Micky & the Motorcars: Long Time Comin'
It's been four years since Micky & the Motorcars released a new album. The aptly named Long Time Comin’ is a culmination of years on the road and taking on a few new musical challenges for brothers Micky and Gary Braun.
Thanks to a successful fan-fueled Kickstarter campaign, the Braun boys traveled to Nashville to work with producing great, Keith Gattis (Willie Nelson, George Strait, Miranda Lambert). One of the biggest changes was utilizing Gattis’ studio band on the album. In a press release for the album Micky says, “It still sounds like Micky & the Motorcars, but it was fun working with different guys who we’d never worked with before. They’ve been Keith’s band for 15 years. He can say, ‘Give me a shuffle with a boom-chuck,’ and they know what he’s talking about.”
But, the band wasn’t the only difference this time around. Gary is credited for writing or co-writing six of the album’s 11 tracks and is the lead vocalist on each of his songs. Gary says, “I don’t think I decided to really write more - I think I just got better at it and worked a little harder at it the past couple of years. In the past, I just let Micky do it because he was good at it. It was easy for me not to do it.”
Micky Braun | Medicine Stone Music Festival 2019
Despite splitting writing credits virtually 50/50, Long Time Comin’ is still brimming with the kind of storytelling one has come to expect from Micky and the Motorcars from over the years. The tracks wind through everything from new love to the loneliness that comes from single life to military service to realizing maybe Mama was right.
The album’s opening track, “Road to You” is one Micky co-wrote with one of my favorite Texas singer/songwriting queens, Courtney Patton. The song seems to pay homage to musicians balancing lives on the road and time with loved ones back home, something both Braun and Patton are well versed. Lines like, “two bald tires and one headlight, and they’re closing down 93, but if everything goes the way it should darling, I’ll be seeing you later this week” speak volumes to the real life experiences of the touring veterans.
“Road to You” is seamlessly followed by the doting, cowboy ride-or-die love song, “Rodeo Girl” (Micky and Gary Braun), and choosing the right kind of wrong when you don’t want to be “Alone Again Tonight” (Gary Braun, Keith Gattis).
Album notable, “Lions of Kandahar,” took Gary five years finish. The story of “Lions” spans the beginning of a Middle East deployment, through what happens when a soldier returns home to deal with civilian life, once again. The first hum of the electric sitar actually makes one feel the impending significance. But, the biggest impact hits when the music slows and the last verse touches on the aftermath of someone dealing with PTSD, “and they tell us that we’re alright, so scared to hear the truth, when I close my eyes at night, I’m right back in the fight.”
Tracks like, “All Looks the Same” (Micky Braun, Jeff Crosby) and “Run Into You” (Gary Braun, Josh Grider) share a common post-breakup theme, but tell very different stories about the process of moving on.
The album’s title track, “Long Time Comin’” is the perfect culmination of the project and it’s journey to fruition. Written by Gary, alongside songwriting heavy-hitter Bruce Robison, the song celebrates the ups and downs of the journey to achieving something great. Which is exactly what Micky and the Motorcars delivered fans in Long Time Comin’.
Micky & the Motorcars | Medicine Stone Music Festival 2019
The Players:
Micky Braun: vocals, acoustic guitar
Gary Braun: vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica
Keith Gattis: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, baritone guitar, bass, percussion, background vocals, mandolin, bouzouki, electric sitar
Fred Eltringham: drums, percussion
Billy Merger: bass
Audley Freed: electric guitar, baritone guitar
John Henry Trinko: B3 organ, Wurlitzer, keys, accordion
Mickey Raphael: harmonica
Cody Braun: background vocals, fiddle
Micky & the Motorcars:
https://mickyandthemotorcars.com/