk trio the Lone Bellow, opens with a crest of churchly piano, a patter of drums, and a fanfare of voices harmonizing like a sunrise. It’s a powerful introduction, enormous and overwhelming, as Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist, and Kanene Pipkin testify mightily to life’s great struggles and joys, heralding the morning that dispels the dark night: “Then came the morning! It was bright, like the light that you kept from your smile!” Working with producer Aaron Dessner of the National, the Lone Bellow has created a sound that mixes folk sincerity, gospel fervor, even heavy metal thunder, but the heart of the band is harmony: three voices united in a lone bellow.
"The feeling I get singing with Zach and Brian is completely natural and wholly electrifying,” says Kanene. “Our voices feel like they were made to sing together."
Long before they combined their voices, the three members of the Lone Bellow were singing on their own. Brian had been writing and recording as a solo artist for more than a decade, with three albums under his own name. Kanene and her husband Jason were living in Beijing, China, hosting open mic nights, playing at local clubs and teaching music lessons. Zach began writing songs in the wake of a family tragedy: After his wife was thrown from a horse, he spent days in the hospital at her bedside, bracing for the worst news. The journal he kept during this period would eventually become his first batch of songs as a solo artist. Happily, his wife made a full recovery.
When Kanene’s brother asked her and Zach to sing “O Happy Day” together at his wedding, they discovered their voices fit together beautifully, but starting a band together seemed impossible when they lived on opposite sides of the world. Brian soon relocated to New York and Kanene moved there to attend culinary school a couple years later. The three got together in their new hometown to work on a few songs of Zach’s, he’d been chipping away at the scene as a solo artist for awhile by then. After hitting those first harmonies did they decide to abandon all other pursuits. Soon the trio was playing all over the city, although they considered Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side to be their home. They opened for the Civil Wars, Dwight Yokam, Brandi Carlile and the Avett Brothers, and their self-titled debut, produced by Nashville’s Charlie Peacock (the Civil Wars, Holly Williams) and released in January 2013, established them as one of the boldest new acts in the Americana movement.
After two hard years of constant touring, the band was exhausted but excited. By 2014, they had written nearly 40 songs on the road and were eager to get them down on tape. After putting together a list of dream producers, they reached out to their first choice, the National guitarist Aaron Dessner, who has helmed albums by the L.A. indie-rock group Local Natives and New York singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten.
“It occurred to me that it would be fun to get together and make music with them,” says Aaron. “My main interest in producing records is community and friendship more than making money. I already do a lot of traveling and working with the National, so when I have to time to work with other artists, it should be fun and meaningful.”
“Aaron is just so kind,” Zach says. “And he has surrounded himself with all these incredibly talented people, like Jonathan Low, the engineer. His brother Bryce [Dessner, also a guitarist for the National] wrote these amazing brass and string arrangements, and he got some of his friends to play with us.”
Dessner and the Lone Bellow spent two weeks recording at Dreamland in upstate New York, a nineteenth-century church that had been converted into a homey studio. The singers found the space to inspire the emotional gravity necessary for the material and the acoustics they were looking for. (For Kanene, Dreamland had one other bonus: “I’m a big Muppets fan, and it looks exactly like the church where Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem lived.”)
Aaron set them up in a circle in what had once been the sanctuary, with microphones hanging in the rafters to capture the sound of their voices bleeding together. Most of the vocals were recorded in single takes, a tactic that adds urgency to songs like “Heaven Don’t Call Me Home” and “If You Don’t Love Me.” “There were a couple of times when somebody sang the wrong word or hit a bad note, and we just had to keep going,” says Zach, who says that recording “Marietta” in particular was daunting—especially the moment near the end when he hits an anguished high note, bends it even higher, and holds it for an impossibly long time. It’s a startling display of vocal range, but it’s also almost unbearably raw in its emotional honesty.
“‘Marietta’ is probably the darkest song on the whole record,” Zach explains, “and it’s based on something that happened between my wife and me. The band was getting ready to record that song when all of a sudden my wife showed up with our youngest baby. It was a great surprise, a beautiful moment. So I was able to go out and sing that song, knowing she was there to help me carry the moment.”
“These are true stories,” says Brian. “These aren’t things we made up. We tried to write some songs that had nothing to do with our personal stories, but we just didn’t respond to them. But we’re best buds, so we know each others’ personal stuff and trust each other to figure out what needs to be said and how to say it.” Case in point: Brian wrote “Call to War” about his own struggles during his twenties, but gave the song to Kanene to sing. “The content is painful and brutal,” she says, “but the imagery, the vocals, they build something delicate and ethereal. That kind of contrast illuminates the true beauty and power of a song.”
Says Brian, “We do this one thing together, and we carry each other. Hopefully that makes the listener want to be a part of it. It becomes a communal thing, which means that there’s never a sad song to sing. It’s more a celebration of the light and the dark.”
-Descendant Records
.
Count On Me
The Lone Bellow Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Need an arm round your neck
Somebody you can talk to
When it shakes you
When no one else will say it
And you need to hear the truth
Let it help you lay down what you held onto
Let it break you
Let it help you lay down what you held onto
Scared to fail you
Clock is counting down
I think I got everything to prove
Been a friend of trouble
After losing it all
I've got nothing else to lose
Let it break you
Let it help you lay down what you held onto
Let it break you
You can count on me, I can count on you
To help you lay down what you held onto
Help you lay down what you held onto
Let it break you
Let it help you lay down what you held onto
Let it break you
You can count on me, if I can count on you
Count on me, if I can count on you
Count on me, if I can count on you
Count on me, if I can count on you
Count on me, if I can count on you
Count on me, if I can count on you
(Help you lay down what you held onto)
Count on me, if I can count on you
Count on me, if I can count on you
(Help you lay down what you held onto)
(What you held onto)
The Lone Bellow's "Count On Me" is a heartwarming song that emphasizes the importance of being there for each other during tough times. It talks about how the world can be tough sometimes, and we need someone to be there for us, to give us a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen to us.
The song begins with the singer indicating the need for a supportive friend, someone who can be there when the going gets tough. Someone who will listen without judgment and tell them the truth, even when it hurts. The chorus repeats a call to allow the pain and trouble to break one down, to help lay down what one has held onto. The singer encourages us to be there for each other, to count on one another and help one another remove the burden that we all carry on our shoulders.
In the second verse, the singer talks about time ticking away and the pressure that many people feel to succeed in life. Despite the fear, and regardless of the risk of losing everything again after having lost so much before, they have nothing left to lose. So even though it may seem scary to let go, the singer encourages us to let our troubles break us so that we can start anew.
Overall, the song is one of hope, and a call to support each other. It encourages listeners to let go of what they have been holding on to, to allow the inevitability of the struggles in life to break us but also to help us build ourselves stronger again. It communicates that we can count on one another to hold us in our vulnerability and promote healing.
Line by Line Meaning
This world can take you
The world can be harsh and difficult to navigate through.
Need an arm round your neck
Sometimes you need someone to support you, literally or figuratively, to help you keep going.
Somebody you can talk to
When you're struggling, it's helpful to have someone to confide in and share your thoughts and feelings with.
When it shakes you
When life challenges you and makes you feel uncertain or afraid.
When no one else will say it
When others are afraid to speak the truth or don't understand what you're going through.
And you need to hear the truth
Sometimes you need someone to be honest with you, even if it's difficult to hear.
Let it break you
Allow yourself to feel the pain, discomfort, or sadness that comes with difficult experiences.
Let it help you lay down what you held onto
Use those experiences to let go of things that you've been holding onto or clinging to that no longer serve you.
Scared to fail you
Afraid of letting someone down or disappointing them.
Clock is counting down
Feeling like time is running out and there's pressure to succeed or accomplish something.
I think I got everything to prove
Feeling like you have something to prove, either to yourself or to others.
Been a friend of trouble
Having a history of difficult experiences or challenges.
After losing it all
Experiencing a significant loss or setback.
I've got nothing else to lose
Feeling like you've hit rock bottom and have nothing left to lose.
You can count on me, I can count on you
We are there for each other, to offer support, love, friendship, and a listening ear.
To help you lay down what you held onto
We can support each other in letting go of things that no longer serve us or hold us back.
Count on me, if I can count on you
We have a reciprocal relationship, where we both provide support and trust each other.
(Help you lay down what you held onto)
Reiterating the theme of letting go of what no longer serves us.
(What you held onto)
Further emphasizing the importance of releasing old attachments and beliefs to move forward and grow.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Zachary Williams, Aaron Ratiere, Anderson East, Jake Mitchell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jrazjraz
American Idol brought me here. Great song !!!
@TheJuliangrant
One of the best songs I've heard in a while...in fact BRILLIANT
@nashvillebynight
Julian Grant yeah I woke up listening to it and it brings me to tears 😍
@skippyatlarge
I saw these incredible people 3x ! How lucky an I ! Thank you The Lone Bellow ❤️
@pckid6780
WOW !!! This is church.
@lawhun9330
Well, this song is just the freaking best, I do declare.
@MichaelAntonio6969
Another great song from one of my favorite bands.
@GuadalupePicasso
I love this band, and can’t wait to see them in Manhattan in April! The first time that I saw them, several years back in Pittsburgh, the band came out to meet the fans, mug for pics, and sign vinyls. I was standing between the girl and the shorter guy (I never remember their names), just chatting. After finishing signing a vinyl, she handed it to me, along with the sharpie, which I then went to hand to the shorter guy. She stopped me, and with a dead serious look and tone, said, “You’re not going to sign it?” I laughed and said, “Iiiiiiii’m not in your band!”, whence she laughed and said, “I won’t tell if you wont tell!”
So I signed it. Hahaha, a friend was nearby and snapped a pic of the moment. I hope to one day print off a copy of it, sign it, frame it, and give it to the band, as a joke.
@Eric-kg5mh
Incredible song. Can't wait to see them live in June!
@Carolina.R.
Incredible 👏🏿👏🏾👏🏼👏🏻👏🏼👏🏾👏🏿👏🏾👏🏼👏🏼👏🏻👏🏼👏🏾👏🏾👏🏿👏🏾👏🏾👏🏼👏🏻👏🏼👏🏾👏🏾👏🏿👏🏾👏🏾👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏾👏🏿👏🏿👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾