The band's core members - Andy Poliakoff, lead vocals, guitar; Paul Ottinger, keyboards, percussion, guitar, vocals and Jarrett Nicolay, bass, guitar, banjo, vocals – have always delighted fans with their ability to confound expectations. On previous albums, their songs often featured arrangements that veered off in unanticipated directions moving from funk to rock, from go go to soul. “It'‟s good being eclectic,” says Poliakoff, the band's main lyricist and frequent spokesperson. “It keeps you on your toes musically, and it's fun, but we wanted to get back to some serious songwriting. In the past few years, we were writing for the live shows, endless groove things that are far from what we wrote when we were starting out. We wanted to get back to that original creative impulse and focus on our songwriting.”
The band ventured cross country to California and got to work, challenging themselves to find a more emotionally intense means of expression. “There's a value to the time you put into a project,” Poliakoff explains. “We didn‟t allow ourselves to be satisfied with the first, or even third version of a song. We're getting older, and we wanted more than bombast. We wanted to look outside ourselves and find something more reflective, more truthful, more universal, to open a new chapter in the band‟s songwriting history.” For the first time, they collaborated with other songwriters, including Brooklyn folk-rocker Ari Hest, New Orleans-based bluesman Anders Osborne, Maia Sharp who wrote “A Home” for the Dixie Chicks, and the album‟s Producer, Marshall Altman (Marc Broussard, Matt Nathanson).
“Marshall is a phenomenal musician,” Poliakoff says. “His ability to tweak the arrangements and get us deeper into the music and our emotions was outstanding. He was there the whole time, pushing us to do better.” Ottinger adds his praise: “He‟s a strong songwriter and arranger. Every time you'd pick up a guitar and sing, he'd get down to every hook, every chord, every lyric. "Is that a strong emotion?" "Is that what you really want to say?" He helped us blend all our influences into a voice that‟s new, but still reflects our past.”
The songs on Home This Year showcase the band‟s remarkable growth as both musicians and songwriters. The title track is a tale of the loneliness and yearning that haunts the road. “Being on the road away from your family and friends for a long period can be tangibly painful," sites Poliakoff, "'Home This Year' embodies that sentiment and how singing about it can help make you feel closer to home." “Sing Along,” written with Altman, is an uplifting, anthemic song, on which Poliakoff delivers one of his most soulful vocals, both tender and passionate. It is also the first tune they've ever cut with a string section. “It was written with a conscious desire to connect with the audience,” Poliakoff explains. “We play music, but we're not different from our audience. We don‟t want people to idolize us, we want to get people to have a sense of togetherness.”
Long-time Virginia Coalition fans may be surprised by the group's evolution from "spontaneous anything goes" band to introspective, soul-searching songwriters, but it's a change the band welcomes. “We've known each other for 15 years now, and while the music is still getting better, we don't want to keep writing the same song over and over,” Poliakoff states firmly. “I'm proud to be part of a group of three friends who have gone from the basement and garage to maturity and making music that speaks from the heart. It's a struggle to make a great album, but we welcomed the opportunity to reinvent ourselves while staying true to the core of what we do.”
Virginia Coalition started building a buzz in their hometown of Alexandria, Virginia in the late '90s, releasing their first album, The Colors of the Sound, in 1998. But the three principals are life long friends who have known each other since high school, and in the case of Ottinger and Nicolay, since junior high. Ottinger wanted to be in a band since he was five years old, when his mother let him paint his face like Paul Stanley of Kiss and play air guitar with a tennis racket. Poliakoff had a guitar-playing cousin, who inspired him in the 4th grade. When he was 14, his mother was struck with cancer and eventually died; music and singing provided him with an emotional release. Nicolay's father played classical guitar. Although he was intimidated, he‟d sneak away from the family and pick out melodies on his own.
Their 2008 album "Home This Year" was critically well received, including a four-and-a-half star rating from AllMusic. They have not released new music since 2008, but as of 2018 are still actively touring, especially in the Washington DC area.
Lonely Cowboy
Virginia Coalition Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sitting beside you I swore you were the only one
Goodbye friends true love and happy endings
It's all the same
Forgive me I must have just been lonely baby
Forgive me I must have just thought I was in love
Forgive me but don't ask me why
And the light shining in your eyes
It changed me for good
And that's a while darling
That's what I call you...
That's what I call you when I dream
Forgive me I must have just been lonely baby
Forgive me I must have just thought I was in love
Forgive me but don't ask me why
My fingers crossed until I die
No obstacles between my heart and my words
My lips the great liaison to my soul
You make me feel like a lonely cowboy
Alone on the range late at night
You make me feel just like a lonely cowboy
But it's alright
It's a soul ride
It's a soul ride
So it's all right
The song "Lonely Cowboy" by Virginia Coalition is a heartfelt ballad that speaks of a love that could not be, and the regrets that come with it. The opening line, "I dug my grave but there were blanks in the gun", suggests a self-destructive tendency in the singer, but also a sense of futility. He feels as though he has caused the end of the relationship himself, but ultimately, there was nothing he could do to change the outcome.
The second line, "Sitting beside you I swore you were the only one", speaks to the intensity of the singer's feelings for the woman in question. He thought he had found his soulmate, but it turns out he was wrong. The chorus, which is repeated twice, is the most emotional part of the song. The singer begs for forgiveness, but he cannot explain his behavior. He says he must have just been lonely or confused. However, he still clings to hope by crossing his fingers until he dies.
The final verse, "No obstacles between my heart and my words/My lips the great liaison to my soul/You make me feel like a lonely cowboy/Alone on the range late at night", describes the singer's vulnerability and the feeling of isolation that comes with it. He feels like a lone cowboy, roaming the range without direction or purpose. However, the final lines, "But it's alright/It's a soul ride/It's a soul ride/So it's all right", suggest a sense of acceptance and peace. Although he has been hurt, he recognizes that the pain is simply part of the human experience.
Line by Line Meaning
I dug my grave but there were blanks in the gun
I made a reckless decision with serious consequences, but was lucky enough to avoid them.
Sitting beside you I swore you were the only one
In the moment, I believed I had found my true love and soulmate.
Goodbye friends true love and happy endings
I am leaving behind everything that was once familiar and comfortable in pursuit of true love and my own happy ending.
It's all the same
Despite my best efforts and changes, life still feels monotonous and unfulfilling.
Forgive me I must have just been lonely baby
I realize now that my emotions and actions were motivated by my feelings of loneliness rather than genuine love.
Forgive me I must have just thought I was in love
I was mistaken in believing that I had found true love, and am asking for forgiveness for any hurt I may have caused.
Forgive me but don't ask me why
I cannot fully explain my actions or motives, but I am still asking for forgiveness.
My fingers crossed until I die
I will continue trying and hoping for love and happiness until the end of my life.
And the light shining in your eyes
Your presence and love changed me for the better.
It changed me for good
The effect you had on me was permanent and positive.
That's a while darling
I have known and loved you for a long time.
That's what I call you...
This is the affectionate nickname I have for you.
That's what I call you when I dream
You are always on my mind, even in my dreams.
No obstacles between my heart and my words
I can express my true feelings for you without hesitation or reservation.
My lips the great liaison to my soul
Through speaking and expressing myself, I reveal the true nature of my soul.
You make me feel like a lonely cowboy
Although I am in a relationship, I still feel isolated and alone.
Alone on the range late at night
I feel like I am lost and alone in the middle of something vast and unknown.
But it's alright
Despite my feelings of loneliness and uncertainty, everything is ultimately going to be okay.
It's a soul ride
Life is a journey of the soul, with all its ups and downs.
So it's all right
Everything will work out in the end, even if it doesn't always feel like it in the moment.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind